After Mizzou Baseball rallied from down 6-1 to take a 10-6 lead, Kentucky’s Cole Kottam hit a go-ahead eighth-inning grand slam as the Wildcats claimed the series finale, 11-10, Sunday afternoon at Cliff Hagan Field. The loss drops Mizzou to 29-15 and 9-12 in SEC play while Kentucky improves to 29-15 and 10-11 in league games.
Junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca took the loss, allowing the Cottam slam after reliever Nile Ball loaded the bases after what was a gutty outing for Ball as Mizzou rallied to take the lead. Montes De Oca falls to 5-3 on the year. Mizzou got two men on in the ninth, but Zach Hanna struck out to strand the tying run in scoring position.
Mizzou got homers from Trey Harris and Brian Sharp, the latter of which was a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning.
“Just a real tough loss. We battled,” said Head Coach Steve Bieser. “One thing we have to be proud of is that we competed. We spotted them way too many early in that game and it was going to be tough to come back. Then we kind of get everything to swing our way and then I thought we did some things late in the game that was not great game-winning baseball.”