Baseball Concludes Home Stand Against Purdue Fort Wayne

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball concludes its longest home stand of the season this weekend when the Tigers welcome Purdue Fort Wayne to Columbia for a four-game series at Taylor Stadium.

The Tigers and Mastadons will open the series with a 3 p.m. (CST) contest Friday (March 8), before squaring off in a Noon doubleheader on Saturday (March 9) and concluding the set with a single game Sunday (March 10) at 3 p.m.

The series marks the Tigers’ final weekend of nonconference play before opening the 2024 SEC season next week against Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Each of the four games will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with Max Thoma and Casey Roehl calling the action. All Mizzou baseball games in 2024 will be produced by the Tiger Radio Network and streamed live through the Varsity Network App (by searching ‘Missouri’) with Tex Little and Matt Michaels once again handling broadcast duties.

PROMOTIONS

Youth Sports Day/CSP Day (Saturday) – Ticket specials for CPS friends and family
Family Day (Sunday) – Kids run the bases, postgame autographs

PITCHING PROBABLES

Game 1 (Friday, March 8 – 3 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. RHP Mac Ayres (Purdue Fort Wayne)
Game 2 (Saturday, March 9 – 12 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. RHP Carter Sabol (Purdue Fort Wayne)
Game 3 (Saturday, March 9 – 3:30 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. RHP Josh Kuhns (Purdue Fort Wayne)
Game 4 (Sunday, March 10 – 1 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. RHP Brody Fine (Purdue Fort Wayne)

SERIES HISTORY

Friday’s series opener will mark just the second meeting of Purdue Fort Wayne and Missouri.
The Mastadons hold a 1-0 edge over Mizzou after claiming an 11-8 victory in the only previous matchup of the two schools on March 1, 2014 in Little Rock.
MU’s series with IPFW is its second straight weekend set against a member of the Horizon League, following Northern Kentucky’s visit to Taylor Stadium last week.
Mizzou brings a 14-7 all-time mark against the current membership of the Horizon League into this weekend’s series.

SCOUTING MISSOURI

Missouri posted a 30-24 regular-season finish last spring, including a 10-20 SEC mark.
Kerrick Jackson was named the 15th head coach in Mizzou history in June, 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.
The Tigers return three regular starters from last season, led by senior INF/OF Trevor Austin, who batted .311 with eight homers and 10 steals to help bolster the MU offense.
Senior INF Matt Garcia turned in a solid debut season with the Tigers, providing clutch hitting and lock-down defense on the MU infield.
MU should also receive a lift from sophomore INF Jackson Lovich and junior OF Juju Stevens, who each made key contributions in limited duty in 2023.
Several newcomers could also make early contributions, including junior INF Danny Corona, who helped Wake Forest to a 2023 College World Series berth, C Jedier Hernandez, a standout behind the plate for Seton Hall the last two seasons, and sophomore OF Jeric Curtis, a Texas Tech transfer who brings significant speed to the Tiger outfield and batting order.
On the mound, sophomore RHP Logan Lunceford is back to help anchor Mizzou’s weekend rotation after posting 68 strikeouts to lead all SEC freshman hurlers last spring.
Junior LHP Javyn Pimental also contributed mightily to the Tigers’ mound efforts in 2023, making eight starts for the Tigers.
Mizzou should also benefit from the potential return of a pair of veterans who missed significant time last spring; left-hander Ian Lohse and RHP Carter Rustad missed significant portions of 2023 due to injury following promising starts to the campaign.
New arms like RHP Xavier Lovett and RHP Bryce Mayer could compete for starting rotation spots, while RHP Jacob Peaden may give the back end of the Tigers’ bullpen a strong presence.

MIZZOU BY THE NUMBERS

Missouri is coming off a 30-win campaign last spring, which marked the 20th time the Tigers reached the 30-win plateau in the last 30 seasons, as well as the 35th time overall.
1B Jackson Lovich leads the Tigers with four homers and 15 RBIs, the latter of which is tied for 14th among all SEC hitters.
Lovich has reached base safely via a hit or walk in all 12 contests this season and brings a career-best seven-game hit streak into Friday’s game.
LHP Daniel Wissler shares the team lead with two victories (good for eighth in the SEC) after striking out a career-best five hitters Tuesday vs. Lindenwood.
2B Trevor Austin has been hit by an SEC-leading eight pitches so far in 2024, which is the seventh-best total in the nation. The senior from Jefferson City has been plunked 37 times in his Mizzou career.
C Jedier Hernandez has gunned down three would-be basestealers on the season to lead the SEC.
RHP Ben Pedersen has logged three consecutive scoreless relief outings in his return from a two-year absence due to injuries. The 6-foot-6 Minnesota native has allowed just one hit over a combined 2 1/3 innings.
OF Thomas Curry enjoyed a debut to remember at Cal Poly, as the freshman paced all Mizzou hitters with his .444 average, while homering and driving in four runs.
RHP Carter Rustad notched career victory No. 14 last Saturday vs. NKU.
As a team, Mizzou has been hit by 28 pitches this season, good for fourth in the SEC.
RHP Jacob Peaden shares the SEC lead for saves (3 and games finished (5), while RHP Charlie Miller’s total of six mound appearances is tied for the top figure in the circuit.
Mizzou is hitting .297 as a team at home.
The Tigers rank fourth in the conference in stolen bases (18) as well, led by OF Jeric Curtis’ five steals.
In their last 12 home games at Taylor Stadium dating back to May 2, 2023, the Tigers have hit .332 (129-for-389) as a team, with 33 home runs, while averaging 10.9 runs per contest.
In last Saturday’s 28-10 rout of Northern Kentucky, Mizzou scored 14 times in the first inning, marking its biggest rally since 2005.
The Tigers’ 28 runs in the victory not only marked the most for an SEC squad this season, but also represented their top single-game total since a 28-2 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on March 24, 2010.

SCOUTING PURDUE FORT WAYNE

Purdue Fort Wayne brings a 4-9 season mark into Friday’s opener under fifth-year head coach Doug Schreiber.
The Mastadons are led at the plate by junior INF Camden Karczewski, who brings a .362 average into the weekend.
OF Nate Simpson and OF Grant Thoroman are each hitting .347 with a pair of homers for PFW.
On the mound, RHP Sean Kasper paces the staff with a 3.72 ERA in five appearances (two starts), while RHP Kevin Fee (1-0, 4.72 ERA) leads the staff with nine strikeouts over 13.1 IP.

NOW THAT’S A RALLY

Mizzou utilized a first-inning rally of historic proportions to log its first home victory of 2024 — a 28-10 rout of Northern Kentucky last Saturday.
The Tigers sent 17 batters to the plate in scoring 14 runs in the opening frame, marking their biggest inning since a 17-run rally vs. Texas Tech on April 1, 2005.
In that 25-0 win over Texas Tech, current Tiger assistant coach Bryson LeBlanc factored prominently in the Tigers’ key rally, walking twice and scoring twice before grounding out in a second inning that saw 23 MU hitters come to the plate.

HOME COOKIN’

Mizzou has found the friendly confines of Taylor Stadium much to its liking over a recent offensive surge spanning the last seven home games of the 2023 campaign and its first five home contests of the new season.
Since May 2 of last year, the Tigers have hit .332 as a team while homering 33 times and averaging nearly 11 runs per outing.
Over the same stretch, Mizzou has scored in double-digits seven times and registered at least 10 hits eight different times in going 8-4 at Taylor.

LOVIN’ LOVICH

1B Jackson Lovich will bring a career-best seven-game hit streak into Friday’s game.
The sophomore from Overland Park, Kan., is hitting .357 (10-for-28) with three of his four home runs on the season and 11 RBIs during the same stretch.
Lovich has slugged a team-best .652 for the season and has reached base safely via a hit or walk in all 12 contests in 2024.
He also leads the Tigers in multi-hit (5) and multi-RBI (5) games and ranks 14th in the SEC in RBIs (15).

WELCOME MATT

INF Matt Garcia barely missed a beat in his two-week absence due to injury to start the 2024 season, logging a 2-for-3 afternoon in his first start of the year Tuesday in Mizzou’s win over Lindenwood.
The Orlando, Fla., product reached base in three of his four trips to the plate, including back-to-back singles and a stolen base.
Garcia started 37 games on the Tigers infield in his first season with Mizzou last spring and will once again provide a defensive anchor for MU after fielding at a .977 clip in 2023.

TARGET: TREVOR

2B Trevor Austin has made a habit of reaching base throughout his four-year career with the Tigers, particularly when it comes to serving as a target, logging 37 free bases due to hit by pitches.
Austin, the SEC’s active leader in HBPs, has been hit by a pitch four times on Mizzou’s current home stand, running his season total to an SEC-leading eight HBPs.
As a result, the Jefferson City native has climbed to fourth on Mizzou’s career HBP chart, passing Brock Bond and Dan Opel Tuesday when he was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning of MU’s 5-4 victory.
Austin is six HBPs away from matching Jacob Priday’s career total of 43 in the No. 3 position on the list.
John McKee (2004-07) owns the Tigers’ all-time mark of 70 HBPs, and John Hay (1989-93) ranks second with 51 HBPs.

TIGERS ON THE TUBE

Missouri is slated to appear in eight linear broadcasts on the ESPN family of networks over the course of the 2024 season.
Mizzou’s SEC matchups and select non-conference games will stream on SEC Network+.
Each of the Tigers’ games this coming weekend against Purdue Fort Wayne will be streamed live on SEC Network+.

TICKETS
Mizzou baseball 2024 season and single-game tickets are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the ticket office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS or by visiting MUTigers.com/Tickets.

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.

This article is provided by University of Missouri Athletics