Baseball Set for First-Ever Meeting With Binghamton This Weekend at Taylor

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball looks to build momentum this weekend when it hosts Binghamton for a four-game non-conference series at Taylor Stadium.

The Tigers (6-6) and Bearcats (3-6) will open the series with a 5 p.m. contest Friday evening, followed by a Saturday afternoon doubleheader, which is slated for a 1 p.m. start. The two clubs will conclude the set with a seven-inning game Sunday, also scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

The first (Friday) and fourth (Sunday) games of the series will be streamed live on SEC Network+. Additionally, all Mizzou baseball contests in 2025 will be produced by the Tiger Radio Network for audio streaming via the Varsity Network app (by searching ‘Missouri’), with Tex Little and Matt Michaels handling broadcast duties.

Mizzou baseball single-game and 2025 season tickets are on sale now. Fans can purchase season tickets by calling the ticket office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS or by visiting MUTigers.com.

PROMOTIONS

• Friday, March 7 – Mizzou Hawaiian Shirt Giveaway (first 300 fans)
• Sunday, March 9 – Kids Run the Bases (postgame)

PITCHING PROBABLES

• Game 1 – Friday, March 7 (5 p.m.) – LHP Ian Lohse (Mizzou) vs. RHP Ryan Packard (Binghamton)
• Game 2 – Saturday, March 8 (1 p.m.) – LHP Wil Libbert (Mizzou) vs. RHP Brady Bouchard (Binghamton)
• Game 3 – Saturday, March 8 (TBD) – LHP Kadden Drew (Mizzou) vs. TBD (Binghamton)
• Game 4 – Sunday, March 9 (1 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. RHP Colin Rhein (Binghamton)

SERIES HISTORY

• Friday’s series opener will mark the first meeting of the Tigers and Bearcats.
• Mizzou has a limited history with the America East Conference, bringing a 6-2 all-time edge vs. the current membership of the conference into the series.
• The Tigers bring a 3-2 home mark this season into the series.

SCOUTING MISSOURI

• Missouri is coming off a 23-32  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 6-6 start to the season after taking three of its first five home games of 2025 last week.
• 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).
• Senior C Jedier Hernandez is back as well, following a solid debut season with the Tigers last spring, providing clutch hitting and lock-down defense.
• Junior INF/OF Brock Daniels turned in a breakthrough year in 2024, registering a .296 batting mark, four home runs and 11 stolen bases.
• Sophomore C/1B Mateo Serna has delivered a strong season-opening stretch, bringing a team-leading .333 average with a home run and six RBIs into Tuesday’s game.
• Sophomore OF Kaden Peer, who started 36 games in the Mizzou outfield as a freshman last spring, will be looking for a breakout season as well; he drove in 20 runs in 2024 and already has posted four multi-efforts in 2025.
• Additionally, newcomers OF Pierre Seals, OF Cameron Benson, OF Brady Picarelli and INF Blake Simpson have made an immediate impact on the Tigers’ offensive fortunes; Picarelli, in particular, has been red-hot at the plate, hitting .412 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in four outings last week.
• On the mound, junior RHP Brock Lucas returns after going 4-0 with a 3.63 ERA in 18 relief appearances last spring; junior LHP Daniel Wissler (3-1, 4.38 ERA), graduate LHP Ian Lohse (31 K’s in 29.1 IP), LHP Kadden Drew (DNP in 2024 due to injury) and redshirt freshman LHP Wil Libbert have each drawn starting assignments over the first three weeks of the season.
• RHP Ben Smith has logged four scoreless outings in five appearances to date, while RHPs Kaden Jacobi, Xavier Lovett and James Vaughn have provided solid relief work for the Tigers as well.
• Mizzou pitching has fanned 106 batters in 102.0 innings this season, including a total of 42 K’s over its five home contests.

MIZZOU BY THE NUMBERS

• Missouri is hitting .372 as a team to go 4-2 over its last six contests.
• The Tigers have scored 63 of their 90 runs on the season during the last six contests, an average of 10.5 runs per game.
• Mizzou has recorded three different 15-hit performances to match its 2024 season total.
• 1B/OF Cayden Nicoletto is coming off a 4-for-5 game Sunday vs. Evansville and has gone 12-for-21 (.571) over the last six games.
• Led by INF/OF Brock Daniels and OF Kaden Peer with six stolen bases apiece, the Tigers’ running game has netted 27 steals in 30 attempts this season, including at least one stolen base in each of their last 11 games (since Feb. 15).
• In MU’s first 12 games of the 2025 season, 21 different players have 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 six baserunners in the Tigers’ first 12 games this season.
• Serna, who reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch in 13 consecutive starts last spring, has reached safely in 11-straight games, hitting .362 with two homers and 12 RBIs over the same stretch.
• Rookie OF Brady Picarelli’s has turned in a hot streak matched by few Tigers, let alone fellow freshmen; he went 2-for-2 with his first collegiate homer vs. Southern (Feb. 23), then posted the first five-hit performance by a Mizzou freshman in 20 years in last Tuesday’s home opener vs. Lindenwood.
• Led by 3B Jackson Lovich’s four triples in 2024, the Tigers tied for third in the SEC in three-base hits with 11 last spring, marking the third-straight season MU has finished with a double-digit total for triples.
• OF Cameron Benson currently owns a five-game hit streak and has reached base safely in seven-straight contests after matching a career best with his 4-for-5 effort vs. Lindenwood.
• LHP Ian Lohse has averaged 12.85 strikeouts per nine innings while registering a 6.7 strikeout-walk ratio over his first three starts of the season.
• RHP Kaden Jacobi has fanned 14 batters while allowing just two earned runs (1.69 ERA) over his last three relief outings, spanning 10.2 total innings.
• LHP Kadden Drew has earned back-to-back mound victories with a pair of 6.0-inning starts to top Southern and Evansville; the junior has allowed just two runs on seven hits over the 12.0 combined innings.

SCOUTING BINGHAMTON

• Under the direction of 33^rd-year head coach Tim Sinicki, Binghamton brings a 3-6 season mark into Friday’s series opener.
• The Bearcats are coming off a 21-29 season in 2024.
• Binghamton is hitting .214 as a team through nine games, led by C Zach Rogacki’s .355 batting mark; 1B Freddy Forgione (.321 BA) is the only other BU regular hitting above .300.
• On the hill, RHP Ryan Packard leads the rotation with a 1-0 season mark and 1.20 ERA, to go along with a team-leading 14 strikeouts and .154 BAA through three appearances.
• Fellow weekend starters RHP Colin Rhein and RHP Brady Bouchard have combined to work 25.0 innings to anchor the rotation.
• BU’s pitching staff has registered a 5.96 ERA to date.

OFF AND RUNNING

• Mizzou has bolted from the starting gate offensively, thanks at least in part to a consistent running game that has resulted in the Tigers swiping 27 bases in its first 12 games.
• Mizzou is 27-of-30 in stolen base attempts to date, including a streak of at least one steal in 11 consecutive games (dating back to Feb. 15).
• Mizzou’s 27 steals rank 34th nationally and fourth in the SEC, trailing only Oklahoma (33), Kentucky (32) and Florida (29).
• INF/OF Brock Daniels (6-for-6) and OF Kaden Peer (6-for-6) have led the Tigers’ charge on the basepaths, combining to go 12-for-12 in steal attempts so far this season.
• In last Tuesday’s 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.

HOME COOKIN’

• The Tigers found the friendly confines of Taylor Stadium much to their liking over their first five home games of the season.
• Mizzou hit .369 with 66 hits – both SEC bests – in its five contests last week, raising its overall team batting mark from .245 to .298.
• 1B/OF Cayden Nicoletto led the Tigers with a .529 average last week, including an 8-for-14 performance in MU’s four-game series with Evansville (Feb. 28-March 2).
• Nicoletto was one of six Tigers to hit better than .400 last week, three of which posted four-hit performances or better (Cameron Benson and Brady Picarelli).
• Last year, the Tigers hit .285 at Taylor Stadium as a team, averaging 7.8 runs per contest at home.
• In its last 41 home games since May 2, 2023, Mizzou has flourished offensively at Taylor, hitting a combined .308, while clubbing 64 total home runs and averaging 8.6 runs per outing at home.

HITTIN’ PRETTY

• Mizzou’s offense has found an early groove, posting eight double-digit hit totals in its first 12 games.
• In their last six contests alone, the Tigers have racked up 80 hits – an average of 13.3 per game, while scoring at a 10.5 runs/game clip.
• During the same span, Missouri has 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:
  • Brady Picarelli – 5-for-5 vs. Lindenwood (Feb. 25)
  • Cameron Benson – 4-for-4 vs. Lindenwood (Feb. 25)
  • Cayden Nicoletto – 4-for-5 vs. Evansville (March 1)
• As a team, the Tigers rank 48th in all of Division I baseball in total hits (124) for the season.
• The Tigers have notched three separate 15-hit performances in their first 12 games, already equaling their 2024 season total of 15-hit games.

SERNA STREAKING

• Mizzou C/1B Mateo Serna has been one of the Tigers’ most consistent hitters over the first three weeks of the season, brining a .340 batting mark and team-best 17 hits into this weekend’s series.
• Serna, a sophomore from Doral, Fla., also brings a career-best seven-game hit streak into Friday’s game; during the same stretch, he has batted .375 (12-for-32) with three multi-hit games and at least one RBI in all but one of those contests (eight RBIs total).
• Serna has reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch in 11-straight games dating back to Feb. 15, which is just two contests shy of his personal best of 13 straight (March 26-May 10, 2024).
• Additionally, Cayden Nicoletto and Cameron Benson each bring five-game hit streaks into Friday’s opener.

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