COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball travels to Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend for a three-game Southeastern Conference series with No. 2 Arkansas at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Tigers (11-17, 0-9 SEC) and Razorbacks (27-3, 8-1 SEC) will square off in a 7 p.m. contest Friday to open the weekend, before matching up again Saturday (6 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) to wrap up the series.
Friday’s series opener will be televised live nationally on SEC Network, with Mark Neely and Todd Walker on the call. Additionally, each of the final two games of the series will be streamed live by SEC Network+, with Brett Dolan and Troy Eklund describing the action.
All Mizzou baseball contests in 2025 will be produced by the Tiger Radio Network, with each of this weekend’s contests slated for radio broadcast locally in Columbia via KTGR AM/FM (105.1 FM/100.5 FM/1580 AM) and streamed via the Varsity Network app (by searching ‘Missouri’), with Tex Little and Matt Michaels handling broadcast duties.
PITCHING PROBABLES
• Game 1 – Friday, April 4 (7 p.m.) – RHP Kaden Jacobi (Mizzou) vs. RHP Zach Root (Arkansas)
• Game 2 – Saturday, April 5 (6 p.m.) – LHP Brady Kehlenbrink (Mizzou) vs. RHP Gabe Gaeckle (Arkansas)
• Game 3 – Sunday, April 6 (2 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. LHP Landon Beidelschies (Arkansas)
SERIES HISTORY
• Friday’s opener will mark the 71st meeting of the Tigers and Razorbacks in a series that dates back to 1904.
• Arkansas holds a 36-33-1 series advantage over the Tigers, including a 16-7 record against Mizzou in Fayetteville.
• The Razorbacks have enjoyed a run of recent success vs. MU, claiming the last 10 games in the series dating back to 2017.
• The Tigers are just 3-15 vs. Arkansas as an SEC foe, dating to their first league matchup in 2014.
• The Razorbacks claimed all three meetings at Baum-Walker Stadium last season (March 15-17).
SCOUTING MISSOURI
• Missouri is coming off a 23-32 campaign last spring in head coach Kerrick Jackson‘s first season at the helm.
• Jackson, who earned his 100th career coaching victory February 15 vs. UConn, was named the 15th head coach in Mizzou history in June 2023, 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.
• Mizzou is off to an 11-17 start to the season after sweeping its two-game midweek series with UAPB (April 1-2).
• The Tigers return four position starters from last season, led by junior 3B Jackson Lovich, who batted .287 with 10 homers and 35 RBIs, while ranking second in the SEC in triples (4); the Overland Park, Kan., native has been red-hot at the plate, hitting .436 (34-for-78) with six home runs and 27 RBIs, as well as hits in 17 of his last 20 games, since Feb. 28.
• Sophomore C/1B Mateo Serna has delivered a strong season-opening stretch, logging six home runs and 29 through the first half of the campaign.
• Sophomore OF Kaden Peer has reached base safely in 21 consecutive games, including Wednesday’s win over UAPB in which he reached in four of his five trips to the plate.
• Junior DH Gehrig Goldbeck has posted a .463 on-base percentage and five steals while holding down the leadoff spot in the Tigers’ batting order.
• Additionally, newcomers OF Pierre Seals, OF Cameron Benson, INF Peyton Basler, INF Keegan Knutson, 3B Chris Patterson, OF Brady Picarelli and 1B/OF Cayden Nicoletto have made an immediate impact on the Tigers’ offensive fortunes.
• Nicoletto, in particular, has been pivotal for MU, ranking second on the squad in hitting (.347) through the first half of the season.
• Patterson has burst onto the scene in the last week, hitting .333 with a team-leading 10 RBIs in Mizzou’s last five contests.
• On the mound, junior RHP Brock Lucas returns after going 4-0 with a 3.63 ERA in 18 relief appearances last spring.
• Graduate LHP Ian Lohse is enjoying his best season as a Tiger after registering a team-high 39 strikeouts in just 29.2 innings of work, including a career-best eight punchouts March 21 vs. Ole Miss.
• LHP Kadden Drew and redshirt freshman LHP Wil Libbert have combined for four mound victories and 48.0 innings thus far.
• RHP Ben Smith has logged 11 scoreless outings in 15 appearances to date, while RHPs Kaden Jacobi, Xavier Lovett and P.J. Green have provided solid relief work for the Tigers as well.
QUICK HITS
• Mizzou pitching has fanned 242 batters in 239.0 innings this season.
• Mizzou has recorded five 15-hit performances to surpass its 2024 season total of three, as well as 17 double-digit hit totals, in just 28 contests this spring.
• 1B/OF Cayden Nicoletto has logged a pair of four-hit performances at Taylor Stadium, first doing so March 2 vs. Evansville, before repeating the feat March 8 vs. Binghamton; the senior transfer also has a trio of three-hit games to his credit.
• Led by OF Kaden Peer with nine steals, the Tigers’ running game has netted 45 steals in 56 attempts this season.
• Peer has reached base safely in 21-straight contests since Feb. 23, marking the longest such streak by a Tiger since Hank Zeisler reached safely in 19 consecutive games, April 11-May 14, 2023.
• MU ranks fourth in the SEC with a 1.54 steals-per-game average, which projects the Tigers to steal 85 bases over their 55-game regular-season slate; that total would represent the No. 3 season total in program history, trailing only the 2019 Tigers’ 101 steals and the 2011 clubs’ 94.
• INF Jackson Lovich has logged a team-best 12 multi-hit performances.
• In MU’s first 28 games of the season, 22 different players made their debuts in Black and Gold.
• Mizzou’s catching combination of Jedier Hernandez and Mateo Serna combined to throw out 15 would-be base-stealers last spring and the duo has already teamed up to nail 10 baserunners in the Tigers’ first 28 games this season.
SCOUTING ARKANSAS
• Under 23rd-year head coach Dave Van Horn, the Razorbacks are off to a 27-3 start that has them ranked No. 2 in this week’s national polls.
• Arkansas has utilized a dominant pitching staff that has posted a 3.61 team ERA, while holding the opposition to a .230 batting average and logging 298 strikeouts in 254.0 innings.
• The Razorbacks led the nation in fielding percentage (.987) and rank second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.63).
• Zach Root (4-1, 3.23 ERA) leads the weekend rotation with his four victories and 53 punchouts in just 39.0 innings.
• Parker Coil has been a force out of the Arkansas bullpen, posting a microscopic 0.60 ERA in 10 relief outings to date.
• At the plate, Arkansas is hitting .322 as a squad to rank second in the SEC.
• Charles Davalan leads the Razorbacks with a .402 average, to go along with nine homers and 28 RBIs this spring.
• Kuhio Aloy has driven in 39 runs with eight home runs, while batting .377, and Wehiwa Aloy has chipped in with a team-best 10 home runs and 35 RBIs.
LAST TIME WE MET
• Behind a shutdown pitching performance and its best offensive effort of the weekend, No. 1 Arkansas completed an SEC series sweep of Mizzou with a 9-1 victory in the series finale (March 17, 2024) at Baum-Walker Stadium.
• Mason Molina held the Tigers hitless through five innings, striking out 10 batters over 5 1/3 frames, before four relievers combined to limit Mizzou to a single run on two hits over the final 3.2 innings.
• Wehiwa Aloy led the Razorbacks’ 10-hit attack, logging a 2-for-3 day while driving in three runs, and Ben McClaughlin homered and reached safely in four of his five trips to the plate.
• Arkansas pitching turned in a strong weekend, holding the Tigers scoreless over the first two games of the series.
OFF AND RUNNING
• Missouri has bolted from the starting gate offensively, thanks at least in part to a consistent running game that has resulted in the Tigers swiping 45 bases in its first 28 games.
• Mizzou is 45-of-56 in stolen base attempts to date, including a streak of at least one steal in 11 consecutive games (Feb. 15-March 2).
• Mizzou’s 45 steals rank fifth in the SEC.
• OF Kaden Peer (9-for-10) and INF/OF Brock Daniels (7-for-9) have led the Tigers’ charge on the basepaths, combining to go 16-of-19 in steal attempts this season.
• In their Feb. 25 victory over Lindenwood, the Tigers went 6-for-6 in steal attempts, logging their first six-steal performance since Feb. 19, 2022 vs. Nicholls.
• In the Tigers’ 23 wins last season, MU baserunners were successful on 33-of-41 steal attempts.
• With their average of 1.54 steals-per-game, the Tigers are projected to steal 85 bases this spring, which would rank as the No. 3 season total in program history.
GOING STREAKING
• Several Tigers bring notable streaks into Friday’s series opener, led by OF Kaden Peer, who has reached base safely in 21 consecutive games going back to Feb. 23.
• Peer’s streak is the longest by a Tiger since INF Hank Zeisler reached in 19-straight games from April 11-May 14, 2023.
• INF Tyler Macon have reached in 14-consecutive games and INF Trey Lawrence brings a 12-game on-base streak into the series.
• Additionally, INF Jackson Lovich recorded the longest hit streak by a Tiger so far this season with a 10-game streak, Feb. 28-March 14, over which he batted .459 (17-for-37).
• OF/1B Cayden Nicoletto recorded a nine-game hit streak (March 1-9) as did C/1B Mateo Serna (Feb. 22-March 8).
HITTIN’ PRETTY
• Mizzou’s offense has found an early groove, posting 16 double-digit hit totals in its first 28 games.
• MU is averaging 9.8 hits per contest, which would project to a season total of 540 total hits; that figure would represent the Tigers’ best over a full season in 13 years (558 in 2012).
• The Tigers’ current .291 season batting average represents their best since 2008, when MU batted .301 for the full campaign.
• Over a 10-game stretch, Feb. 23-March 9, the Tigers racked up 121 hits – an average of 12.1 per game, while scoring at a 9.2 runs/game clip.
• During the same span, Missouri totaled 31 hits over two separate two-game stretches, Feb. 23-25 and March 1-2, marking the Tigers’ top two-game totals since April 28-May 1, 2019.
• Individually, the hits have been coming in bunches, as three Mizzou newcomers have logged four hits (or more) in a game.
• Mizzou has notched five separate 15-hit performances in their first 28 games, already surpassing its 2024 season total of three 15-hit games.
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