Missouri Baseball Walks Off No. 6 Florida in 11 innings

After an innings-long pitcher duel, the Tigers are able to outlast the Gators for their second SEC win of the season.

Author:
Amber Winkler
Apr 06, 2024

The game had such a hot start — it didn’t go bad, but not much else happened.

After one run in the first inning from the Tigers, there were six straight innings without either team scoring. So little else happened that the game went into extra innings.

Missouri walked it off against the No. 6 ranked team in the country in 11 innings.

Missouri’s starter, sophomore Logan Lunceford, got three quick outs to start the game. Two of those outs came from strikeouts and one from a flyout of Florida’s two-way player Jac Caglianone.

The Tigers bat’s struck first with a Jeric Curtis triple and Jackson Beaman’s groundout brought him home to give the Tigers the first lead.

Jaw-dropping catches from Missouri’s defense saved the second inning. Lunceford caught a quick comebacker that shot straight for his face and third baseman Trevor Austin made a leaping grab that was smoked off the bat. The defensive tirade continued in the top of the fourth with a clean 6-4-3 double play.

Struggling to get on base wasn’t the Tigers problem in the early innings, it was getting the runners home they couldn’t seem to do. Missouri left eight on through the first four innings and 16 in the game. The Tigers leaving runners on is better than their previous SEC series in which their offense wasn't able to do much at all.

In pretty much every inning, the Tigers left two or three players on. It may have hurt them in this game, keeping them from getting an easy win, but it’s a good sign for the future. As for this game, they would have liked to have those runs.

The usually strong offensive bite of the gators was muted by Lunceford. He had one of his best starts of the year against the highly ranked team. He held Florida to only one hit through six innings and struck out eight.

A scoreless game on the Gators' part continued when senior Carter Rustad came into the game in the seventh inning to relieve Lunceford. Rustad earned three quick outs to advance the game.

It didn’t last after that one inning and he hit a rough second. The shutout against the Gators was broken up with a solo home run to left from Florida’s Luke Heyman. This made it a 1-1 game.

Rustad recovered with two more innings in which he put down the Gators in order. The strong ninth brought them into extras and the tenth gave them a chance.

Missouri’s bats continued to not be strong enough to get a runner home in the late innings, despite Rustad outlasting Florida with a scoreless eleventh inning.

It wasn’t until Jackson Lovich’s line drive double out of reach of Florida’s third baseman and Jedier Hernandez’s game-winning hit to bring him home that the Tiger’s took the final lead of the game.

Missouri won and the walk-off was by Tiger's birthday boy, better known as Yadi to his team.

How it Happened:

9:00 p.m.- Jedier Hernandez earns the walk-off. 2-1 Tigers
8:58 p.m.- Jackson Lovich lines a ball just out of reach of Florida's first baseman to earn a double in the eleventh inning. Kaden Peer is then hit by a pitch to put two on in extras.
8:34 p.m.- The Tigers go into extra innings against the Gators.
8:10 p.m.- The Gators make it a tie-game with a solo home run from Luke Heyman in the eight inning.
7:58 p.m.- Jedier Hernandez hit a ground-rule double to left center and advanced on a wild pitch. Matt Garcia then walked and stole second. Missouri strands them there
7:46 p.m.- Carter Rustad takes the mound for the Tigers in the seventh.
7:35 p.m.- Florida goes to their bullpen for Cade Fisher in the bottom of the sixth.
7:28 p.m.- The Tigers put two on with hit-by-pitches, but strand them there in the bottom of the fifth.
7:08 p.m.- The Tigers load the bases again in the bottom of the fourth with one out.
6:57 p.m.- Florida records their first hit with a ground ball single to third and a hit by pitch puts a second runner on. Missouri puts up a double play to end the inning.
6:22 p.m.- The Tigers load the bases in the bottom of the first, but strand them there.
6:13 p.m.- Jeric Curtis gets things started with a triple to the right field corner and Jackson Beaman grounded out to bring him home. 1-0 Tigers
6:08 p.m.- Lunceford starts the game off with a quick 1-2-3 inning with back-to-back strikeouts and a fly out of Jac Caglianone.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT

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How to Watch: Missouri vs Florida

What: Missouri Tigers (12-18, 1-8 SEC) at Florida Gators (17-11, 6-3 SEC)

Where: Taylor Stadium, Columbia, Mo

When:

Friday, April 5 at 6 p.m. CT
Saturday, April 6 at 3 p.m. CT
Sunday, April 7 at 1 p.m. CT

TV: ESPN+

Series: Florida holds a 31-5 series lead over the Tigers coming into this weekend series. Missouri has only one won game against the Gators since 2015, that win coming in 2022.

Last time out, Missouri: Missouri earned a 15-9 win over UT Martin on April 3, helping them secure the series win. The Tigers earned their first series sweep of the season against the Skyhawks.

Last time out, Florida: The Gators took a 10-7 win against Florida A&M on Tuesday, April 2. Florida A&M took an early lead, but Florida recovered to get ahead and secure the win after a four-run third.

Pitching Matchups:

Friday, April 5 at 6 p.m. – RHP Logan Lunceford vs. RHP Brandon Neely
Saturday, April 6 at 3 p.m. – LHP Javyn Pimental vs. RHP Liam Peterson
Sunday, April 7 – 11 a.m. – TBD vs. LHP Jac Caglianone