The Mizzou baseball team is staring elimination right between the eyes. And that’s exactly why they feel very comfortable. The Tigers lost the first game of its Super Regional against Cal State Fullerton 7-1 Friday. MU must win two in a row against the host Titans if they want to advance past the best-of-three series. The winner will move on to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska June 15th.
The Tigers lost the first game of the regional round before taking four straight and moving on. Their current situation is no different, this time they only have to win two straight.
Mizzou took an early 1-0 lead, but the Titans rallied to score seven unanswered runs. Max Scherzer, recently drafted 11th overall by the Diamondbacks, took the loss. He surrendered four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings and struck out six. He looked like a first rounder early in the game. Scherzer was perfect through four innings. He faced the minimum through 5 1/3.
The Tigers squandered two excellent chances to break the game open. They had the bases loaded with no outs in the third, but couldn’t get a run across. They struck again in the fourth with two on and one out. Once again, nothing came across.
Fullerton put together five straight hits to take the lead in the seventh. They ended up turning those hits into a five-run inning. Another run in the eighth gave the Titans a 7-1 lead.
Mizzou is in the Super Regional for the first time in school history. Game two is tonight at 9 p.m. central time.