COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball travels to Sauget, Ill., Tuesday for a 6 p.m., non-conference matchup against Illinois at Grizzlies Ballpark.
Despite dropping an 11-3 decision to the Fighting Illini last March in the two clubs’ most-recent meeting, the Tigers hold a narrow 16-15-1 all-time series edge against Illinois, including a 10-5 mark in neutral-site contests. Mizzou also brings a 60-25 record in non-conference action since the start of the 2022 season into Tuesday’s game.
All Mizzou baseball contests in 2025 will be produced by the Tiger Radio Network and streamed via the Varsity Network app (by searching ‘Missouri’), with Tex Little and Matt Michaels handling broadcast duties.
PITCHING PROBABLES
• LHP Wil Libbert (Mizzou) vs. TBD (Illinois)
SERIES HISTORY
• Mizzou and Illinois meet for the 33rd time on the diamond when the Braggin’ Rights series returns to Grizzlies Ballpark Tuesday.
• The Tigers hold a slim 16-15-1 all-time series edge
• Last year, the Fighting Illini claimed an 11-3 victory last March in Sauget, snapping a two-game skid in the series vs. MU.
• Mizzou has won 10 of the last 15 contests in the series (dating back to 1988) averaging 6.2 runs per outing during the same stretch.
• The Tigers bring a 221-163-1 all-time mark vs. the current membership of the Big Ten Conference into Tuesday’s game, including an opening day loss to Penn State this season (Feb. 14).
• Mizzou owns a .500 record or better against all but two Big Ten programs (Ohio State and Purdue).
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 an 8-14 start to the season after dropping all three of its SEC games with Ole Miss this past weekend.
• 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 .463 (25-for-54) with four home runs and 15 RBIs with hits in 13 of his last 14 games since Feb. 28.
• Junior INF/OF Brock Daniels brings a five-game hit streak into Tuesday’s contest; he logged a season-high four RBIs Saturday vs. Ole Miss.
• Sophomore C/1B Mateo Serna has delivered a strong season-opening stretch, bringing team-leading totals of six home runs and 22 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’s homered three times in the Tigers’ first 22 games to already surpass his 2024 season total, while also going 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts to start the new campaign.
• Additionally, newcomers OF Pierre Seals, OF Cameron Benson, OF Brady Picarelli and 1B/OF Cayden Nicoletto have made an immediate impact on the Tigers’ offensive fortunes; Nicoletto, in particular, brings Mizzou’s top batting mark (.371) into the week.
• 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 (39 K’s in 34.1 IP) is enjoying his best season as a Tiger after registering at least six strikeouts in all but one of his six starts to date, including a career-best eight punchouts in last Friday’s series opener vs. Ole Miss.
• LHP Kadden Drew and redshirt freshman LHP Wil Libbert have each drawn weekend starting assignments over the first six weeks of the season.
• RHP Ben Smith has logged nine scoreless outings in 11 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
• Missouri pitching has fanned 195 batters in 189.0 innings this season, including a total of 117 K’s over its 12 home contests.
• Mizzou has • recorded four 15-hit performances to surpass its 2024 season total of three, as well as 13 double-digit hit totals in just 22 contests.
• 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 seven steals in seven attempts, the Tigers’ running game has netted 37 steals in 43 attempts this season; MU ranks third in the SEC in steals per game (1.68).
• Peer has reached base safely in 15-straight contests since Feb. 23, matching the longest such streak by a Tiger since Jackson Lovich reached safely in 18 consecutive games to start the 2024 season (Feb. 16-March 15).
• In MU’s first 22 games of the season, 22 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 nine baserunners in the Tigers’ first 22 games this season.
• Serna reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch in 14 consecutive games, Feb. 15-March 8, including a career-best nine-game hit streak (Feb. 22-March 8), over which he batted .381 (16-for-42) with a six-game RBI streak (Feb. 22-March 1).
• LHP Ian Lohse hiked his career strikeout total to 141 with a career-best eight K’s vs. Ole Miss (March 21).
SCOUTING ILLINOIS
• Under the direction of 20th-year head coach Dan Hartleb, the Fighting Illini enter the week 12-9 overall after dropping two of three Big Ten games to Northwestern over the weekend.
• The Illini enter Tuesday’s game hitting .293 as a club, led by Grant Ross’s .380 batting average.
• Jack Zebig leads the club with 29 RBIs to go along with six round-trippers, while Kyle Schupmann has hit seven homers to pace Illinois.
• Nick Groves leads the Illini running game with 10 steals in 13 attempts, while also hitting at a .365 clip.
• On the mound, Illinois has posted a 6.68 team ERA through 21 games.
• Reliever Zach Bates paces the staff with an 0.95 WHIP spanning seven appearances.
• Sam Reed has been one of the top arms out of the Illini bullpen as well with 17 strikeouts in 19.0 innings over six total outings.
LAST TIME WE MET
• Illinois scored in five of the first seven innings to build a nine-run cushion, stopping Mizzou’s two-game win streak in the Braggin’ Rights series with an 11-3 victory on March 26 at Grizzlies Ballpark.
• The Illini tallied five of their first nine runs on a pair of swings of the bat — a three-run homer by Ryan Moerman in the third inning and a two-run shot from Drake Westcott in the sixth — and rode a strong pitching performance from Jake Rons and three relievers to victory.
• Rons held the Tigers to a single run on three hits, striking out seven hitters over the first 4.0 innings, before Korey Bunselmeyer and Ben Plumley each contributed two-inning relief stints.
• OF Jackson Beaman (3-for-4) and OF Kaden Peer (2-for-4) sparked the Mizzou offense with multi-hit performances, while RHP Ben Smith’s two hitless innings highlighted the Tigers’ mound efforts.
HITTIN’ PRETTY
• Mizzou’s offense has found an early groove, posting 13 double-digit hit totals in its first 22 games.
• 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 on four occasions:
• 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) and 4-for-5 vs. Binghamton (March 8)
• Mizzou has notched four separate 15-hit performances in their first 22 games, already surpassing its 2024 season total of three 15-hit games.
GOING STREAKING
• Several Tigers have logged notable streaks this season; OF Cameron Benson brings a six-game hit streak (since Feb. 16) into Tuesday’s action, while OF Kaden Peer has reached base safely in 15 consecutive games going back to Feb. 23, going 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts over the same span.
• Peer’s streak marks the longest by a Tiger since INF Jackson Lovich reached in 18-straight games to start the 2024 campaign (Feb. 16-March 15).
• INF Trey Lawrence has reached base safely in 11-straight games for the Tigers as well.
• Additionally, INF Jackson Lovich hit in 10-straight games (Feb. 28-March 14), batting .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).
NON-CON DOMINANCE
• Mizzou concluded the 2024 season with a 14-11 record against non-conference opponents.
• The Tigers clinched a winning non-conference season slate for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons; only MU’s 2021 squad (7-14) failed to reach the .500 mark vs. non-SEC foes over that span.
• MU logged a 20-3 mark against non-SEC foes in 2023, after going 18-3 in non-league games in 2022.
• MU has an overall mark of 60-25 in non-SEC competition since the start of the 2022 season.
• Over the last decade, the Tigers’ dominance has been equally impressive, with MU winning 102 more non-conference games than it has lost (187-85).
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