Despite a Late Lead, Mizzou Baseball Drops Series Opener to No. 18 Alabama

For over half of the game, it looked like the Missouri Tigers would get their first conference win of the season. But then Mizzou happened.

The Missouri Tigers kicked off the series opener against No. 18 Alabama with their best first inning of the season. But their bats went quiet after, leading to a 7-5 loss.

The Tigers scored five runs in the first, their most in any inning of SEC play so far this season. It all started with a single, hit-by-pitch and then a throwing error that left the ball in the outfield after a sacrifice bunt. Mizzou kept the offense rolling in the first and batted around. The Tigers had four hits in the inning and were hit twice.

This allowed them a cushion for the next couple innings while the offense fell off a bit. Until the eighth inning, they had just three baserunners following their very hot inning. The eighth inning saw two runners reach with no outs. They eventually loaded the bases with Alabama intentionally walking a runner in the eighth.

But left fielder Brady Picarelli struck out with the bases loaded in a tie game in the eighth to make Mizzou's chance of coming back worse.

Mizzou starter Brady Kehlenbrink had a strong outing on the road. The freshman left-hander had a 1-2-3 first, but then gave up a two-run shot in the second inning. Kehlenbrink displayed his ability to pitch through adversity in the third inning, where he loaded the bases with just one out, but then struck out the final two batters. He kept the scoring to just the two runs in his outing.

The ball was then turned over to right-hand reliever Xavier Lovett on the mound. Lovett went two scoreless innings for the Tigers to maintain the lead. He gave up allowed no baserunners through the first two innings, but back-to-back singles were finally allowed in his third.

It was then that Alabama finally was able to tie the game in the sixth. A three-run homer from Garrett Staton made it a 5-5 game. Lovett recorded a strikeout with two on to keep it tied.

Right-hander PJ Green was next up out of the bullpen and kept it a tie-game for the Tigers in his first inning of work. But he led off the eighth inning with back-to-back walks. Green recovered with a double play, but followed that with a go-ahead two-run shot to make it 7-5.

Mizzou drops to 13-28 on the season and 0-19 in conference play, while Alabama improves to 33-10 and 10-9. The Tigers will head play game two of the series against the Crimson Tide at 6 p.m. on Friday.