COLUMBIA - The Missouri baseball team narrowly missed recording a sweep of Mississippi this weekend, winning the first two games comfortably before taking a close setback in the series finale.
Missouri opened the series Friday night with a 4-2 victory, scoring the game's final four runs.
Jake Ring and Brett Bond had two hits and one RBI apiece for the winners, who outhit the Rebels 9-7. Josh Lester and Zach Lavy chipped in with one hit and one RBI each for Missouri.
Reggie McClain (6-5) pitched the first seven innings to get the win, allowing two earned runs on four hits and one walk. He struck out six.
Andrew Schwaab gave up one hit while striking out three in a scoreless eighth before Breckin Williams got his 11th save by giving up two hits and striking out two in the ninth.
The Tigers then clinched the Southeastern Conference series win by crushing the Rebels 18-1 on Saturday. It was the most runs in a conference game for Missouri since scoring 18 in a Big 12 game against Texas Tech in 2009.
Missouri blew open a 4-0 lead with a five-run fifth inning and an eight-run sixth.
The Tigers launched five home runs in the victory, one each for Lester, Trey Harris, Chris Akmon, Bond and Jake Ivory.
Ryan Howard had three hits and three RBI, Lester had two hits and four RBI and Harris added two hits and three RBI.
Also for the Tigers, Ivory had two hits and one RBI, Ring had a pair of hits and Brett Peel had one hit and one RBI.
Tanner Houck (7-3) started and pitched six scoreless innings. He scattered four hits while striking out eight and walking two.
Lake Dabney and Jace James kept the Rebels off the board while working one scoreless inning each, before Mississippi finally scored off Ryan Lee in the ninth.
Each team had 10 hits in Sunday's series finale, won by Mississippi by a 4-3 score.
Bond had two hits and two RBI, while Shane Benes hit his first career home run, a solo shot in the fourth. Ivory chipped in a pair of hits.
Peter Fairbanks (4-4) started and took the loss, lasting just four innings. He gave up two earned runs on six hits and four walks while striking out six.
Andrew Schwaab worked the next three innings, Dabney pitched one-third of an inning and Williams got the final five outs.
Missouri is now 28-20 overall and 14-10 in the SEC, while Mississippi is 25-24 and 11-13.