COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball renews one of its oldest and most frequently contested rivalries Tuesday (March 19) when it meets the Kansas Jayhawks for a 6 p.m. (CDT) game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Mizzou (9-11) is looking for its fifth straight win over KU after taking the first meeting of the season series, 5-4 in 10 innings, last Tuesday (March 12) in Lawrence. Kansas (10-8) claimed the first four matchups with the Tigers in KC (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011), before Mizzou won an 8-3 decision last March at Kauffman as part of its season sweep of KU.
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All Mizzou baseball games in 2024 will be produced by the Tiger Radio Network and streamed live through the Varsity Network App (by searching ‘Missouri’) with Tex Little and Matt Michaels once again handling broadcast duties.
GAME TICKETS: atmlb.com/3uR6j1z
PITCHING PROBABLES
- RHP Josh McDevitt (Mizzou) vs. LHP Evan Shaw (Kansas)
SERIES HISTORY
- Tuesday’s game will mark the 352nd meeting of the Tigers and Jayhawks.
- Mizzou holds a 220-129-2 all-time edge over KU.
- Last year, the Tigers claimed an 8-3 win over KU at Kauffman Stadium (March 22) in Kansas City, before finishing the season sweep with a 9-7 victory in Columbia (May 2).
- After pulling out a 5-4 win in 10 innings last Tuesday in Lawrence, the Tigers have won the last four meetings in the series dating back to 2022.
- Mizzou is 7-6 all-time vs. the Jayhawks on neutral fields.
SCOUTING MISSOURI
- Missouri posted a 30-24 regular-season finish last spring, including a 10-20 SEC mark.
- Kerrick Jackson was named the 15th head coach in Mizzou history in June, returning to Columbia to lead a program for which he served as an assistant coach from 2011-15 under Mizzou Hall of Fame head coach (and current pitching coach) Tim Jamieson.
- The Tigers return three regular starters from last season, led by senior INF/OF Trevor Austin, who batted .311 with eight homers and 10 steals to help bolster the MU offense.
- Senior INF Matt Garcia turned in a solid debut season with the Tigers, providing clutch hitting and lock-down defense on the MU infield.
- MU should also receive a lift from sophomore INF Jackson Lovich and junior OF Juju Stevens, who each made key contributions in limited duty in 2023.
- Several newcomers could also make early contributions, including junior INF Danny Corona, who helped Wake Forest to a 2023 College World Series berth, C Jedier Hernandez, a standout behind the plate for Seton Hall the last two seasons, and sophomore OF Jeric Curtis, a Texas Tech transfer who brings significant speed to the Tiger outfield and batting order.
- On the mound, sophomore RHP Logan Lunceford is back to help anchor Mizzou’s weekend rotation after posting 68 strikeouts to lead all SEC freshman hurlers last spring.
- Junior LHP Javyn Pimental also contributed mightily to the Tigers’ mound efforts in 2023, making eight starts for the Tigers.
- Mizzou should also benefit from the potential return of a pair of veterans who missed significant time last spring; left-hander Ian Lohse and RHP Carter Rustad missed significant portions of 2023 due to injury following promising starts to the campaign.
- New arms like RHP Xavier Lovett and RHP Bryce Mayer could compete for starting rotation spots, while RHP Jacob Peaden may give the back end of the Tigers’ bullpen a strong presence.
MIZZOU BY THE NUMBERS
- Missouri is coming off a 30-win campaign last spring, which marked the 20th time the Tigers reached the 30-win plateau in the last 30 seasons, as well as the 35th time overall.
- 1B Jackson Lovich leads the Tigers with 19 RBIs and a .333 batting mark. The sophomore saw his career-best 13-game hit streak come to an end Saturday at No. 1 Arkansas.
- Lovich reached base safely via a hit or walk in the Tigers’ first 18 contests of the season before that streak ended Saturday as well.
- During the course of his 13-game hit streak, Lovich batted .388 (19-for-49).
- LHP Daniel Wissler has allowed two runs of fewer in all three of his starts this season, including last Tuesday vs. KU when he scattered two earned runs and three hits over his 4.0 frames.
- SS Matt Garcia has a pair of multi-hit games since returning from injury March 2.
- OF Tucker Moore has hits in 10 of his last 13 games and has reached safely in 15 of his 18 games as a Tiger.
- LHP Javyn Pimental has fanned at least five batters in three of his four outings to date, including a career-best nine punchouts vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (March 9).
- Pimental was lights-out vs. No. 1 Arkansas on Saturday, holding the Hogs hitless through four innings and striking out four in 5.0 shutout innings. The Hawaii native has 21 K’s and just three walks in 17.2 innings this season.
- INF Justin Colon registered his first four-hit game as a Tiger vs. Northern Kentucky (March 3). The junior also posted career bests for runs scored (4) and RBIs (5) vs. NKU.
- 2B Trevor Austin leads the club with seven home runs after binging on Purdue Fort Wayne pitching with four round-trippers in four games, March 8-10.
- Austin has been red-hot in the month of March, hitting .378 (14-for-37) with four homers and 12 RBIs, as well as an OPS of 1.405. He has also reached base safely in 12 consecutive contests in March.
- OF Jackson Beaman has been lethal at the plate over the same stretch as well, batting .348 (8-for-23) with three homers, 13 RBIs and a club-leading .556 on-base percentage.
- LHP Ryan Magdic has proven to be a valuable weapon out of the bullpen, logging three scoreless 2.0 inning outings to date. The graduate transfer has struck out at least three hitters in four of his five appearances.
- RHP Charlie Miller has been equally as dominant from the right side, recording six scoreless appearances and four hitless outings in eight total games.
- Miller has limited the opposition to a club-best .192 batting average and is tied for 10th in the SEC in total appearances (8).
- C Jedier Hernandez has gunned down three would-be basestealers on the season.
- Fellow C Mateo Serna has hits in each of his last four games dating back to March 5.
- RHP Ben Pedersen logged three consecutive scoreless relief outings as part of his return from a two-year absence due to injuries. The 6-foot-6 Minnesota native notched his first collegiate save in last Tuesday’s 10-inning victory over Kansas.
- DH Thomas Curry enjoyed a debut to remember in Missouri’s season-opening series at Cal Poly (Feb. 16-17), as the freshman paced all Mizzou hitters with his .444 average, while homering and driving in four runs.
- RHP Carter Rustad notched career victory No. 15 March 9 with 6.0 strong innings in MU’s win over PFW.
- As a team, Mizzou has been hit by 39 pitches this season, good for sixth in the SEC.
- RHP Jacob Peaden ranks third in the SEC in both saves (3) and games finished (6).
- The Tigers rank sixth in the conference in stolen bases (24) as well, led by OF Jeric Curtis’ five steals.
- Curtis was the Tigers’ top hitter last week, going 3-for-9 with hits in each of his three games.
SCOUTING KANSAS
- Under second-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald, the Jayhawks are off to a 10-8 overall start with a 3-3 mark in Big 12 Conference play after dropping two of three games at Cincinnati over the weekend.
- The Jayhawks are hitting .292 as a team, led by INF Kodey Shojinaga with his .346 average and 17 RBIs.
- Additionally, the duo of OF Lenny Ashby and C Jake English (.321) has combined for 11 home runs and 28 RBIs to lead KU.
- On the hill, KU has fashioned a 4.21 ERA, led by RHP Dominic Voegele’s 2.08 mark.
- RHP Hunter Cranton has been KU’s most dependable arm out of the bullpen, logging seven consecutive scoreless outings to start the season,
GOING DEEP
- Mizzou’s offense has picked up right where it left off last spring, clubbing 25 home runs through its first 20 contests.
- Eleven different Tigers have homered in the first 20 games, continuing a recent trend that was evident in 2023, when 14 different Tigers hit at least one homer.
- The Tigers are 7-6 when hitting at least one home run and 2-5 when they fail to go deep.
- 2B Trevor Austin and 1B Jackson Lovich have powered the early attack for MU. Austin clubbed three homers in four games at the Tony Gwynn Legacy series (Feb. 22-24), then pounded four balls out of the yard in MU’s four-game series with PFW (March 8-10).
- Lovich blasted his fifth homer of the season March 10 vs. PFW.
- Austin has produced a pair of two-homer games, first in a 6-3 win over CSUB (Feb. 22), as well as the Tigers’ 11-1 victory over PFW on March 9.
- Two Tigers — SS Drew Culbertson and OF Isaiah Frost — hit their first collegiate home runs as part of a three-homer barrage by the Tigers in the second inning vs. CSUB.
- In their last 33 games (since April 29, 2023), 19 different Tigers have combined to hit 58 homers.
- In their last 16 games at Taylor Stadium, the Tigers have gone deep 42 times.
- MU clubbed 79 homers in 2023, which represented the program’s top total since the 1998 squad blasted a school-record 110 bombs.
NON-CON DOMINATION
- Mizzou has claimed nine nonconference victories over the first four weeks of the season, continuing a string of recent dominance in nonconference play.
- MU logged a 20-3 mark against non-SEC foes last spring, after going 18-3 in nonconference in 2022.
- MU has an overall mark of 47-14 in non-SEC competition since the start of the 2022 season.
- Over the last decade, the Tigers’ dominance has been equally as pronounced, with MU winning 100 more nonconference games than it has lost (174-74), good for a .702 winning percentage.
LOVIN’ LOVICH
- 1B Jackson Lovich saw his career-best 13-game hit come to an end Saturday at No. 1 Arkansas.
- The sophomore from Overland Park, Kan., batted .388 (19-for-49) with four of his five home runs on the season and 15 RBIs during his streak, which ran from February 24 through March 15.
- Lovich has slugged .613 for the season and reached base safely via a hit or walk in the Tigers’ first 18 contests (also through March 15).
- He leads the Tigers in multi-hit (7) and multi-RBI (6) games.
TARGET: TREVOR
- 2B Trevor Austin has made a habit of reaching base throughout his four-year career with the Tigers, particularly when it comes to serving as a target, logging 37 free bases due to hit by pitches.
- Austin, the SEC’s active leader in HBPs, was hit by a pitch four times during Mizzou’s initial home stand of the season, running his 2024 total to eight HBPs, which ranks fifth in the SEC.
- As a result, the Jefferson City native has climbed to fourth on Mizzou’s career HBP chart, passing Brock Bond and Dane Opel on March 5 when he was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning of MU’s 5-4 victory over Lindenwood.
- Austin is six HBPs away from matching Jacob Priday’s career total of 43 in the No. 3 position on the list.
- John McKee (2004-07) owns the Tigers’ all-time mark of 70 HBPs, and John Hay (1989-93) ranks second with 51 HBPs.
TICKETS
Mizzou baseball 2024 season and single-game tickets are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the ticket office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS or by visiting MUTigers.com/Tickets.
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 X, Instagram and Facebook.
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