COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Missouri baseball will open a three-game Southeastern Conference series against Texas A&M Thursday (April 13) evening with a nationally-televised 7 p.m., contest at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Mizzou is coming off a 10-1 nonconference win over in-state rival Missouri State on Tuesday. The Tigers scored nine times over the final four innings, while five MU pitchers combined to limit the Bears to one run on seven hits.
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Texas A&M dropped its midweek game with UTSA Tuesday evening, but is coming off two straight SEC series wins, having taken two of three meetings from both Ole Miss and Auburn the last two weekends.
Thursday’s series opener will be televised live on ESPNU, with Derek Jones and Gregg Olsen describing the action. Each of the final two games will be streamed live on SEC Network+. Fans can catch Mizzou baseball on the airwaves all season long on KTGR and the Tiger Radio Network, as Tex Little and Matt Michaels return to the booth for the call.
PITCHING PROBABLES
- Game 1: RHP Logan Lunceford (Mizzou) vs. RHP Nathan Dettmer (Texas A&M)
- Game 2: TBD (Mizzou) vs. TBD (Texas A&M)
- Game 3: RHP Chandler Murphy (Mizzou) vs. TBD (Texas A&M)
SERIES HISTORY
- Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Missouri by a 53-38-2 margin.
- The Aggies also hold a 31-18-2 edge in games played on their home field.
- Since 1997 when the Tigers and Aggies squared off as league foes for the first time as members of the Big 12, Texas A&M owns a 36-31 advantage over Mizzou.
- A&M is 10-5-1 vs. MU during SEC play since 2013.
- The two clubs last met in Columbia in April 2021, with Mizzou taking two of the three matchups; the Aggies ran away with a 16-2 victory in the opening game, before the Tigers rebounded for wins of 8-2 and 7-3 to clinch the series.
MEET THE TIGERS
- Missouri is off to a 21-11 overall start this season.
- The Tigers are receiving votes in at least one poll for the seventh-straight week, peaking as high as No. 15 in Collegiate Baseball’s March 20 poll.
- Mizzou’s 2023 roster features a heavy helping of talent from within the state of Missouri’s borders, with 16 players from the Show-Me State.
- Additionally, Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser has brought in players from a total of 16 different states, plus the territory of Puerto Rico.
- Hank Zeisler has been the Tigers’ most consistent power threat and run producer, totaling nine home runs and 35 RBIs to date.
- Luke Mann is hitting .336 to go along with 10 homers, three of which came in a single game against No. 9 South Carolina on March 24.
- Zach Franklin leads the club with five victories and two saves in 11 total appearances.
- As a team, the Tigers are batting .273 through the first 32 games of the season.
- The Mizzou pitching staff has logged double-digit strikeout totals in 18 of its 32 games and rank 16th nationally in K’s/9.0 IP (10.7).
MEET THE AGGIES
- Under the direction of second-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle, Texas A&M brings a 20-13 overall mark and a 5-7 SEC record into the series.
- The Aggies dropped a midweek nonconference matchup with UTSA on Tuesday.
- Texas A&M is hitting .276 as a squad and rank sixth nationally in walks (206).
- Hunter Haas leads the Aggies with a .371 batting mark and 32 runs scored.
- Jack Moss brings a .359 average into the series, while Jace LaViolette paces A&M with eight home runs and 34 RBIs.
- On the mound, the Aggies have logged 351 strikeouts as a staff, ranking 15th among all Division I teams in K’s/9.0 IP (10.8).
- Nathan Dettmer has registered a team-high 45 strikeouts over 40.2 innings, which also leads the club.
SUPER-MANN TAKES FLIGHT
- Luke Mann continued his climb up the Mizzou home run chart (see above), hitting his 38th career home run in Tuesday’s win at Missouri State, moving into a tie with Griffin Moore for the No. 5 spot on the list.
- Mann became the second Tiger in 10 days to hit three home runs in a game March 24 at No. 4 South Carolina as part of a career-best four-hit performance.
- Mann needs four more long balls to match the career totals of Aaron Senne and Ryan Fry, currently tied in the No. 3 position with 42 round-trippers.
- The St. Louis native logged a career-best 12-game hit streak (Feb. 24-March 15).
- The fifth-year third baseman hit .400 (18-for-45) with four homers and 11 RBIs during his hit streak.
- Mann was tabbed for first-team preseason laurels, becoming the first Tiger honoree since Kameron Misner’s second-team selection five years ago.
- Mann’s 17 home runs in 2022 were the most by a Tiger since Ehlers hit 18 round-trippers in 2004.
MIZZOU BY THE NUMBERS
- Missouri has six wins over RPI Quadrant I clubs to its credit, including five vs. teams rated among the top 25.
- Since claiming five of their first six meetings with ranked foes, the Tigers have dropped eight of their last nine contests against top 25 teams.
- Mizzou leads all SEC clubs in doubles (25) during league play.
- The Tigers pitching staff ranks eighth nationally—and fifth in the SEC—in hits allowed per nine innings (7.15).
- MU out-hit No. 4 Vanderbilt in two of its three meetings over the weekend, including a 5-4 walk-off victory in the middle game of the series (April 7).
- Mizzou has out-hit the competition in 24 of its 32 games, going 20-4 in those contests.
- Dalton Bargo has been the Tigers’ top two-out hitter this season, logging 13 hits in 38 at-bats (.342).
- Hank Zeisler has produced 16 of his team-leading 35 RBIs with two out and has drawn a team-best 26 walks to rank 12th in the SEC.
- Trevor Austin has driven in runs in 11 of his 12 chances with runners on third base and less than two out.
- Ty Wilmsmeyer has swiped 13 bases this season, good for fifth in the SEC; Mizzou is fifth overall in the SEC in team steals (41).
- Luke Mann is hitting a team-best .37 with six home runs in road and neutral-site games this season.
- Dylan Leach has gunned down five would-be basestealers to lead all SEC catchers.
- Rorik Maltrud leads all SEC pitchers in opposing batting average (.143) during conference play.
PRIMETIME TY
- Ty Wilmsmeyer has enjoyed a strong start to his senior season, bringing a .315 batting average and 13 stolen bases into this weekend’s series.
- Wilmsmeyer has been at his best when the lights have been brightest, hitting .327 vs. ranked opponents.
- The Tigers centerfielder has logged five multi-hit performances in SEC play, homering in back-to-back games last weekend vs. No. 4 Vanderbilt and going 2-for-3 in each game for a combined four runs scored and five RBIs.
- Wilmsmeyer also logged a career-best four hits in Mizzou’s Feb. 19 win over No. 16 TCU, as well as a pair of two-hit performances against No. 9 South Carolina (March 25).
- He also worked the final 5.0-plus innings of the series finale vs. South Carolina to bolster a depleted Mizzou pitching staff and keep the Tigers even with the Gamecocks in the 12-inning contest.
- Wilmsmeyer struck out a career-best four batters and held one of the nation’s top offenses scoreless over his first five innings of work.
FAB FROSH FINDING SUCCESS
- Mizzou’s pitching staff has received a needed boost from its talented freshman class, which features five hurlers—Sam Horn, Brock Lucas, Logan Lunceford, Nic Smith and Daniel Wissler—who have combined to post a 9-1 mound mark through the first 32 games of the season.
- Led by Lunceford’s 3-1 mark and 3.29 ERA, the group has logged a combined 4.48 ERA and 91 strikeouts over 76.1 innings.
- The group has been instrumental in the Tigers’ midweek success, going 9-0 with 70 punchouts in just 55.1 innings to help Mizzou go 17-3 in nonconference play.
NON-CON DOMINATION
- Mizzou’s 17-3 mark against non-SEC foes continues a string of recent dominance in nonconference play.
- The Tigers went 18-3 in nonconference play last spring, giving them an overall mark of 35-6 in non-SEC competition since the start of the 2022 season.
- The SEC continues to dominate the top spot in the conference RPI ratings, bringing a Division I best 0.6054 rating into the week; the league’s 244 nonconference victories and 0.8328 win percentage are tops among all conferences as well.
- Mizzou is hitting .302 against non-league foes and averaging nearly 10 hits per contest, while also posting a 3.78 team ERA.
- Individually, Luke Mann is hitting .367 with six homers and 17 RBIs during nonconference play.
- During Steve Bieser‘s tenure as head coach, the Tigers have posted a cumulative 116-39 record in nonconference play, good for a .748 win percentage.
THROWING SMOKE
- Mizzou’s pitching staff is off to a blazing start, with 18 double-digit strikeout totals in 32 games.
- With 320 K’s, the Tigers could threaten the program’s single-season record for strikeouts (559 in 2019).
- The Tigers rank 16th nationally as a staff in strikeouts per nine innings (10.7).
- Mizzou’s team WHIP of 1.29 ranks 23rd among all Division I pitching staffs, while the Tigers’ 7.15 hits allowed per game ranks eighth in the nation.
- As a staff, the Tigers have limited the opposition to a collective .215 batting average, with six different pitchers logging averages against below that figure.
- Individually, Zach Franklin’s season total of five wins is tied for 32nd among all Division I pitchers.
- Rorik Maltrud has been dominant as well, ranking among the conference’s leaders in opposing batting (1st), strikeouts (7th) and ERA (8th) and during SEC play.
BIESER BELIEVER
- Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser is in his seventh year guiding the Tigers, entering the week with a 179-142-1 record as MU’s bench boss.
- Bieser topped the 300-victory mark with Mizzou’s 10-4 win at FIU on Feb. 25, and enters Friday’s game with a career 317-239-1 mark in 11 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
- The Tigers have finished with an overall record above .500 in five of Bieser’s six seasons.
- Bieser’s 104 wins from 2017-19 were the most ever by a Mizzou baseball coach in his first three campaigns.
- Additionally, Bieser’s win total marked the winningest three-year stretch by the Tigers since 2008-10 (103 victories).
- Mizzou produced 39 wins in Southeastern Conference play from 2017-19 as well, marking its top three-year stretch in league play since joining its new conference in 2013.
TIGERS ON THE TUBE
- Missouri is slated to appear in at least nine linear broadcasts on the ESPN family of networks over the course of the 2023 season, including Thursday’s (April 13) series opener, which will appear on ESPNU.
- The Tigers will play in eight matchups televised on the SEC Network.
- Additionally, four regular-season dates have been designated as potential wild cards, allowing the league to select additional games for broadcast.
- Mizzou’s SEC matchups and select non-conference games will stream on SEC Network+.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For all the latest information on Mizzou Baseball, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Tigers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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