COLUMBIA, Mo. - After going hitless through the first four innings, the La Salle University baseball team put together a rally attempt against Southeastern Conference opponent Missouri, but ultimately fell short in an 8-5 loss on Friday.
The Tigers, who entered with a 10-3 record and receiving votes in the latest USA Today Top 25 Poll, raced out to a 4-0 lead behind reigning Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week Bryce Montes de Oca. Montes de Oca allowed just one base runner through the first four frames, striking out six Explorers along the way.
Offensively, Missouri scored two runs in the opening inning on a two-out, two-run single from Zach Hanna. In the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers doubled their lead when Tony Ortiz singled home Hanna and a sacrifice fly put the home team in front by four runs heading into the top of the fifth.
A walk and hit by pitch put a pair on with nobody out for the Explorers in the fifth. After a strikeout, junior
Brian Tagoe doubled home both
Kevin McGowan and
Connor Hinchliffe to bring La Salle to within 4-2.
Missouri extended its lead back to four in the bottom half of the fifth, when an RBI double from Brian Sharp and a run scoring single from Brett Bond put the score at 6-2 heading to the sixth.
The Explorers continued to put pressure on the Tigers, scoring single runs in three consecutive innings. Senior
Brian Dudeck led off with a double in the sixth and scored on a base hit from McGowan. In the seventh, senior
Austin Constantini came through with a two-out single that scored Tagoe, who had reached on an infield single and advanced into scoring position on a groundout.
With the score at 7-4 in the top of the eighth, La Salle moved closer as Hinchliffe singled in senior
Chase Arnold who had reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a balk. That is as close as the game would get, however, as the Tigers added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and the Explorers couldn't push across a run in the ninth.
Montes de Oca went 6.0 innings and struck out 10 to earn his third win of the year.
Michael Jenkins suffered the loss for La Salle, going 4.1 innings and allowing six earned runs while striking out three.
La Salle and Missouri will play a doubleheader to close the three-game set on Saturday, March 10, with the first game of the day beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.
