No. 24 Kentucky baseball (22-7, 5-5 SEC) dropped the series opener against Missouri (18-13, 2-8 SEC) 5-4.

The Wildcats struggled with execution in key aspects of the game, these faults would prove costly. Lackluster situational hitting, inability to capitalize on runners in scoring position and untimely errors resulted in a sloppy one-run loss.

The Wildcats hit just .167 (3-18) with runners on base, and recorded outs in the both bases-loaded opportunities they had. Kentucky finished the game with 13 runners left on base.

“We didn’t do enough to win. Like, we had our chances, give them credit. They came back, they got the big hit,” Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said. “But, we had our chances, we just didn’t capitalize.”

Kentucky finished with three errors, two of which extended innings and allowed Missouri to score.

“They capitalized on some of our mistakes, and we didn’t,” Mingione said. “That was the difference in the game.”

The troubles began in the top of the third inning. Kentucky’s starter, Jaxon Jelkin, was one strike away from his third straight scoreless inning.

Jelkin surrendered a two-out single before walking the next batter. Catcher Tagger Tyson attempted to back pick the runner at second base and the ball rolled into center field, sending the lead runner to third base.

A wild pitch in the same plate appearance allowed Missouri to score its first run of the game, as the trailing runner advanced to third.

Jelkin then surrendered three consecutive singles, each of them being just out of an infielders reach. The Tigers plated three runs before Jelkin eventually escaped the inning.

Kentucky was given an excellent opportunity to respond in the bottom half of the third. Luke Lawrence and Tyler Bell each worked two-out walks before Hudson Brown was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kentucky was unable to convert, stranding all three runners.

Missouri’s Mateo Serna led off the top of the fourth with a single. An error on the pickoff attempt allowed Serna to advance to second.

Jelkin retired the next two batters before surrendering a two-out single that scored Serna, adding to the Tigers lead.

Was it not for the error advancing Serna to second, he would not have been in position to score on the single.

It was a second straight error-extended inning that resulted in runs for Missouri, giving the Tigers a 4-1 lead at the fourth inning stretch.

Jelkin was able to lock it in after two rocky innings, following them up with three scoreless innings to finish his seven-inning outing.

Jelkin punched out 10 batters and allowed four runs, three earned, on 117 pitches.

These shutdown innings from Jelkin allowed Kentucky to erase a 4-1 fourth inning deficit, tying the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“He battled his butt off and allowed us to come back in that game,” Mingione said. “We did, and we just didn’t get the big hit to take us over.”

Kentucky got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth. Tyson reached second base after an error by the right fielder, then advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Tyson was driven in on a ground-ball single down the right-field line from Carson Hansen. Will Marcy filed in behind Hansen with a walk. A single from Lawrence scored Hansen and advanced Marcy to third.

Lawrence and Marcy were stranded, this made five Kentucky runners left on base in two innings. This is a trend that, unfortunately for Kentucky, would continue throughout the game.

Kentucky went three-up, three-down in the fifth, but continued its struggles in the sixth, seventh and eighth, leaving at least two runners on base in each of the three innings.

An inning-ending groundout left runners stranded at the corners in the sixth.

The Wildcats left bases loaded after an infield line out ended the seventh inning.

Kentucky then had runners on second and third with one out in the eighth, both runners were stranded as two straight strikeouts ended the inning.

The Wildcats were afforded prime opportunities to break the 4-4 tie three innings in a row. Not only were runners stranded in scoring position, but the Tigers were also held scoreless to prevent them from regaining the lead.

Missouri snapped from its four-inning slump in the top of the ninth. Keegan Knutson’s double was followed by an RBI-single from Donovan Jordan, putting the Tigers ahead 5-4.

The Wildcats went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the ninth to solidify the 5-4 series-opening loss.