Baseball Hosts No. 2/4 Vanderbilt for Key SEC Weekend Series

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri baseball returns to Columbia this weekend to host No. 2/4 Vanderbilt for a three-game Southeastern Conference series, beginning Thursday (April 6) evening with a 6 p.m. contest at Taylor Stadium.

The Tigers (19-9, 3-6 SEC) concluded a nine-game road trip this past weekend, dropping all three of their conference matchups against No. 16 Kentucky in Lexington.

Vanderbilt (23-5, 9-0 SEC) enters the series riding a 12-game win streak, following a clean sweep of Georgia last week in Nashville.

Fans can once again catch Mizzou baseball on the airwaves all season long on KTGR and the Tiger Radio Network. Tex Little and Matt Michaels return to the booth for the call. Additionally, each of the three games in the series will be streamed live on SEC Network+.

PITCHING PROBABLES

Thursday, April 6 (6 p.m.) – RHP Logan Lunceford (Mizzou) vs. LHP Carter Holton (Vanderbilt)
Friday, April 7 (6 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. LHP Hunter Owen (Vanderbilt)
Saturday, April 8 (2 p.m.) – RHP Chandler Murphy (Mizzou) vs. LHP Devin Futrell (Vanderbilt)

PROMOTIONS

Thursday – Beat Vandy Buttons
Friday – Free Andy’s Frozen Custard for the first 250 fans
Saturday – Boone Electric Cooperative Family Funday (kids run the bases, postgame autographs and Easter egg hunt)

SERIES HISTORY

The Tigers and Commodores will meet for the 30th time in Thursday’s series opener.
Vandy, which has won seven in a row in the series, has won 25 of 29 meetings with the Tigers, including a 10-2 mark vs. Mizzou in Columbia.
Mizzou’s last victory in the series came in Nashville in 2019 when the Tigers earned a 5-2 win in the middle game of the series.
The Tigers have won just one series against the Commodores since joining the SEC, taking two of three games in Columbia in 2018.
Mizzou has registered all four of its wins over Vandy under head coach Steve Bieser.

MEET THE TIGERS

Missouri is off to a 19-9 overall start this season.
The Tigers are receiving votes in at least one poll for the sixth-straight week, peaking as high as No. 15 in Collegiate Baseball’s March 20 poll.
Mizzou’s 2023 roster features a heavy helping of talent from within the state of Missouri’s borders, with 16 players from the Show-Me State.
Additionally, Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser has brought in players from a total of 16 different states, plus the territory of Puerto Rico.
Hank Zeisler has been the Tigers’ most consistent power threat and run producer, totaling nine home runs and 33 RBIs to date.
Luke Mann is hitting .352 to go along with eight homers, three of which came in a single game against No. 9 South Carolina on March 24.
Zach Franklin leads the club with four victories and two saves in 10 total appearances.
As a team, the Tigers are batting .277 through the first 28 games of the season.
The Mizzou pitching staff has logged double-digit strikeout totals in 17 of its 28 games and rank 11th nationally in K’s/9.0 IP (11.1).

MEET THE COMMODORES

Under the direction of 21st-year head coach Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt enters the weekend ranked as the consensus No. 4 club in the country with a 24-5 overall record and an unblemished 9-0 mark in SEC play.
The Commodores enter the weekend winners of 12 straight contests dating back to March 14.
Vandy is batting .292 as a team and has outscored the opposition by 147 runs through 29 games.
Individually, RJ Schreck paces the offense with a .346 average, seven homers and 31 RBIs.
Enrique Bradfield Jr. enters the series with 113 stolen bases for his career—the top total for any active Division I player.
Vandy’s rotation of Carter Holton, Devin Futrell and Hunter Owen have been dominant all season, combining to go 12-1 with a collective 2.96 ERA.

HOME SWEET HOME

Mizzou brings an 11-1 home mark into this weekend’s series, which is the first of four remaining SEC home series left on the Tigers’ 2023 schedule.
The Tigers swept No. 2/4 Tennessee in their initial SEC home series of the season, March 17-19; MU has won five straight at home since a March 10 loss to NJIT.
Led by Dalton Bargo’s .433 batting average, the Tigers are hitting .307 as a club and averaging 8.3 runs per outing at home this season.
On the mound, Chandler Murphy has won each of his three starts at Taylor Stadium, allowing just two earned runs while striking out 18 hitters over 19.0 combined innings, good for an 0.95 home ERA.
As a staff, Mizzou pitchers have recorded 120 strikeouts in their 12 home games, while holding the opposition to a collective .185 batting average.

SUPER-MANN TAKES FLIGHT

Luke Mann became the second Tiger in 10 days to hit three home runs in a game last Friday at No. 4 South Carolina as part of a career-best four-hit performance.
Mann continued his climb up the Mizzou home run chart (see above), hitting his 34th, 35th and 36th career home runs in Friday’s contest to move into sole possession of the No. 7 spot on the list.
Mann needs one more long ball to tie Cody Ehlers (37) in the No. 6 spot and two more to match Griffin Moore (38) and climb into Mizzou’s top 5.
The St. Louis native logged a career-best 12-game hit streak (Feb. 24-March 15).
The fifth-year third baseman hit .400 (18-for-45) with four homers and 11 RBIs during his hit streak.
Mann was tabbed for first-team preseason laurels, becoming the first Tiger honoree since Kameron Misner’s second-team selection five years ago.
Mann’s 17 home runs in 2022 were the most by a Tiger since Ehlers hit 18 round-trippers in 2004.

MIZZOU BY THE NUMBERS

Missouri has six wins over RPI Quadrant I clubs to its credit, including four vs. teams rated among the top 25.
Since claiming five of their first six meetings with ranked foes, the Tigers have dropped six-straight contests against top 25 teams.
The Tigers pitching staff ranks sixth nationally—and fifth in the SEC—in hits allowed per nine innings (7.14).
Mizzou has out-hit the competition in 21 of its 28 games, going 18-3 in those contests.
Dalton Bargo has been the Tigers’ top two-out hitter this season, logging 10 hits in 30 at-bats (.333).
Hank Zeisler has produced 14 of his team-leading 33 RBIs with two out and has drawn a team-best 25 walks to rank sixth in the SEC.
Trevor Austin has driven in runs in 10 of his 11 opportunities with runners on third base and less than two out.
Ty Wilmsmeyer has swiped 11 bases this season, good for eighth in the SEC.
Logan Lunceford has logged team-best totals of 15.0 innings and 22 strikeouts while going 2-0 on the mound over the last 10 games.
Dylan Leach has gunned down five would-be base-stealers to lead all SEC catchers.
Rorik Maltrud leads all SEC pitchers in opposing batting average (.097) during conference play.

NON-CON DOMINATION

Mizzou’s 16-3 mark against non-SEC foes continues a string of recent dominance in nonconference play.
The Tigers went 18-3 in nonconference play last spring, giving them an overall mark of 34-6 in non-SEC competition since the start of the 2022 season.
The SEC continues to dominate the top spot in the conference RPI ratings, bringing a Division I best 0.6074 rating into the weekend; the league’s 235 nonconference victories and 0.8393 win percentage are tops among all conferences as well.
Mizzou is hitting .302 against non-league foes and averaging nearly 10 hits per contest, while also posting a 3.94 team ERA.
Individually, Luke Mann is hitting .378 with five homers and 16 RBIs during nonconference play.
During Steve Bieser’s tenure as head coach, the Tigers have posted a cumulative 115-39 record in nonconference play, good for a .747 win percentage.

THROWING SMOKE

Mizzou’s pitching staff is off to a blazing hot start, with 17 double-digit strikeout totals in its first 28 games.
With 287 K’s, the Tigers could threaten the program’s single-season record for strikeouts (559 in 2019).
The Tigers rank 11th nationally as a staff in strikeouts per nine innings (11.1).
Mizzou’s team WHIP of 1.29 ranks 24th among all Division I pitching staffs, while the Tigers’ 7.1 hits allowed per game ranks sixth in the nation.
As a staff, the Tigers have limited the opposition to a collective .215 batting average, with five different pitchers logging averages against of .200 or less.
Individually, Zach Franklin’s four wins are tied for 51st among all Division I pitchers.
Rorik Maltrud has been dominant as well, ranking among the conference’s leaders in opposing batting (1st), ERA (3rd) and strikeouts (10th) during SEC play.

TALK OF THE TOWN

Missouri’s strong start to the 2023 season has brought with it plenty of attention, as the Tigers are receiving votes in at least one national poll for the sixth straight week and check in at No. 21 in this week’s RPI ratings.
The Tigers spent the last two weeks ranked among the top 25 clubs in the nation, peaking at No. 15 in Collegiate Baseball’s March 20 poll.
Mizzou opened the home portion of its schedule by winning 11 of its first 12 games at Taylor Stadium, drawing six different crowds of 1,000 or more and a total of 12,011 fans over nine home dates, good for an average of 1,334 spectators per date.
That marks a 68-percent increase in year-to-date home attendance compared to the first nine home dates of the 2022 season, when Mizzou drew an average of 794 fans per game.

BIESER BELIEVER

Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser is in his seventh year guiding the Tigers, entering the week with a 177-140-1 record as MU’s bench boss.
Bieser topped the 300-victory mark with Mizzou’s 10-4 win at FIU on Feb. 25, and enters Thursday’s game with a career 315-237-1 mark in 11 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
The Tigers have finished with an overall record above .500 in five of Bieser’s six seasons.
Bieser’s 104 wins from 2017-19 were the most ever by a Mizzou baseball coach in his first three campaigns.
Additionally, Bieser’s win total marked the winningest three-year stretch by the Tigers since 2008-10 (103 victories).
Mizzou produced 39 wins in Southeastern Conference play from 2017-19 as well, marking its top three-year stretch in league play since joining its new conference in 2013.

TIGERS ON THE TUBE

Missouri is slated to appear in at least nine linear broadcasts on the ESPN family of networks over the course of the 2022 season.
The Tigers will play in eight matchups televised on the SEC Network, along with an ESPNU broadcast at Texas A&M on April 13.
Additionally, four regular-season dates have been designated as potential wild cards, allowing the league to select additional games for broadcast.
Mizzou’s SEC matchups and select non-conference games will stream on SEC Network+, including each of this weekend’s contests.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

Single-game tickets for all Mizzou baseball home games in 2023 are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS, or by visiting MUTigers.com/feature/BSBTix.

For all the latest information on Mizzou baseball, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Tigers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article is provided by University of Missouri Athletics