Tigers baseball team drops first game

On the day the No. 5 Missouri Tigers baseball team ascended to its highest ranking ever, a comeback and a curfew sent them home with their first loss of the season, a 10-9 heartbreaker in seven innings against the Central Florida Knights.

Heading in to the seventh and final inning tied at 5, the Tigers scored four runs before relievers Tyler Clark and Scooter Hicks allowed the first seven Knights to reach base, leading to five runs and earning Hicks the loss.

With a start time of 2 p.m., and the Tigers needing to catch their flight from Orlando, Fla., back to Kansas City that evening, the teams agreed that no inning could start after 4:50 CT on Monday, Missouri baseball sports information director Josh Murray said. Murray said this was the first time-shortened game since travel accomodations led to a tie against the University of Washington in 2004.

The Tigers travel to San Diego on Friday for the USD Tournament, where they will open with two games, the first against Cal at 3 p.m. and the second against San Diego State at 8 p.m.