Baseball Hosts In-State Rival Missouri State to Open Home Stand

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball returns to Columbia to open a four-game home stand with a non-conference matchup against Missouri State Tuesday (April 15) evening at Taylor Stadium.

Missouri has won the last four contests in its series with MSU and holds a 34-31 overall edge against the Bears. The Tigers are 191-85 in non-conference action since 2014, including a 64-25 mark over the last four seasons since 2022.

Tuesday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Mickey Doolittle and Jack McGrath 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

• Breast Cancer Awareness Night

PITCHING PROBABLES

• LHP Wil Libbert (Mizzou) vs. LHP Brody McNeil (Missouri State)

SERIES HISTORY

• Mizzou brings an all-time series record of 34-31 vs. Missouri State into this season’s home-and-home matchup.
• The Tigers have claimed wins in the last four meetings, marking their longest win streak in the series since 2018-19.
• MU claimed both meetings with the Bears last spring, including a 6-2 win over MSU at Hammons Field (April 16) and a 10-6 victory in Columbia (April 23).
• The Tigers hold a 20-14 edge in games played against the Bears in Columbia, including five wins in their last six meetings at Taylor Stadium, dating back to 2018.
• Mizzou has won nine of the last 11 meetings overall in the series since 2018.

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 12-23 start to the season after dropping all three SEC games at Florida last 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); despite missing the last four games due to injury, the Overland Park, Kan., native has been red-hot at the plate, hitting .407 (35-for-86) with six home runs and 27 RBIs, as well as hits in 17 of his last 23 games, since Feb. 28.
• Sophomore C/1B Mateo Serna has delivered a strong season-opening stretch, logging six home runs and 30 through the first half of the campaign.
• Sophomore OF Kaden Peer reached base safely in 21 consecutive games from Feb. 23-April 2; he leads the Tigers with 10 steals and 25 runs scored.
• Junior DH Gehrig Goldbeck has posted a .440 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, OF Tyler Macon, 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 (.319) through the first half of the season.
• Patterson has burst onto the scene in the last two weeks, hitting .361 with 13 RBIs in his last 11 contests since March 29.
• 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 five mound victories and 62.2 innings thus far.
• RHP Ben Smith has logged 11 scoreless outings in an SEC-leading 16 appearances to date, while RHPs Kaden Jacobi, Xavier Lovett and PJ Green have provided solid relief work for the Tigers as well.

QUICK HITS

• Mizzou pitching has fanned 288 batters in 286.1 innings this season.
• MU has recorded five 15-hit performances to surpass its 2024 season total of three, as well as 18 double-digit hit totals, in just 35 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 10 steals, the Tigers’ running game has netted 55 steals in 70 attempts this season.
• MU ranks fourth in the SEC with a 1.57 steals-per-game average, which projects the Tigers to steal 87 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 club’s 94.
• Mizzou has recorded 20 sacrifice bunts this season, which rates as the second-best total in the SEC and ranks 64th nationally.
• Led by Brock Daniels’ two triples, the Tigers rank second in the SEC with their 10 triples in 2025.
• The Tigers also rank third in the SEC and 33rd nationally in HBPs with 67 on the season; Peer has been hit a team-leading 12 times this spring and 20 times for his career.
• INF Jackson Lovich has logged team-best totals of 12 multi-hit and nine multi-RBI performances; the junior is hitting a team-best .432 (16-for-38) with runners in scoring position, including 3-of-6 with the bases loaded.
• Over MU’s first 35 games of the season, 22 different players have made their debuts in Black and Gold.
• RHP Ben Smith’s 16 mound appearances rank fifth in the SEC and rank 72nd among all Division I pitchers.
• 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 13 baserunners this season.

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE

• Under first-year head coach Joey Hawkins, the Bears are off to a 19-15 start this spring.
• Missouri State’s pitching staff leads the MVC and ranks 51st nationally with 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
• The Bears’ 2.30 K/BB ratio also leads the Valley and ranks 60th nationally.
• D1Baseball.com tabbed the Bears as the favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference this season, with sophomore OF Caden Bogenpohl its preseason player of the year selection and RHP Michael Yusypchuk as its freshman of the year.
• INF Nick Rodriguez leads the Bears with a .371 batting mark to go along with 10 homers and 34 RBIs.
• INF/OF Jake McCutcheon has been MSU’s top power threat so far, hitting 12 round-trippers while hitting .370 and driving in 34 runs.
• 1B Max Knight paces MSU in RBIs with 35 and has nine of the Bears’ 65 home runs to date.
• On the mound, the Bears are led by Yusypchuk and LHP Tyler Charlton, who have combined for seven wins and 95 strikeouts this season.
• Knight has been one of the Bears’ top bullpen arms as well, logging a 2-2 mark, a 4.21 ERA and two saves in 13 relief outings.

LAST TIME WE MET

• Mateo Serna’s grand slam punctuated a six-run outburst and propelled MIzzou to a 10-6 victory over the Bears in Columbia (April 23, 2024).
• With the victory, the Tigers won for the fourth-straight time in the series and completed their second-consecutive season sweep of the Bears.
• Serna drove in a career-high five runs, four of which came on his second home run in as many games this season against the Bears as part of a six-run sixth inning that turned a one-run game into a 9-2 Mizzou advantage.
• The Tigers rode a strong start from Bryce Mayer and back-to-back RBI singles from Kaden Peer and Trevor Austin to an early 2-0 advantage.
• Mayer, who struck out six Bears and scattered five hits over 4.0 scoreless innings, worked out of jams in both the first and second frames, getting inning-ending punchouts in each to keep MSU off the scoreboard.
• Mizzou put its offense into gear with one out in the third, using a Drew Culbertson base hit and a hit batsman to generate its first scoring threat of the game.
• Danny Corona extended the Mizzou lead to three runs in the fourth, driving a first-pitch offering over the wall in center field for his first home run as a Tiger.

NEW LIFE FOR NEUBECK

• LHP Tony Neubeck traversed a long and winding road back from an arm injury that sidelined the junior for better than two years, making his first appearance of the 2025 season April 2 vs. UAPB.
• Neubeck worked an inning of the Tigers’ 8-7 victory over UAPB, striking out one and allowing a pair of hits in his first mound appearance since March 19, 2023 – a span of 745 days.
• The lefty from Hugo, Minn., earned the starting nod at No. 2 Arkansas, marking his first start since March 4, 2023 vs. Texas Southern.
• He also turned in 2 1/3 scoreless innings at Florida (April 12), striking out a pair of Gators while allowing just one hit and one walk.

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 17 home games of the 2025 season.
• MU has hit .316 with 182 hits, 20 homers and 141 runs scored (8.3 rpg.) over its first 17 home games.
• INF Jackson Lovich leads the way with a .438 batting mark at Taylor this season, including at least one hit in 14 of the Tigers’ 17 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.
• 1B/OF Cayden Nicoletto has been hot at home as well, boasting a .370 average in his 15 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).

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 55 bases in its first 35 games.
• MU is 55-of-70 in stolen base attempts to date, including a streak of at least one steal in 11 consecutive games (Feb. 15-March 2).
• Mizzou’s 55 steals rank fourth in the SEC.
• OF Kaden Peer (10-for-11) and INF/OF Brock Daniels (7-for-9) have led the Tigers’ charge on the basepaths, combining to go 17-of-20 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 1.57 steals-per-game, the Tigers are projected to steal 87 bases this spring, which would rank as the No. 3 season total in program history, trailing only the 2019 Tigers’ 101 steals and the 2011 club’s 94.
• In all, 15 different Tigers have successfully swiped at least one base this season.

IN THE CLUTCH

• The Tigers have produced an average of 6.7 runs per contest over their first 35 games thanks in large part to a lineup that has received balanced production in the clutch.
• As a team, Missouri is batting .296 (114-for-385) with runners in scoring position, including .315 (17-for-54) with the bases loaded.
• INF Jackson Lovich has been the Tigers top performer in such situations, hitting .421 (16-for-38) this spring with runners in scoring position and 3-for-6 with the bases full.
• Lovich has also been Mizzou’s top two-out hitter, recording a team-best 14 two-out RBIs.
• INF Peyton Basler has logged four hits with the bases loaded, and INF Cayden Nicoletto has hit .353 with runners in scoring position.

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.

Advertisement