HOOVER, Ala. – Ninth-seeded Alabama used a shutdown pitching performance to hand University of Missouri baseball a 4-1 setback in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament Tuesday morning at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The Crimson Tide overcame an early deficit thanks to a two-run, fourth-inning rally and six strong innings from Tyler Fay to deal the Tigers a season-ending loss.
Fay (1-2) completed a career-long 6.0 innings, scattering five hits while permitting just one run – a fourth-inning Mateo Serna solo home run – and striking out six in his first mound victory of the season. The sophomore right-hander and three relievers joined forces to hold Mizzou scoreless over the final five innings.
Mizzou (16-39) rode Serna’s ninth homer of the season and three scoreless frames from starting pitcher Sam Horn to a one-run advantage in the fourth. Despite issuing five walks, Horn avoided trouble in each of his three innings, using an inning-ending strikeout in the first to strand a pair of baserunners before working around a one-out single in the second.
The Crimson Tide (41-15) mounted another threat in the third, using a Bryce Fowler leadoff single and three walks to load the bases. But Horn came up with another rally-killing punchout to extinguish the rally, ending his morning after allowing just two singles.
After Serna lifted a 2-1 pitch from Fay over the right-field wall in the top of the fourth, Alabama finally broke through in the home half after reliever Wil Libbert (3-4) quickly dispatched the first two hitters of the inning. Brennen Norton sparked the rally with a bloop single into right-center, before Fowler drew a walk, and Justin Lebron tied it up with a base hit to left.
Kade Snell followed with a sharp single through the left side of the Mizzou infield to put the Tide on top, 2-1.
Fay made the lead stand through the sixth, working around one of Kaden Peer’s three hits on the day to lead off the fifth, then stranding two more Tigers in the sixth following a two-out rally that included a Tyler Macon single.
Alabama reliever Matthew Heiberger allowed another Peer hit to start the seventh, and a hit-by-pitch plus a Jackson Lovich single set up another Mizzou scoring threat with two out. But Braylon Myers came on in relief and recorded the final out of the inning on a called third strike to preserve the one-run lead.
The Crimson Tide struck for a key run in the home half of the seventh, after Lebron reached base for the fourth time in the game, this time via a walk, then came home from third on a Will Hodo sacrifice fly. Brady Neal added to the lead in the eighth with a leadoff solo shot for a three-run Alabama cushion.
Carson Ozmer closed out the victory with a scoreless ninth, working out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam by inducing a lineout to first and a fly ball to left to pick up his 17th save of the season.
Peer led the Tigers with his fifth three-hit performance of the year, finishing 3-for-4 with his team-best 13th stolen base of the season. Lovich also turned in a multi-hit effort – his 19th of the year – with a 2-for-4 day at the plate.
Libbert worked 5.0 innings of relief to close out the game for the Tigers, scattering four runs on six hits and a pair of strikeouts.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Lovich concluded his junior season with a team-leading .357 batting average, which represents the top full-season average for a Tiger since Kameron Misner hit .360 in 2018.
- With three hit-by-pitches in the game, the Tigers reached the 100 hit-by-pitch plateau for just the third time in program history, finishing the season with 102 as a team – just six HBPs shy of the school record of 108 (2008).
- Missouri fell to 2-10 all-time in eight SEC Tournament appearances.
- The loss marked the sixth in a row for the Tigers at the SEC Tournament dating back to 2017.
- MU dropped to 52-67 overall in 41 total conference tournament appearances, including the Big Eight, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference tourneys.
- Mizzou also fell to 0-2 vs. Alabama in Hoover and 7-16 all-time against the Crimson Tide.
- The Crimson Tide ran their series win streak to 11 games vs. Missouri dating back to 2018.
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