Tigers offense quiet once again in 1-0 loss to South Carolina

After its 5-1 series opening loss to the Gamecocks in which the Tigers mustered two hits, Missouri baseball was ripe for an offensive resurgence. On a cold Friday evening at Taylor Stadium, neither side was able to muster much offense. Three combined hits, one of which was a bunt single, came from the Tigers and Gamecocks for the opening five innings.

Behind the eight-inning, 10 strikeout performance from South Carolina starting pitcher Amp Phillips, the Gamecocks squeaked away with a 1-0 victory that can only be described in two words: pitchers duel. “We just didn’t make any adjustments,” Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said. “(Amp) kept doing the same thing over and over again, and we were late to a fastball that was good, but not above-average.

We never adjusted. Nobody even really tried to be early and do something different, so we got the results we got. ” Morris Hodges, who was the home plate umpire had a workout for the same time frame.

The pair of starting pitchers, Brady Kehlenbrink and Amp Phillips had each struck out at least six batters by the end of the fifth. It took a throwing error from the usually sure-handed Missouri shortstop Kam Durnin to get the first Gamecocks run across the plate in the top half of the fourth. It was a night at the plate for the Tigers where on top of all of the strikeouts and three failed bunt attempts, the little things weren’t going their way either.