ATHENS, Ga. – Mizzou baseball dropped the finale of a three-game Southeastern Conference series at No. 5 Georgia, 14-4, in seven innings Sunday at Foley Field.
Mizzou (21-26, 4-20 SEC) shortstop Kam Durnin had a big day at the plate to cap a big weekend overall (5-for-10, 3 HR), slugging a pair of solo home runs in the loss and finishing the day 2-for-3, adding a walk.
Right-handed pitcher Keyler Gonzalez made his first start as a Tiger and ninth appearance overall. After a scoreless first inning by the Cuban-born righty, the Bulldogs (38-11, 18-6 SEC) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a second-inning home run off the bat of Ryan Black before exploding for a seven-run bottom of the third to grow the lead to nine.
Tigers’ shortstop Kam Durnin got Mizzou on the board in the top of the fourth inning with a solo shot to left field (386 ft.) to mark his second-straight game with a home run. The Tigers rattled off three-straight hits to follow up Durnin, the third being an RBI single through the left side by Donovan Jordan to make it a 9-2 game.
In the bottom half of the fourth, Georgia answered with four more runs of their own, three of them coming on a three-run shot off the bat of shortstop Kolby Branch. UGA added another run in the fifth, making it 14-2, Bulldogs.
Durnin came back to the plate in the top of the sixth and smacked his second solo shot (391 ft.) of the day and third within a five at-bat stretch, cutting the UGA lead to 11. Tigers’ lefty Kadden Drew entered in relief and worked a scoreless bottom half.
A two-out infield single in the top of the seventh by Tyler Macon brought leadoff hitter Jase Woita to the plate and he delivered an RBI double down the left-field line to make it 14-4, Bulldogs. That score proved to be final as UGA hung on for the run-rule win.
NOTEBOOK
- Durnin’s multi-homer game marked the second this season by a Tiger (Jase Woita (2) at Oklahoma, April 17).
- He ended the game 2-for-3 with a walk, and his second home run of the day marked his third in a five at-bat stretch this weekend. All three home runs on the weekend were solo. He now has seven on the season, good for second on the squad.
- Gonzalez made his first start on the mound as a Tiger, also taking his first loss of the season to fall to 3-1 overall. He went 1.2 innings and allowed six runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
- Woita went 1-for-4 with an RBI double – his sixth two-bagger of the season and his team-leading 44th RBI. The double marked his 50th hit of the season.
- Jordan finished the game 1-for-3 with an RBI.
- Freshman Blaize Ward went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
- Catcher Mateo Serna and Macon each recorded a hit in the game. Macon scored a run.
The Tigers are back in action next weekend for their final home games of the season, hosting Vanderbilt (27-22, 10-14 SEC) for a three-game SEC series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. CT. All Mizzou baseball games can also be streamed on the Varsity Network by Learfield, with longtime play-by-play announcer Tex Little on the call and Matt Michaels providing color.
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