COLUMBIA - It had to end eventually.
No. 18 Missouri baseball's 20-game winning streak ended Friday with a 9-2 loss to Arkansas.
Arkansas got on the board after Missouri starter Tanner Houck hit a batter with the bases loaded in the top of the second. A pair of singles and a fielding error resulted in a 5-0 Razorbacks lead after two innings.
"Whenever you make miscues against good teams it is hard to rebound," head coach Steve Bieser said. "That second inning was huge, they earned their way to get runners on second and third with no outs, and all of a sudden Tanner does his thing and we've got two outs there and it looks like we're going to get out of it then kind of the wheels fell off there. Whenever you spot a good team five runs it's an uphill battle all the way."
Play was delayed in the top of the fourth inning due to lightning, however the teams would resume after a 131-minute delay. Houck was pulled after the break. He went 32/3 innings and gave up five runs, three earned, on five hits, a walk and three strikeouts.
Brian Sharp got Missouri on the board in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single, and Robbie Glendinning followed with a solo home run to right field in the fifth to make it 5-2. However, that was as close as the Tigers would get.
Arkansas got a run in the top of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to make it a 9-2 final. Eight of the Razorbacks' nine runs were with two outs.
"That's really frustrating," Bieser said. "Some of the ways they scored from us not staying alert in an infield single, or us not getting over on a ground ball, those things they cannot happen."
Sharp went 3-for-4, and Connor Brumfield went 2-for-4 to stretch his hitting streak to eight games. The 20-game winning streak was the second-longest in team history.
Missouri (20-2) continues its series against Arkansas at 2 p.m. today. Bieser is looking forward to seeing how his team can bounce back from this bit of adversity of having the win streak snapped.
"It's something that probably will never happen again," Bieser said. "In baseball, I don't care who you're playing or wht league you're playing in or who you're playing against, winning 20 games in baseball is a pretty special feat."