Missouri snaps Diamond Hogs’ winning streak, evens series

COLUMBIA, Mo. — A nightmarish seventh inning for the Arkansas bullpen turned into four runs for Missouri, propelling the Tigers to a 7-5 victory Saturday afternoon at Taylor Stadium and snapping the Razorbacks’ 12-game winning streak.

The Tigers got out to a 2-0 advantage in the first inning with three singles, including a two-out, two-run knock by right fielder Carlos Pena.

The Razorbacks took the lead in the top of the second on sophomore third baseman Cayden Wallace’s two-out, bases-clearing double, which could have been caught if not for the high winds in Columbia. Wallace scored two batters later when Tiger third baseman Justin Colon spiked a throw to first base, making it 4-2 in the Razorbacks’ favor.

Missouri pitchers retired the next 11 hitters, allowing the Tigers to close the deficit to just one run. Colon made Hagen Smith pay for a pair of two-out walks with an RBI single in the fifth. The freshman left-hander surrendered three earned runs, six hits and three walks in five innings of work, adding five strikeouts to his stat line.

Smith was in line for the win upon his departure, and the Hogs doubled the lead in the seventh on a two-out RBI single by Robert Moore.

After a scoreless sixth from senior righty Kole Ramage, the bullpen imploded in the seventh. Ramage walked both hitters he faced, the second of whom saw three consecutive wild pitches to allow the first to score.

Senior righty Elijah Trest surrendered a pair of hits, allowing the Tigers to tie it, and both of those runners scored on a two-out double by Missouri leadoff hitter Josh Day off junior lefty Zack Morris.

Graduate right fielder Chris Lanzilli led off the eighth with a single, and senior center fielder Braydon Webb nearly tied it with a towering fly ball to left field, but the wind knocked it down and it died on the warning track, taking the Hogs’ hopes down with it.

Sophomore right-hander Jaxon Wiggins will get the start for the Hogs in Sunday’s rubber match, which is set to begin at 1 p.m. and stream live on the SEC Network+.