Baseball Opens SEC Tournament Play Tuesday Against Auburn

HOOVER, Ala. – Missouri baseball makes its return to the SEC Baseball Tournament this week as the No. 12 seed and will open play Tuesday (May 23) against No. 5 Auburn in the final game of the opening round at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, in Hoover, Ala.

Mizzou (30-23, 10-20 SEC) dropped all three contests of its final regular-season SEC series at Auburn (33-19-1, 17-14 SEC) over the weekend, but still secured its first trip to Hoover since 2019.

The Tigers are making their seventh SEC Tournament appearance since joining the conference in 2013. Mizzou brings a 2-8 all-time record in the tournament into this year’s meet. Including 32 combined trips to the Big 8 and Big 12 Conference Championships (1976-2012), the Tigers are 50-63 all-time in conference tournament play, with titles in 1976 (Big 8), 1980 (Big 8) and 2012 (Big 12).

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 this weekeend will be streamed live on SEC Network+.

PITCHING PROBABLES

Tuesday, May 23 (TBD) – LHP Javyn Pimental (Mizzou) vs. LHP Tommy Vail (Auburn)

SERIES HISTORY

• Mizzou and Auburn will meet for the 22nd time overall and for the fourth time this season Tuesday.
• MU holds a slim 11-10 overall series edge after AU swept the Tigers in a three-game SEC set in Auburn this past weekend.
• Auburn has won five of the last six meetings after Mizzou claimed eight of the first 12 matchups since joining the SEC in 2013.
• Tuesday’s contest will mark the first meeting of the two schools in SEC Tournament play.

SCOUTING MISSOURI

• Missouri posted a 30-23 regular-season finish this spring, including a 10-20 SEC mark.
• The Tigers received votes in at least one major poll for seven straight weeks (Feb. 27-April 10), 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.

MIZZOU BY THE NUMBERS

• Missouri has 10 wins over RPI Quadrant I clubs to its credit, including four vs. teams rated among the top 25.
• Mizzou finished its home slate with a 19-7 mark at Taylor Stadium — its top home win total since 2019.
• The Tigers have reached the 30-win plateau for the fourth time in seven years under Steve Bieser.
• Mizzou has clubbed 30 home runs and tallied an average of 8.8 runs per game in 10 May contests.
• The Tigers pitching staff ranks 40th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (9.7).
• Mizzou has out-hit the competition in 30 of its 53 games, going 26-4 in those contests.
• Tre Morris has been the Tigers’ top two-out hitter this season, logging 14 hits in 39 at-bats (.359).
• Trevor Austin has driven in runs in 14 of his 16 chances with runners on third base and less than two out.
• Ty Wilmsmeyer’s total of 21 steals ranks second in the SEC, while Mizzou ranks fifth as a team (63); the senior outfielder has also clubbed a carer-high eight homers.
• Wilmsmeyer has also logged a 3.52 ERA in four mound appearances spanning 7.2 innings; his season ERA is the best on the Tigers’ pitching staff among hurlers making at least three appearances this spring.
• Luke Mann homered in six straight games May 2-13, and matched Jacob Priday’s all-time Mizzou record of 49 career long balls with his 21st home run of the season last Friday at Auburn.
• Austin Troesser has posted four of his five wins during SEC play, logging 36 K’s in 30.0 conference innings while holding the opposition to a .214 batting average.
• Hank Zeisler has been one of the Tigers’ most consistent offensive threats, totaling 15 home runs and 57 RBIs to date, while ranking eighth in the SEC in walks (41); the first baseman has produced 27 two-out RBIs this season.
• Zach Franklin leads the club with six victories and two saves in 19 appearances; the graduate transfer ranks fifth among all active NCAA Division I pitchers in career victories (22) and 12th in career strikeouts (270).
• The Tigers are 26-6 when scoring at least six runs, but just 4-17 when failing to do so.
• The Mizzou pitching staff has logged double-digit strikeout totals in 23 of its 53 games.

SCOUTING AUBURN

• Under the direction of eighth-year head coach Butch Thompson, Auburn enters the postseason 33-19-1 overall after a 17-13 SEC finish; the Tigers are ranked as high as No. 13 in this week’s national polls.
• The Tigers have won eight in a row, including back-to-back three-game sweeps of Ole Miss and Mizzou to close the regular season.
• Auburn’s lineup has been one of the SEC’s best this spring and features two of the conference’s top hitters in Bobby Peirce (.366 BA) and Ike Irish (.364).
• The Tigers can also boast of two of the SEC’s top power threats in Bryson Ware and Cooper McMurray, who have combined for 35 homers this spring.
• On the hill, Auburn draws from a deep staff that has included 13 different hurlers who have made starts this spring; topping that list is Tommy Vail, who brings a 5-1 season mark and team bests of 72 strikeouts and a 3.38 ERA into the tournament.

LUKE HITTING NUKES

• Luke Mann continued his climb up the Mizzou home run chart, tying Jacob Priday’s 15-year-old career record with his 49th homer as a Tiger May 19 at Auburn.
• Mann also cracked the Division I career home runs leaderboard, entering the week at No. 10.
• Mann clubbed three home runs in the Tigers’ series sweep of Georgia (May 12-14) to move into sole possession of the No. 2 spot on the chart.
• Mann’s career-best 21 homers this spring are tied for second with Dave Silvestri (1988) on MU’s single-season list, trailing only Ryan Fry (27 in 1998).
• Mann, a Second-Team All-SEC selection, homered in six consecutive games, May 2-13, falling just one shy of Griffin Moore’s MU record of seven-straight games with a home run (March 22-29, 1997.
• Mann was named SEC Co-Player of the Week, as well as one of Collegiate Baseball’s national players of the week on May 8, after totaling five homers and 27 total bases.

MASHING IN MAY

• Missouri’s offense has blossomed in the month of May, with the Tigers’ bats heating up to the tune of a .308 team average in 10 games this month.
• Luke Mann has been a key linchpin, hitting .395 and slugging 1.211 with nine homers over the same stretch.
• Since the calendar last turned, the Tigers have upped their season home run total from 49 to 79, with nine different players going deep through the first 10 May contests.
• Mizzou scored 79 runs in its first seven games in May, nearly equaling its total from the entire month of April, when the Tigers plated 81 runs in 17 games.
• Mizzou also scored at least one run in 35 of the first 53 innings in which it came to bat in the month of May.
• MU’s series win over Ole Miss (May 4-6) featured a breakout performance by the Tiger offense, which plated 38 runs in the three-game set.
• Mizzou rallied from a seven-run deficit for an 11-9 win in game one of the series, marking the Tigers’ largest comeback win since May 5, 2019 at Tennessee.
• The Tigers’ run total represented its best ever in an SEC series, and the most scored by a Mizzou offense over a three-game stretch since April 2009, when MU scored 42 runs in a three-game Big 12 Conference series against Texas Tech.

GOING DEEP

• Mizzou has powered up in the month of May to club 30 home runs in just 10 May contests, hiking its season total to 79 homers.
• Mizzou has reached the 75-home run plateau on just four previous occasions and this year’s club needs three more long balls to move up to the No. 4 spot on the program’s single-season chart.
• Luke Mann enters postseason play having hit nine homers in MU’s first 10 games of the month.
• Eight additional Tigers have homered in May, including six players who have gone deep on multiple occasions through the first 10 games of the month.

LOVICH GOES CYCLING

• Junior outfielder Ross Lovich made Mizzou history on May 12 in the Tigers’ 13-3 win over Georgia, becoming the first Tiger to hit for the cycle since 1995.
• Lovich accomplished the feat in just seven innings; he doubled to lead off the game, tripled in the second, added a single in the third and homered in the seventh to notch the first Mizzou cycle since Jeff Terrell accomplished the feat vs. Iowa State on May 5, 1995.
• Lovich, who hit .429 with two homers and five RBIs against the Bulldogs (May 12-14), was honored as SEC Co-Player of the Week on May 15 after homering as part of a second multi-hit performance (May 13) to help pave the way to a three-game sweep of Georgia.

AWARDS SEASON

• The Tigers kicked off the 2023 awards period with a bang, netting SEC Co-Player of the Week honors in each of the last two weeks, with the selections of Ross Lovich (May 15) and Luke Mann (May 8).
• Mann and junior pitcher Austin Troesser earned CSC Academic All-District recognition earlier this week as well; the duo became the first Tigers to earn the honor from the College Sports Communicators organization since 2010, when Aaron Senne earned the same award.
• Mann and Troesser are now eligible for selection to CSC’s Academic All-America team, which will be announced June 7.
• Hank Zeisler joined the honor train on Wednesday, earning a spot on the SEC’s 2023 Baseball Community Service Team, which honors student-athletes who give back to their community through superior service efforts.

30 FOR NO. 29

• Missouri head coach Steve Bieser is in his seventh year guiding the Tigers, entering the weekend with a 188-154-1 record as MU’s bench boss.
• Mizzou locked up its fourth 30-win season in seven years under Bieser this past weekend.
• This year’s 30-win campaign marks the first for Mizzou since a 34-win 2019 season, which followed a 36-win year in 2017, and a 34-win campaign in 2018.
• Tigers’ No. 29 has registered 30 wins in seven of his 11 seasons as an NCAA Division I head coach, including a string of six seasons in a row from 2014-19.

• In all, this year marks the 35th time in program history the Tigers have notched 30 or more victories.
• 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 326-251-1 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.
• Additionally, Mizzou is 119-39 in nonconference contests during Bieser’s tenure.
• 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).
• Mizzou produced 39 wins in SEC play from 2017-19 as well, marking its top three-year stretch in league play since joining its new conference in 2013.

PRIMETIME TY

• Ty Wilmsmeyer has enjoyed a strong senior season, bringing a .312 batting average and 21 stolen bases into the postseason, the latter of which represents the top season total for a Tiger since 2019.
• The Springfield, Mo., product has enjoyed a recent power surge, with five home runs in 10 May games.
• Wilmsmeyer has been at his best when the lights have been brightest, hitting .301 vs. ranked opponents.
• The Tigers centerfielder logged a team-high 12 multi-hit performances in SEC play and homered in three consecutive games, May 5-12.

TIGERS AT THE TURNSTILES

• Mizzou shattered its program record for total home attendance this season, drawing 37,133 fans over 23 home dates to eclipse the previous mark of 31,450 fans (2008).
• MU finished its 2023 home campaign May 14 with its 20th crowd of 1,000 or more spectators —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.
• This season’s attendance growth marks a 43-percent increase in average home attendance from last spring, when MU drew 1,127 fans per home date (and 28,181 for the entire season).

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