Columbia News

The Missouri Tigers baseball team fell to No. 9 Georgia, 5-2, Saturday night at Taylor Stadium in Columbia. Despite a strong start on the mound from Sam Horn and Brock Lucas, who combined for 6 1/3 no-hit innings, Missouri was unable to hold off Georgia's late rally.

Sam Horn made his first home start for Missouri and struck out a career-high five batters over three hitless innings. Brock Lucas followed with 3 1/3 scoreless frames, retiring all ten Bulldogs he faced and recording five strikeouts.

Georgia improved its record to 38-11 overall and 14-9 in the Southeastern Conference. Kolten Smith started for the Bulldogs, striking out seven while allowing two runs on two hits over more than five innings. The bullpen trio of Alton Davis II, JT Quinn, and Zach Harris limited Missouri to two hits across four shutout innings to secure the series win.

Missouri took an early lead in the first inning after Kaden Peer singled with two outs. Cayden Nicoletto then hit a two-run homer to right-center field—Missouri's only scoring play of the game.

Horn navigated through several threats in his outing, including escaping a jam with runners on base in each of his three innings pitched. He allowed just one walk and hit two batters but did not give up any hits.

Georgia scored its first run in the fifth inning when Nolan McCarthy and Robbie Burnett delivered back-to-back doubles. In the sixth inning, Tre Phelps drew a leadoff walk before Daniel Jackson hit a go-ahead two-run homer off Tony Neubeck. Three additional walks and a hit batsman led to bases-loaded walks by Burnett and Cade Brown, increasing Georgia’s lead to 5-2.

Lucas kept Missouri within reach by shutting down Georgia’s offense over the final innings but Missouri managed only four baserunners against Georgia pitching from that point forward.

Kaden Peer led Missouri offensively with two of their four hits. Jackson Lovich extended his streak of reaching base safely to sixteen games with a walk but saw his hitting streak end at five games after going hitless in three at-bats.

Georgia now leads the all-time series against Missouri 19-16 following this win. With this loss, Missouri drops to 13-33 overall and remains winless (0-23) in SEC play.

"Georgia extended its series edge of the Tigers to 19-16 all-time with the victory."

"Jackson Lovich extended his reached base streak to 16 straight games by drawing a sixth-inning walk, but saw his five-game hit streak end with an 0-for-3 night."

"With five strikeouts over 3.0 innings, Horn surpassed his previous career high for strikeouts (3) and matched a Feb. 19, 2023 outing vs. TCU for the longest of his Mizzou career."

"Nicoletto homered for the sixth time in a Mizzou uniform and logged his third multi-RBI performance by driving in both of the Tigers' runs."

"Lucas worked 3 1/3 hitless innings, marking the second-longest hitless appearance of his career (4.1 vs. Kansas on March 19, 2024); he also topped the 100-strikeout plateau for his Mizzou career."

"The four Mizzou pitchers combined to strike out 12 batters, good for their top single-game total since fanning 14 Ole Miss batters on March 23."