University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Missouri
Volunteers Take 10-1 Loss vs. #23 Mizzou
April 11, 2015 | Baseball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- In the series finale of a three-game set against No. 23-ranked Missouri, the Tennessee Volunteers fell victim to four-run fifth and eighth innings and struggled to make up the deficit, taking a 10-1 loss to the Tigers on Saturday.
With the loss, Tennessee holds a 15-16 overall record in 2015 and is now 5-10 in conference games, while Missouri improves to a 24-12 mark and 10-5 in SEC play.
"It was a little bit of a mirror image from [Friday] night," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "[Drake Owenby] was cruising and I thought he was making some good pitches. Sometimes you have to tip your hat to the opponent. Missouri did a very good job of letting the ball get deep and driving the ball the other way. Sometimes in afternoon games, the jet stream goes to right field. It definitely was today because his balls weren't really hid hard, but they just got out of the ball park.
"They made an adjustment. They sustained at bats. They sustained innings to be able to do that and we didn't do that. We had some opportunities today to score some runs. We didn't push enough across and obviously they pushed a lot across and that's why we're feeling like we do right now."
Missouri inched ahead in the second inning, as third baseman Josh Lester led off the frame with a double to right field and came around to score. Tennessee answered in their next at-bat to make it a 1-1 balllgame. Third baseman Jared Pruett led off the inning with a single to center field, moving to third on a base hit from right fielder Chris Hall and a wild pitch. Freshman centerfielder Brodie Leftridge then roped on RBI-single up the middle to score Pruett and even the contest.
For the second game in a row, Tennessee witnessed a difficult fifth inning as Missouri put up a four spot to take a 5-1 lead. Starting pitcher Drake Owenby surrendered five hits, including two triples and two home runs before exiting with a runner on first and one out.
"I felt great, I think I only made two really bad pitches," Owenby said. "They hit some balls up in the air today and luckily the wind carried it out for them. You could say that, as a pitcher, it's easier for me to say that but at the same time they did a good job at hitting the ball to the right side."
Mizzou brought one more run home in the seventh, due to a hit batter and eventual throwing error by left fielder Derek Lance. In the eighth, four additional runs came across for Mizzou on a two-out rally.
Collectively, the Vols scattered seven hits on the Tigers, led by first baseman Andrew Lee (2-for-3) and Leftridge (1-for-3, RBI), who drove in Tennessee's lone run in the second.
In his eighth start of the year, Owenby (2-4) tossed 4.1 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts to receive the loss. Righthander Kyle Serrano entered the game in the fifth and worked 3.1 innings in relief, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits with five strikeouts.
Senior Peter Lenstrohm went to the hill in the seventh in relief of Serrano and gave up two runs before righthander Steven Kane came in to close out the ninth.
"We just have to try and build momentum again," Lee said following the game. "We are just going to take our day off for tomorrow and try and forget about this game, flush it, and come back ready to win next week."
"There are a lot of things that we need to get fixed and make change," Serrano added. "We have to make change. The same things keeps happening to us over and over and we're not making adjustments and that's what gets frustrating to me. I thought it was a very good baseball game Thursday. I didn't say that because we won. I thought it was a clean baseball game on both sides. In the last two games, they beat us basically in every aspect of the game. Pitching standpoint, defensive standpoint, and offensive standpoint and that's why we feel the way we do right now."
On Tuesday, April 14, Tennessee hits the road against for the start of a five-game road stretch, visiting Middle Tennessee State for a 6 p.m. ET matchup. The Vols then travel to face the Kentucky Wildcats for a three-game series on Thursday, April 16 - Saturday, April 18.
For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee baseball program, visit UTSports.com/baseball and follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter.
