Mizzou Baseball Takes Late Lead in Back-and-Forth Battle with Florida A&M

There wasn't a baseball game being played between the Missouri Tigers and the Florida A&M Rattlers. It was the "Mirror Game."

But on a night where many things were going well on the offensive front for the Tigers, the Rattlers seemed to always have an answer. When Missouri punched in a run, the Florida A&M Rattlers just punched right back. When they loaded the bases, so did their opponents. There was a tie for most innings of the game.

After the back-and-forth battle the Tigers eventually pulled ahead in the eighth inning to walk away with their second win of the season with a score of 6-5.

The Tigers had a quick start with three runs in the first inning with the help of a walk from centerfielder Kaden Peer and singles from designated hitter Gehrig Goldbeck and third baseman Jackson Lovich, both which brought in runners. All three of these players also successfully stole a base in the inning.

Missouri catcher Jedier Hernandez took advantage of some control struggles from Florida A&M's starting pitcher Caleb Granger and earned the second walk. Granger walked two more batters in the inning in first baseman Mateo Serna and Goldbeck. An RBI ground out with the bases loaded put the Tigers up by one more.

The Tigers were up to four runs in two innings, but Missouri starting pitcher Brock Lucas couldn't keep traffic off the bases. A two-run home run in the first inning started the comeback for the Rattlers, but it was the two runs brought in with a Florida A&M double in the third that tied the game.

Missouri brought in the fifth run after a double from Goldbeck, single from second baseman Blake Simpson, and an RBI groundout from Lovich. The fifth run for the Rattlers followed in the next half of the inning with and RBI double.

Just when it looked like the Tigers had a chance to take the lead again, the opportunity was squandered in the top of the seventh. A hit-by-pitch, single and walk loaded the bases, but Hernandez flew out to right field on the second pitch of his at-bat.

Florida A&M immediately returned the favor, filling the bases in the bottom half of the inning. Relief pitcher Kaden Jacobi was able to escape the jam with a strike out and a ground out to end the inning. But this wasn't the end of the battle.

A mistake pitch that was left right down the middle gave Peer the opportunity to put a late lead in the hands of the Tigers. He brought in left fielder Cameron Benson, who got on with a double, in the eighth inning with a single up the middle. Any possibility of further damage was stolen from the Tigers when pinch-runner Keegan Knutson was caught too far away from third with the bases loaded.

Another late game mistake was made by right fielder Pierre Seals in the eighth. A ball that should have been caught instead dropped in the outfield. But reliever James Vaughn got his second strikeout of the inning and then a groundout to maintain the Tiger's late lead.

It seemed that these mistakes would come back to haunt the Tigers. Florida A&M's Ben Kim hit a standup triple off of reliever Xavier Lovett with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and gave the Rattlers a chance to take the last lead.

But, Lovich fielded the final groundout to secure the Tigers' Win.

Where the Tigers' pitching staff has had their struggles so far in 2025, this didn't seem to impact Missouri too much against Florida A&M. Lucas, Jacobi, Vaughn and Lovett combined to fan 13 of the Rattlers.

Missouri moves to 2-3 on the season and Florida A&M moves to 1-4. The Tigers will take on Alabama State at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.

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