Mizzou Baseball Falls Late to No. 18 Ole Miss in Series Finale

The Tigers bullpen couldn't keep the lead against the Rebels and allowed Ole Miss to score in the double digits.

Missouri Right-hand reliever James Vaughn tosses from the mound against Ole Miss. | Mizzou Athletics

The Missouri Tigers had a bullpen game slated on a weekend where their relievers were struggling to escape their outings without a run to their name.

They managed to keep Ole Miss from taking the lead until the fifth inning and even then it was just a one-run lead. But a poor top of the seventh left the Tigers down by five runs with just three half innings left.

Mizzou dropped the series finale 14-6 for the sweep. They continue to be winless in conference play and are on a seven-game losing streak.

Like the rest of the series, the offense wasn't the problem. They continued to see SEC pitching fairly well and put up six runs. In just the second at-bat of the game, catcher Mateo Serna sent a ball 407 feet, out of the park and off of the building in right field. Shortstop Jackson Lovich followed that with a three-run shot in the third inning to make it a 5-1 game.

But the Mizzou pitching continued to struggle this weekend. Right-hand reliever Kaden Jacobi had four runs put to his name in the fourth inning to allow Ole Miss to tie the game. The lead was finally turned over with a leadoff home run off of right-hand reliever PJ Green in the fifth.

The Tigers had lefty Brady Kehlenbrink start on the mound, his first with the team. He did his job quite well, striking out six batters in his three inning stint. Kehlenbrink only allowed the third inning homer from Ole Miss and gave up just one free base on a walk.

It was after him that the pitching went bad. The Tigers went through eight pitchers, with none going more that 1 2/3 innings, outside of Kehlenbrink.

Head coach Kerrick Jackson even tried a new arm with right-hand reliever Jaylen Merchant getting his first appearance as a Tiger in the top of the ninth. He allowed a bases clearing double to put the Rebels run-count up to 13 and did not earn a single out.

Mizzou drops to 8-14 on the season and 0-6 in conference play, while Ole Miss moves to 18-5 and 4-2 in the SEC. The Tigers will take a break from SEC play with a midweek against Illinois at a neutral site on Tuesday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m.