COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri baseball team returns to Taylor Stadium Tuesday (Feb. 28) to open its 2023 home slate with a 3 p.m. game against Lindenwood.
Mizzou opened the season by winning five of its first seven contests on the road, including claiming three of four games at FIU over the weekend. The Tigers are opening a 13-game home stand that includes their SEC-opening series with Tennessee (March 17-19).
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Fans can once again catch Mizzou baseball on the airwaves all season long on KTGR and the Tiger Radio Network. Tex Little and Matt Michaels return to the booth for the call. The contest will also be streamed live via SEC Network+.
PITCHING PROBABLES
LHP Nic Smith (Missouri) vs. RHP Matt James (Lindenwood)
SERIES HISTORY
- Mizzou brings a 2-0 all-time edge vs. Lindenwood into Tuesday’s game.
- The Tigers bring an all-time home mark of 382-225 at Taylor Stadium for a .629 winning percentage at the facility.
- Tuesday’s matchup will be the first of two meetings with Lindenwood for the Tigers, who are slated to visit St. Charles on March 29.
- The Tigers claimed a 14-7 victory over the Lions on March 5, 2002 in the most recent meeting in the series; MU also posted a 13-2 win on March 9, 1993.
MEET THE TIGERS
- Missouri is off to a 5-2 start to the season after claiming three of four games against FIU in Miami over the weekend.
- The Tigers are receiving votes (7) in this week’s USA Today Sports Baseball Top 25 Coaches 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.
- A host of newcomers should bolster a group of 14 returning letterwinners; 10 freshmen will join 10 transfers to give the Tigers a new look across the diamond in 2023.
- Ty Wilmsmeyer will bring a 10-game hit streak and a team-leading .481 batting mark into Tuesday’s game.
- Hank Zeisler homered in all four of the Tigers’ games at FIU last weekend, driving in nine runs.
- On the mound, Tony Neubeck has been dominant in his two outings thus far, striking out 15 and allowing just three hits in 8.2 scoreless innings.
- As a team, the Tigers are batting .298 as a team and have out-homered the opposition by a 10-0 count through the first seven games of the season.
- The Mizzou pitching staff has logged double-digit strikeout totals in six of its seven games.
MEET THE LIONS
- Lindenwood is off to a 2-5 start in its initial Division I campaign, dropping three of four games to Nicholls to open the season and two of three against Minnesota State this past weekend.
- The Lions are led by junior infielder Tyson Ludwig and his .333 batting average.
- Ludwig and sophomore first baseman Marcus Heusohn have combined to swipe six of the Lions’ nine stolen bases on the season.
- On the mound, the Lions have posted a 4.50 ERA, led by sophomore lefty Eli Brown’s 1.42 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 12.2 innings.
- A trio of freshmen—Easton Rakers, Carson Subbert and Aaron Jungers—have been stron in relief roles, combining to go 1-0 with one save and 13 K’s in 13.1 total innings.
MANN-ING UP
- Luke Mann continued his climb up the Mizzou home run chart, hitting his 30th career round-tripper to take sole possession of the No. 10 spot on the Tigers’ career homer list.
- Mann needs two more to catch Chris Wyrick in the No. 9 position on the chart.
- The St. Louis native saw his personal hit streak of eight straight games (dating back to May 14, 2022) come to an end last Thursday at FIU, but promptly logged hits in the Tigers’ final three contests of the series.
- Mann was tabbed for first-team preseason laurels, becoming the first Tiger honoree since Kameron Misner’s second-team selection five years ago.
- The fifth-year third baseman from St. Louis belted 15 of his 17 home runs last season in SEC play.
- Mann’s 17 blasts were the most by a Tiger since Cody Ehlers hit 18 round-trippers in 2004.
- The lefty went long nine times in April 2022, which tied for the most in the SEC.
- His 15 home runs in SEC games ranked second among all league batters.
THROWING SMOKE
- Mizzou’s pitching staff is off to a blazing hot start, with six double-digit strikeout totals in its first seven games.
- The Tigers rank 13th nationally as a staff in strikeouts per nine innings (12.5)
- Tony Neubeck leads the club with 16 punchouts in 8.2 innings, good for an average of 15.58 per nine innings.
POWER DISPLAY
- Mizzou’s offense has picked up right where it left off last spring, out-homering the opposition by a 10-0 count through its first seven games.
- The 2022 Tigers set Mizzou’s BBCOR-era home run standard with 62 long balls for the season, which represented its top total since the 1998 squad blasted a school-record 110 bombs.
- In records dating to 1950, only 10 Mizzou teams have hit 55 or more homers in a season, and last year’s club tied for the seventh-best total in program history.
HAMMERIN’ HANK HONORED
- Graduate first baseman Hank Zeisler was honored by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper with one of its national player of the week honors on Monday.
- Zeisler brings an active streak of four consecutive games with a home run into Tuesday’s game.
- The UNLV transfer homered in each of Mizzou’s four games at FIU (Feb. 23-26), driving in nine runs to help the Tigers take three games in the series.
BIESER BELIEVER
- Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser is in his seventh year guiding the Tigers, entering the week with a 163-133-1 record as MU’s bench boss.
- Bieser topped the 300-victory mark with last Saturday’s 10-4 win at FIU and enters the week with a career 301-230-1 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.
TY TOO HOT TO HANDLE
- Ty Wilmsmeyer has enjoyed a torrid start to his senior season, bringing a .481 batting average and five stolen bases into play this week.
- Wilmsmeyer recorded seven hits over the Tigers’ three games at the College Baseball Showdown (Feb. 17-19).
- The Springfield, Mo., native extended his personal hit streak to 10 games by hitting a team-best .400
(6-of-15) last weekend at FIU. - The senior outfielder started his season off with a two-hit performance vs. No. 11 Oklahoma State.
- Wilmsmeyer capped the weekend with a career-high four hits against No. 16 TCU, scoring the go-ahead run in the 10th inning after drawing a one-out walk.
- Wilmsmeyer ranks third in the SEC with his five steals, which is also good for 29th nationally.
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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