Baseball Concludes Road Trip With Tuesday Night Tilt in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball concludes a four-game road trip Tuesday (April 16) with a 6:30 p.m. nonconference matchup against in-state rival Missouri State at Hammons Field in Springfield.

Tuesday’s contest will be the first of two meetings for the Tigers and Bears, with the two clubs squaring off again next Tuesday (April 23) at Taylor Stadium in Columbia. Mizzou brings a narrow 32-31 series edge over the Bears into Tuesday’s matchup, but MSU holds a 17-12 advantage in games played on its home field.

Tuesday’s game with the Bears will be streamed live on ESPN+. 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.

PITCHING PROBABLES

TBD (Mizzou) vs. TBD (Missouri State)

SERIES HISTORY

Missouri brings a 32-31 all-time series edge over Missouri State into Tuesday’s game.
The Tigers claimed both meetings with the Bears last spring, including a 10-1 rout of MSU at Hammons Field (April 11) and a 7-6 walk-off victory in Columbia (April 18).
The Bears hold a 17-12 home-field advantage in the series, despite the Tigers taking three of the last four contests played in Springfield.
Mizzou has won seven of the last nine meetings overall since 2018.

SCOUTING MISSOURI

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.
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 a .377 batting average in nonconference play.
The sophomore recorded a career-best 13-game hit streak, February 24-March 15, batting .388 (19-for-49).
Lovich leads the SEC and ranks 41st nationally with three triples.
OF Jackson Beaman has been the Tigers’ biggest threat at the plate in nonconference play, batting .412 and slugging .912 to pace the offense.
C Jedier Hernandez paces the Missouri offense with a .293 overall batting average; the junior catcher also leads the club with a .288 mark in SEC play.
Hernandez played a pivotal role in MU’s series sweep of No. 6 Florida (April 5-7), hitting a club-best .417 with key RBIs in each of the three games.
Hernandez drove in the game-winning run in the 11th inning of game one vs. UF, then brought home the tying run in the sixth inning of MU’s 4-3 win in game two.
As s team, the Tigers are hitting .288 and averaging 8.1 runs per contest in nonconference action.
INF Brock Daniels has been Mizzou’s hottest hitter in the month of April, batting .429 (15-of-35) with 17 RBIs and five steals in nine games this month.
Daniels went a combined 5-for-7 (.714) with two homers and nine RBIs, nearly tripling his career RBI total, in the Tigers’ two-game sweep of UT Martin (April 2-3).
Daniels also owns the Tigers’ best road batting mark this spring, bringing a .308 average — as well as a team-best .462 slugging percentage — in eight road contests into play Tuesday.
INF Matt Garcia turned in his best weekend of SEC play to date at Georgia (April 11-13), leading the Tigers with a .500 batting average, including a career-best four-hit performance Thursday night in the series opener.
Garcia drove in a pair of runs in that contest, then went 2-for-5 with three RBIs in the finale on Saturday, belting his first home run of the season as well.
For the week, Garcia went 8-of-17 (.474) with a .824 slugging percentage.
OF Jeric Curtis also turned in a big weekend in Athens, hitting .333 for the series, with a career-best three hits in Saturday’s finale.
Curtis swiped two bases to run his season total to 14 bags, which ranks sixth overall in the SEC.
As a team, Mizzou stole five bases in back-to-back games vs. UT Martin (April 2-3), achieving the feat for the first time since April 11, 2023 vs. Missouri State.
The Tigers rank fourth in the conference in stolen bases (51).
INF Trevor Austin leads the club with nine home runs, topping his previous season high (2023) with a three-run blast in Friday’s 6-5 win over Georgia while hiking his career total to 25 round-trippers.
LHP Ryan Magdic has proven to be a valuable weapon out of the bullpen, including a dominant 3.1 inning stint to lift Mizzou to a 6-5 win over Georgia in 10 innings on Friday.
Magdic fanned a career-best eight hitters and struck out the side in two different innings late in the game.
The graduate transfer picked up his first save as a Tiger in MU’s 4-3 win over No. 6 Florida on April 6.
As a team, Mizzou ranks sixth in the SEC in fielding double plays (21).
Mizzou is hitting .294 as a team with two outs, logging 91 of its 203 RBIs on the year after the second out in an inning has been recorded.

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE

Led by 42nd-year head coach Keith Guttin, the Bears enter the week 15-19 overall after dropping two of three Missouri Valley Conference contests to UIC over the weekend.
The Bears are hitting .273 as a team, led by former Tiger C Dylan Leach’s .333 average.
Sophomore OF Zack Stewart paces the offense with 14 home runs and 33 RBIs. OF Caden Bogenpohl has added 13 round-trippers for the Bears, who have clubbed 61 homers through just 34 contests.
On the mound, RHP Brandt Thompson heads the weekend rotation with his 5-0 season mark and 2.35 ERA. RHP Kaleb Thomas and RHP Hunter Day have been MSU’s most consistent weapons out of the bullpen, logging a combined 27 appearances and 52.2 total innings.

TERRIFIC WITH TWO

The Tigers have been clutch this season with two out, both at the plate and on the mound.
Mizzou’s offense has recorded 91 two-out RBIs in just 37 games, while hitting .294 (129-for-439) after the second out has been recorded in an inning.
This past weekend at Georgia, the Tigers hit .325 (13-for-40) with two out, producing 11 RBIs.
Against vs. No. 6 Florida, Mizzou recorded eight two-out RBIs, including all four of its runs in its game two victory (April 6).
Brock Daniels and Jackson Beaman have been MU’s most consistent two-out threats, hitting .556 (10-for-18) and .409 (9-for-22) in such situations, respectively.
Mizzou pitchers have been equally dominant, holding the opposition to a collective .211 (85-for-403) two-out batting average.
Brock Lucas has allowed just one two-out hit in 28 official at-bats. Ryan Magdic has been nearly flawless as well, limiting MU’s opponents to just three hits in 23 two-out at-bats (.130).

CAN’T SLOW OUR ROLL

In the Tigers’ 16 wins this season, MU baserunners have been successful on 30-of-33 steal attempts.
Mizzou posted five stolen bases each of its two wins over UT Martin (April 2-3), going 10-for-10 in steal attempts against the Skyhawks.
The Tigers’ last five-steal performance came on April 11, 2023 at Missouri State.
INF Brock Daniels was a perfect 5-of-5 in steal attempts last week, including the first three-steal effort by a Tiger since 2022.
For the season, Mizzou ranks fourth in the SEC with 51 steals (in 61 attempts) this season.
OF Jeric Curtis leads the Tigers with 14 steals, which is good for sixth overall in the SEC.

NON-CON DOMINATION

Mizzou has claimed 11 nonconference victories over the first nine weeks of the season, continuing a string of recent dominance in nonconference play.
MU logged a 20-3 mark against non-SEC foes last spring, after going 18-3 in nonconference in 2022.
MU has an overall mark of 49-16 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 100 more nonconference games than it has lost (176-76).

TARGET: TREVOR

INF 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 42 free bases due to hit by pitches.
Austin, the SEC’s active leader in HBPs, was hit by a pitch three times during Mizzou’s most recent home stand, running his 2024 total to 13 HBPs, which ranks second in the SEC.
As a result, the Jefferson City native has climbed to fourth on Mizzou’s career HBP chart, passing Brock Bond and Dane Opel on March 5.
Austin is one HBP away from matching Jacob Priday’s career total of 43 in the No. 3 position.
John McKee (2004-07) owns the Tigers’ all-time mark of 70 HBPs, and John Hay (1989-93) ranks second with 51 HBPs.

MIZZOU MILESTONES

Several Tigers have reached or are approaching significant career milestones this season.
Mizzou’s April 2 contest with UT Martin marked Kerrick Jackson’s 200th career game as a Division I head coach.
INF Danny Corona recorded the 100th hit of his collegiate career March 19 vs. Kansas at Kauffman Stadium.
INF Trevor Austin sits atop the Tigers’ leaderboard for career hits among active players with 144.
Austin, who played in his 150th career game April 7 vs. Florida, ranks fourth all-time at Mizzou in HBP (42) to go along with his 25 career homers, the latter of which is just seven shy of cracking the Tigers’ all-time top 10 list.
Both LHP Ian Lohse and RHP Logan Lunceford enter the week within striking distance of reaching the 100-K plateau for their collegiate careers; Lunceford has 95 strikeouts to date, while Lohse enters Tuesday’s game with 93 punchouts to his credit.
C Jedier Hernandez’s game-winning hit vs. Florida on April 5 marked the 100th hit of his collegiate career.

TICKETS
Mizzou baseball 2024 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.

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This article is provided by University of Missouri Athletics