Vols Drop Series at #15 Mizzou with 7-3 Loss

Sunday, April 3

Columbia, Mo.

1:00 PM

University of Tennessee

27-10, 0

No. 15/15 Missouri

26-7, 0

Tennessee

Mizzou

April 03, 2016 | Softball

Box Score

April 3, 2016

Box Score | Karen Weekly Postgame |

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Volunteers were unable to come away with their third SEC series victory on Sunday afternoon, dropping the rubber game to No. 15/15 Missouri, 7-3, at University Field in Columbia.

No. 17/16 Tennessee (27-10, 7-5 SEC) outhit the Tigers, 9-8, but left 11 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning with the tying run at the plate.

Lexi Overstreet, Rainey Gaffin and Brooke Vines all had two hits on the afternoon while Gaffin and Megan Geer both had an RBI for the Vols. Sami Fagan led Mizzou with two RBIs and three hits, including a solo home run in the fourth inning.

The Big Orange got off to a great start by scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first inning but struggled to shut down the Tigers' potent lineup.

Aubrey Leach reached on an infield single and came home on a throwing error by Missouri's catcher Kristen Mack to open the scoring in the top of the first. Gaffin, who started the game in the circle, helped her own cause with an RBI single later in the inning to score Lexi Overstreet and put the Vols up 2-0 early.

The Tigers answered right back in the bottom of the first, however, scoring two runs of their own to tie the game. Emily Crane walked to start the inning and ended up scoring on an infield single by Fagan. Taylor Gadbois scored to tie the game on an RBI groundout by Amanda Sanchez after reaching on an error earlier in the inning.

Missouri (26-7, 5-4 SEC) got to Gaffin again in the second inning, chasing her from the circle after a leadoff double and a walk. Erin Gabriel entered in relief and quickly recorded an out, but gave up a single up the middle that allowed two runs to come in and put the Tigers ahead 4-2. Gabriel was able to get out of the inning without any further damage by forcing Fagan to pop up and Chloe Rathburn to fly out.

Back-to-back solo home runs from Fagan and Rathburn increased the Tigers' lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Matty Moss entered the game to pitch for the Vols following the home runs and recorded two straight strikeouts to end the inning.

Tennessee had a chance to cut into the lead after starting the fifth inning with consecutive singles from Meghan Gregg and Overstreet, but was unable to get anything going after that as the next three batters were retired in order to end the threat.

The Vols were finally able to break through with a run in the top of the sixth after Vines reached on a bunt single and scored all the way from first on an RBI double by Geer to cut the deficit to 6-3. Unfortunately, Missouri was able to scratch a run across on a double-steal attempt in the home half of the inning to regain its four-run advantage heading into the seventh.

UT loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs in the seventh inning, but Shaliyah Geathers struck out after a long at-bat to end the game.

Paige Lowary earned her 14th win of the season for Mizzou after giving up three runs (two earned) in six innings of action. Tori Finucane earned her second save after relieving Lowary and recording all three outs in the seventh. Gaffin was stuck with the loss for UT, falling to 6-3 on the year.

Next up for the Vols is a home game against Kennesaw State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Fans can listen to the game live on WNML AM 990 or UTSports.com as Brian Rice has the call.