Baseball Primed for Midweek Matchup with Kansas

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball renews one of its oldest and most frequently contested rivalries Tuesday when it hosts Kansas for a 6 p.m. (CDT) non-conference matchup at Taylor Stadium.

Tuesday’s game will mark the 354th all-time meeting of the teams, making KU the Tigers most frequent opponent. The Tigers hold a 220-131-2 all-time lead in the series which dates back 124 years to the 1901 season. The Jayhawks claimed the first meeting of 2025 last Tuesday in Lawrence, scoring six times over the first four innings en route to a 9-3 victory.

Tuesday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Mickey Doolittle and Ashley Moore handling broadcast duties. All Mizzou baseball contests in 2025 will be produced by the Tiger Radio Network streaming via the Varsity Network app (by searching ‘Missouri’), with Tex Little and Matt Michaels on the call.

Mizzou baseball single-game tickets are on sale now through the Mizzou Athletics ticket office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS or by visiting MUTigers.com.

PROMOTIONS

• FSL Day // Happy Hour (half-price beer) // Autographs with Mizzou Football (5-6 p.m.) // Sunglasses Giveaway (first 250 fans)

PITCHING PROBABLES

• TBD (Mizzou) vs. TBD (Kansas)

SERIES HISTORY

• Tuesday’s game will mark the 354th meeting of the Tigers and Jayhawks.
• Mizzou holds a 220-131-2 all-time edge over KU, following the Jayhawks’ 9-3 win last Tuesday in Lawrence.
• The Tigers are 86-32-1 all-time vs. Kansas at home, including wins in each of the last two meetings in Columbia – a 9-7 win on May 2, 2023 and a 14-6 decision on April 6, 2022 at Taylor Stadium.
• Last season, the Tigers and Jayhawks split their home-and-home series, with Mizzou pulling out a 5-4 win in 10 innings in Lawrence (March 12), before KU stopped the Tigers’ four-game series win streak with a 4-3 victory in another 10-inning affair at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City (March 19).

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 a 13-34 start to the season after dropping all three of its SEC games against No. 9 Georgia over the weekend.
• The Tigers return four position starters from last season, led by junior INF 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 .379 (47-for-124) with seven home runs and 35 RBIs, as well as hits in 27 of his last 35 games since Feb. 28.
• Sophomore OF Kaden Peer reached base safely in 21 consecutive games from Feb. 23-April 2; he leads the Tigers with 12 steals, while logging five home runs, 28 RBIs and 31 runs scored.
• Additionally, newcomers OF Pierre Seals, DH Gehrig Goldbeck, OF Cameron Benson, INF Peyton Basler, INF Keegan Knutson, OF Tyler Macon, INF 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, hitting .282 with six homers and 22 RBIs through the first 47 games of the season.
• Patterson burst onto the scene in April, driving in 15 runs in his last 23 contests since March 29.
• Seals has been red-hot over the same stretch, batting a team-leading .348 while slugging .561 with four home runs in his last 21 contests.
• Knutson has made 34 starts on the Tigers’ infield, logging a team-best seven doubles to date.
• On the mound, senior RHP Kaden Jacobi has recorded  44 punchouts in 41.0 innings while filling a number of roles on the Tigers’ pitching staff.
• Graduate LHP Ian Lohse is enjoying his best season as a Tiger after registering 41 strikeouts in just 31.2 innings of work.
• LHP Kadden Drew and redshirt freshman LHP Wil Libbert have combined for five mound victories and 73 strikeouts over their 76.2 total innings thus far.
• RHP Ben Smith has logged 11 scoreless outings in a team-high 21 appearances, while RHPs Xavier Lovett and PJ Green have combined for all three of the Tigers’ saves this spring.

QUICK HITS

• Missouri pitching has fanned 386 batters in 381.1 innings this season, marking the 29th time in the last 30 years the Tigers have topped the 300-K plateau.
• Mizzou has recorded five 15-hit performances to surpass its 2024 season total of three, as well as 20 double-digit hit totals, in 47 contests this spring.
• Led by Kaden Peer with 12 steals, the Tigers’ running game has netted 62 steals in 83 attempts.
• Peer has been hit by 17 pitches this season, which ranks sixth in the SEC; he has 25 HBPs for his Mizzou career.
• MU ranks sixth in the SEC with a 1.32 steals-per-game average, which projects the Tigers to steal 73 bases over their 55-game slate; that total would tie for the No. 9 season total in program history.
• Mizzou has recorded 26 sacrifice bunts this season, which rates as the second-best total in the SEC and ranks 57th nationally.
• Jackson Lovich brings the top career batting record against KU into Tuesday’s game, logging a .417 average over his four previous outings vs. the Jayhawks.
• Led by Lovich and Brock Daniels’ two triples, the Tigers rank third in the SEC with their 13 triples.
• The Tigers also rank third in the SEC and 39th nationally in HBPs with 86 on the season; that total currently is tied as the eighth-best single-season total in program history.
• Lovich has logged team-best totals of 14 multi-hit and 11 multi-RBI performances; the junior is hitting a team-best .447 (21-for-47) with runners in scoring position, including 4-of-7 with the bases loaded.
• Pierre Seals recorded his 100th career hit in Sunday’s game vs. Georgia, after Brock Lucas topped the 100-strikeout plateau in Saturday’s contest.
• Ben Smith’s 21 mound appearances are tied for fifth in the SEC.
• Mizzou’s catching combination of Jedier Hernandez and Mateo Serna has already teamed up to nail 16 baserunners this season, surpassing their 2024 season total of 15.

SCOUTING KANSAS

• Under third-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald, the Jayhawks are off to a 36-13 start to the season.
• Kansas enters Tuesday’s contest batting .295 as a team, which ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference.
• The Jayhawks lead the Big 12 in home runs (88), ranking eighth in the nation, led by INF/OF Jackson Hauge’s 17 round-trippers.
• INF Brady Ballinger paces KU with his .372 batting average, 62 runs scored, 67 hits, 49 walks and 16 doubles.
• INF/OF Brady Counsell has been a force in the Jayhawks batting order as well, totaling 12 homers, 54 RBIs and 10 doubles through the first 49 games of the season.
• KU leads the Big 12 in scoring (8.6 runs per game) and walks (314), ranking fourth in the country in the latter category.
• On the mound, KU has compiled a 5.07 team ERA and five shutouts on the season.
• RHP Dominic Voegele and RHP Cooper Moore lead the Jayhawks’ rotation; Voegele has a team-leading six mound victories and 68 strikeouts in 74.0 innings to date, while Moore has gone 5-1 with a 3.79 ERA in 11 total appearances.
• RHP Alex Breckheimer leads the Jayhawks with five saves in a team-best 26 relief appearances.

LAST TIME WE MET

• Kansas scored six times in the first four innings and relied on a strong effort from its bullpen in a 9-3 win over the Tigers last Tuesday in Lawrence.
• Brady Counsell’s three-run homer in the bottom of the first wiped out an early 1-0 Mizzou lead and fueled the Jayhawks’ early surge.
• KU starting pitcher Malakai Vetock and six relievers held Mizzou to two earned runs on seven hits.
• The home run for Counsell – his 11th of the season – came on the first pitch he saw from Mizzou starter Josh Kirchhoff following a Tigers throwing error that gave the home club a pair of baserunners with just one out.
• Counsell, who added a two-run single to stretch the KU lead to four runs in the fourth, finished 2-for-3 with a career-high five RBIs to power the Jayhawks’ offense.
• Kaden Peer opened the scoring with a towering home run to right off Vetock with one out in the first, staking Mizzou to the early one-run lead; The Tigers’ center fielder came up with a defensive gem in the second as well, throwing out a
• Jayhawks baserunner at third to prevent a big inning after Ian Francis’ RBI-single made it a 4-1 game.]
• The Tigers pushed a two-out run home in the third, taking advantage of a wild pitch and the aggressive baserunning of Jackson Lovich and Pierre Seals to draw to within two runs.

MILESTONE WATCH

• Several Tigers have reached or are approaching career milestones this season, most recently with OF Pierre Seals reaching the 100-hit standard for his Division I career in Sunday’s setback to No. 9 Georgia.
• Seals became the third Tiger to top the 100-hit mark this season after Cameron Benson achieved the feat on April 6 at Arkansas and INF Jackson Lovich also reached the plateau on April 12 at Florida.
• Lovich also needs just one more home run to reach the 20-homer milestone for his career.
• On the mound, Brock Lucas topped the 100-strikeout barrier for his Mizzou career with his five K’s in Saturday’s game vs. Georgia.
• Ian Lohse is just four strikeouts away from the 150-mark for his career, while Tony Neubeck (98) is within striking distance of joining both Lohse and Lucas in the 100-K club.

THROWING SMOKE

• Mizzou’s pitching staff has posted a strong first half in the strikeout department, logging 288 punchouts in 286.1 total innings.
• The Tigers’ 9.1 strikeouts per game average projects to 501 K’s for the regular season, which would be their top season total since 2019, when MU registered a program-record 559 strikeouts.
• Individually, RHP James Vaughn leads the Tigers with his 12.83 K/9.0 IP rate, while five additional MU hurlers – RHP Victor Christal, LHP Brady Kehlenbrink, LHP Ian Lohse, RHP Seth McCartney and RHP Ben Smith – bring rates of 10.0 K’s per game or better into Tuesday’s game.
• LHP Ian Lohse leads the Tigers with a 3.3 K/BB ratio, to go along with his season average of 11.83 K/9.0 IP.

HOME COOKIN’

• The Tigers have found the conditions at Taylor Stadium much to their liking over their first 24 home games of the 2025 season.
• MU has hit .290 with 228 hits, 25 homers and 169 runs scored (7.04 rpg.) over its first 24 home games.
• Jackson Lovich leads the way with a .412 batting mark at Taylor this season, including at least one hit in 20 of the Tigers’ 24 home games.
• Lovich turned in a game to remember April 1 vs. UAPB, driving in eight runs – the most by a Tiger in seven years and just one shy of the program record of nine, shared by Jacob Priday and Brian Sharp.
• Cayden Nicoletto has been hot at home as well, boasting a .324 average in his 21 games at Taylor, including a pair of four-hit games and a grand slam.
• Nicoletto was one of six Tigers to hit better than .400 for the week of Feb. 24-March 2, three of whom posted four-hit performances or better (Cameron Benson and Brady Picarelli).

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

• Missouri enters the week with 86 hit-by-pitches as a team, a total that ranks third in the SEC and 39th nationally.
• The Tigers current total is tied for the eighth-best total in program history, 22 HBPs behind the 2005 club’s school record (108).
• Kaden Peer has been plunked a team-high 17 times this spring, good for No. 3 average (0.40) of HBPs in the SEC and the No. 6 total in school history.
• Peer has been hit 25 times in 81 career contests, which leads all active Mizzou players.
• A total of 13 Mizzou players have been hit by a pitch this season, including five who have drawn at least eight free passes by being struck by a pitch — Peer (17), Peyton Basler (10), Mateo Serna (10), Gehrig Goldbeck (9) and Brock Daniels (9).

TIGERS AT THE TURNSTILES

• For the third year in a row, Mizzou baseball fans are leaving their mark, with the Tigers averaging 1,348 spectators per home date this season, a figure that ranks as the third-best in program history.
• With their announced crowd of 1,395 spectators for the final home game of the 2024 season vs. Auburn (May 12), the Tigers established a program single-season record for total attendance, finishing with 39,167 in 28 home dates.
• Additionally, the Tigers’ average 2024 home crowd of 1,399 ranked second all-time in program history, trailing only their 2023 average of 1,614.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS
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