Late Resurgence from No. 18 Ole Miss Hands Mizzou Baseball SEC Home Opener Loss

Despite maintaining the lead for a portion of the game, the Tigers' couldn't hold on for win and fell apart in the later innings.

Mizzou starter Ian Lohse walks off the mound against Ole Miss. / Mizzou Athletics

Missouri Tigers Baseball was given a chance to take their first home conference game.

The Ole Miss Rebels, ranked No. 18 in the D1 Baseball poll, rallied for a late lead in the sixth inning. They then followed it up by piling on four more runs in the seventh inning. The Tigers couldn't come back in the 9-6 loss and dropped their fourth-straight conference game.

The Tigers' fought behind right-hand starter Ian Lohse on the mound. He got Mizzou through five innings and only have up two runs, one earned, to the Rebels. He tossed three scoreless frames and struck out eight batters in route. The Tigers had the lead when he exited the game.

The game and the lead seemed to get away from Mizzou after head coach Kerrick Jackson went to the bullpen for right-hand reliever Kaden Jacobi, who appeared to want that outing back after being pulled from the mound in the seventh.

Jacobi only made it through 1 1/3 innings against the Rebels and gave up more runs than Lohse in that time. Ole Miss tagged him for four runs on four hits. Jacobi was plagued by the free bases that he gave up, hitting two and walking one in his short stint in the game.

The pitching did not get better under the next reliever, right-hander James Vaughn. He did not make it out of the seventh inning, which is the inning he entered the game in. Vaughn recorded zero outs during his time on the mound and put one more run to his name and two to Jacobi.

He was saved from further damage by righty PJ Green, who got two outs with just one walk. His second inning did not get better, as Green loaded the bases and walked in a run. After a talk on the mound, he closed the inning with another two quick outs.

Mizzou's offensive production was mostly limited to the first few innings. The Tigers took advantage of an Ole Miss error and three singles to bring in two runs. Starting right fielder Pierre Seals, who singled to bring in shortstop Jackson Lovich, was later thrown out at home and subsequently benched by Jackson.

After the four-run seventh from Ole Miss, Mizzou brought in a run of there own with a single from Lovich that scored first baseman Mateo Serna, who has a solo home run in the third inning. Another solo shot left Taylor Stadium in the eighth inning by third baseball Peyton Basler, this was his first homer as a Tiger.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Lovich took Ole Miss deep over the left field wall to cut the defecit by one. This wasn't enough to turn the game around, however.

The Tigers left nine runners on base, four of those came after they lost the lead in the sixth. They had the opportunities to bring in the runs they needed to win, but couldn't get the job done.

Mizzou drops to 8-12 on the season and 0-4 in conference play, while Ole Miss moves to 16-5 and 2-2 in the SEC. The Tigers will face off again for game two of the series at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 22.

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