Baseball Opens Home Slate Tuesday Against Southeast Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball returns to Taylor Stadium Tuesday (Feb. 27) to open its 2024 home slate with a 5 p.m. game against Southeast Missouri.

The Tigers (4-3) are opening a nine-game home stand that includes single contests against SEMO and Lindenwood, as well as weekend series with Northern Kentucky and Purdue Fort Wayne. Mizzou began the season with seven games on the West Coast, going 2-2 at the Tony Gwynn Legacy series this past weekend, after taking two of three contests from Cal Poly to open the campaign.

Tuesday’s game will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with Graham Doty 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

• Schedule Magnet Giveaway

PITCHING PROBABLES

• LHP Daniel Wissler (Mizzou) vs. RHP Sam Heyman (Southeast Missouri)

SERIES HISTORY

• Mizzou brings a 25-14 series advantage over the Redhawks into Tuesday’s game.
• The Tigers hold an 18-8 edge in games played in Columbia, where each of the last 10 contests in the series have been played (since 2006).
• MU has won the last two meetings in the series, taking a 9-3 decision from SEMO in the two clubs’ most recent contest on May 3, 2022.

SCOUTING MISSOURI

• Missouri posted a 30-24 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.
• Additionally, junior INF Justin Colon returns for Mizzou and earning significant playing time at shortstop over each of his first two seasons in Columbia.
• 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 trio veterans who missed significant time last spring; left-handers Ian Lohse and Tony Neubeck 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 in program history.
• Mizzou finished its 2023 home slate with a 19-7 mark at Taylor Stadium — its top home win total since 2019.
• The Tigers also shattered the program’s single-season attendance record, drawing at total of 37,133 fans over 23 home dates to eclipse the previous mark of 31,450 spectators (2008).
• Mizzou homered 79 times as a team in 2023, which represented the fifth-best season total in program history
• The Tigers’ 2023 pitching staff ranked 37th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (9.7).
• 1B Jackson Lovich led the Tigers in their season-opening series at Cal Poly, hitting .417 with a home run, two doubles and four RBIs in the three-game set.
• 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. 13 Feb. 16 at Cal Poly, combining with LHP Ryan Magdic and RHP Jacob Peaden on a one-hitter.
• Freshman SS Drew Culbertson powered the Tiger offense at last week’s Tony Gwynn Legacy series in San Diego, hitting .471 with three multi-hit performances in MU’s four outings.
• Mizzou homered four times in Thursday’s 6-3 win over CSU Bakersfield and has out-homered the opposition by a 9-2 count through its first seven games.
• The Tigers have been deadly on the basepaths, swiping 13 steals in 15 attempts thus far; Jeric Curtis has accounted for four of those steals.

SCOUTING SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

• Under the direction of eighth year head coach Andy Sawyers, Southeast Missouri enters Tuesday’s contest with a 2-6 season mark.
• The Redhawks are coming off a 26-30 season in 2023.
• OF Michael Mugan leads SEMO with a .333 batting average, four home runs and 11 RBIs through the season’s first two weeks.
• OF Josh Cameron was a preseason All-OVC pick after hitting .304 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs a year ago.
• On the mound, LHP Haden Dow is the top arm back for the Redhawks, coming off a season that saw him go 4-3 with a 4.55 ERA.

TIGERS AT THE TURNSTILES

• Mizzou shattered its program record for total home attendance last spring, drawing 37,133 fans over 23 dates to eclipse the previous program mark of 31,450 (2008).
• MU finished its 2023 home campaign with its 20th crowd of 1,000 or more fans — and its 17th in a row.
• In its 23 home dates at Taylor Stadium, the Tigers drew five crowds of at least 2,000 fans, as well as an average of 1,614 spectators per date, both of which represent high-water marks for the program.

FAST STARTS

• Mizzou is off to a 4-3 start under first-year head coach Kerrick Jackson.
• MU has claimed three road wins after winning just seven true road games in 2023.
• The Tigers have won at least four of their first seven contests in eight of the last 10 seasons dating back to 2015.
• The 4-3 start to Jackson’s tenure represents the seventh-best among the 15 head coaches in the history of the Mizzou baseball program.

OFF AND RUNNING

• Speaking of fast starts, the Tigers’ running game has played a prominent role in Mizzou’s strong opening stretch.
• MU has stolen 13 bases (in 15 attempts) in seven games, with its average of 1.86 steals per game ranking fourth in the SEC entering the week.
• OF Jeric Curtis has led the charge, swiping four bags in five attempts, which ranks fifth individually in the SEC.
• The Tigers’ total of 13 steals represents exactly 20-percent of its 2022 season total (65), just seven games into the new campaign.

WELCOME WAGON

• Eleven different players made their Mizzou debuts last weekend at Cal Poly.
• In the Tigers season opener, seven newcomers to the 2024 active roster found their names on the lineup card: RHP Bryce Mayer, 3B Danny Corona, C Jedier Hernandez, DH Thomas Curry, CF Jeric Curtis, SS Drew Culbertson and LF Tucker Moore.
• Three freshmen starters in game one got their careers started in style, as Curry, Culbertson and Moore each recorded a hit in their first at-bats as Tigers.
• Curry led the Mizzou offense all weekend, hitting a team-best .444 with a HR, two doubles and four RBIs.
• On the mound, several new faces contributed to the Tigers’ series win, with LHP Ryan Magdic and RHP Jacob Peaden combining for 4.0 hitless innings of relief in a 3-1 victory, while RHP Charlie Miller and C Mateo Serna also saw action in game three.
• This past weekend, OF Kaden Peer made a pair of starts in the outfield, while RHP Kaden Jacobi, RHP Victor Quinn and RHP Josh McDevitt all made their first appearances for the Tigers Friday at SDSU.
• Additionally, graduate RHP Ben Pedersen made his first appearance in a Mizzou uniform since May 15, 2021 when he worked in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at UC San Diego. Pedersen’s absence—a span of 1,015 days—was forced by injuries that kept him out of the entire 2022 and 2023 seasons.

GOING DEEP

• Mizzou powered up to hit six home runs in its four games in San Diego over the weekend and has now out-homered the opposition by a 9-2 margin this season.
• The Tigers are 4-1 when hitting at least one home run and 0-2 when they fail to go deep.
• Six different Tigers have homered in the first seven games, continuing a recent trend that was evident in 2023, when 14 different Tigers hit at least one home run.
• 2B Trevor Austin has powered the early attack for MU, as the senior from Jefferson City clubbed three homers in four games last week in San Diego.
• Austin turned in his first multi-homer performance as a Tiger in Thursday’s 6-3 win over CSUB, a game in which MU hit four solo bombs.
• Two Tigers—SS Drew Culbertson and OF Isaiah Frost—hit their first collegiate home runs as part of a three-homer barrage by the Tigers in the second inning.
• The long ball for Frost not only represented his first HR as a Tiger, but also his first hit.
• In their last 20 games, extending back to April 29, 2023, 14 different Tigers have combined to hit 42 round-trippers.
• MU clubbed 79 homers in 2023, which represented the program’s top total since the 1998 squad blasted a school-record 110 bombs.

NONCONFERENCE DOMINATION

• Mizzou claimed its first two nonconference victories of the season over the weekend at Cal Poly, continuing a string of recent dominance in nonconference play.The Tigers logged a 20-3 mark against non-SEC foes last spring, after going 18-3 in nonconference play in 2022.
• MU has overall mark of 40-7 in non-SEC competition since the start of the 2022 season.
• Mizzou hit .300 against non-league foes and averaged nearly 10 hits per outing, while also posting a 3.95 team ERA
• Over the last decade, the Tigers’ dominance has been equally as pronounced, with MU winning 100 more nonconference games than it has lost (169-69), good for a .710 winning percentage.

HELLO, OLD FRIEND

• Tuesday’s matchup will offer a reunion of sorts for Mizzou head coach Kerrick Jackson, who will square off against his former battery mate and Nebraska teammate, Andy Sawyers, in the SEMO dugout.
• The duo played together on the Cornhuskers’ 1997 squad that went 27-35, along with two additional teammates who currently serve as Division I head coaches.
• Jackson, a senior pitcher at the time, and Sawyers, a junior catcher, were joined on the roster by Jay Sirianni, a sophomore pitcher who currently leads the Sam Houston State program, and Craig Moore, a sophomore infielder who is the head coach at Ohio.

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+.
• Tuesday’s game with SEMO will mark the Tigers’ first SEC Network+ appearance of the season.

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