Javyn Pimental fired the ball into the zone and dominated the Auburn offense for six innings. But so did left-hander Jake Marciano for the Tigers from the South.
The pitching duel went awry when a technical issue left the game delayed for over an hour and new pitchers were forced into the game. Auburn gained the lead right before the delay and held on to give Mizzou a 2-0 loss, ending its 13-game win streak.
After a troublesome start last weekend against Illinois-Chicago, Pimental recovered well and kept a more potent Auburn offense from reaching home. He was effective on the mound, scattering three hits in his six-inning appearance, which tied a career-high. He struck out just five.
“He’s going to go out; he’s going to compete,” Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said. “He’s going to give you a chance to win, and he did that tonight for us.”
Mizzou ran usual midweek starter JD Dohrmann out from the pen to follow Pimental. The freshman was rattled early in his first Southeastern Conference outing and gave up back-to-back singles, but a mound meeting with the infield and then pitching coach Drew Dickinson got him through the inning without a run making it home. Dohrmann gave up the only runs of the game in his 1⅓ innings on the mound.
The game entered a technical delay when the lights covering home plate shut off during the top of the eighth. It came shortly after Auburn took the lead on a two-run homer from Bub Terrell. The lighting issues plagued Taylor Stadium for over an hour.
The game resumed with Auburn’s Brandon McCraine at the plate with a 3-0 count in the eighth. Mizzou right-hander Keyler Gonzalez took over on the mound coming out of the delay. He closed the game with two clean innings.
Eric Maisonet and Pierre Seals peppered two doubles in the third and fourth innings, and Missouri added another two hits in the ninth. The team was otherwise handcuffed at the plate and struck out 10 times in the outing.
“We didn’t have good enough at-bats,” Jackson said. “Regardless of whether the team’s the No. 1 team or top-10 or the worst team in the country, if you don’t go out and play well, the result could potentially be the same.”
The Tigers will play a split doubleheader Saturday for the final two games of the series. Game 2 will begin at 2 p.m. with righty Josh McDevitt on the mound, and Game 3 will start at 6 p.m with lefty Brady Kehlenbrink getting the ball to start.