Baseball Set to Open SEC Season Against Top-Ranked Razorbacks

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball opens its 12th season of Southeastern Conference play this weekend, as the Tigers travel to Fayetteville for a three-game series with No. 1 Arkansas at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Tigers (9-8, 0-0 SEC) and Razorbacks (14-2, 0-0 SEC) will open the series with a 6:30 p.m. (CDT) contest Friday (March 15), before squaring off in single games Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) to conclude the weekend.

Each of this weekend’s three games will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with Brett Dolan and Troy Eklund 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.

PITCHING PROBABLES

Game 1 (Friday, March 15 – 6:30 p.m.) – RHP Logan Lunceford (Mizzou) vs. LHP Hagen Smith (Arkansas)
Game 2 (Saturday, March 16 – 2 p.m.) – LHP Javyn Pimental (Mizzou) vs. RHP Brady Tygart (Arkansas)
Game 3 (Sunday, March 17 – 2 p.m.) – TBD (Mizzou) vs. LHP Mason Molina (Arkansas)

SERIES HISTORY

Friday’s opener will mark the 68th meeting of the Tigers and Razorbacks in a series that dates back to 1904.
The two clubs have each officially won 33 games, with one tie, entering this season’s matchup; Mizzou also won a pair of shutouts in 1959 that were later forfeited.
The Razorbacks have enjoyed a run of recent success vs. MU, claiming the last seven games, dating back to 2017.
The Tigers are just 3-12 vs. Arkansas as an SEC dating to their first league matchup in 2014.
The Razorbacks hold a 13-7 all-time edge in games played in Fayetteville, including their three-game sweep in the two squads’ 2019 SEC Opening Weekend 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 19 RBIs and brings a career-best 12-game hit streak into Friday’s series opener.
Lovich has reached base safely via a hit or walk in all 17 contests this season and is hitting .383 (18-for-47) over the course of his current hit streak that dates back to February 24.
SS Matt Garcia has a pair of multi-hit games since returning from injury March 2. Since his return to the starting lineup on March 5, the Tigers have averaged 9.1 runs per game.
OF Tucker Moore brings a five-game hit streak —his second five-game streak this season — into the series. He has hits in 10 of his last 11 games and has reached safely in 14 of his 16 games as a Tiger.
RHP Logan Lunceford tossed 5.0 shutout innings in earning his first victory of the season in his last outing, a 20-2 win over Purdue Fort Wayne (March 10). The sophomore allowed just three singles in a tidy 62-pitch effort.
LHP Javyn Pimental has fanned at least five batters in each of his three outings to date, including a career-best nine punchouts in his last start Saturday vs. Purdue Fort Wayne. The Hawaii native has 17 K’s in just 12.2 innings this season.
INF Justin Colon registered his first four-hit game as a Tiger vs. Northern Kentucky (March 3). The junior also posted career bests for runs scored (4) and RBIs (5) vs. NKU.
2B Trevor Austin leads the club with seven home runs after bingeing on Purdue Fort Wayne pitching with four round-trippers in four games last weekend.
Austin has been red-hot over the last 11 games, hitting .378 (14-for-37) with five homers and 13 RBIs, as well as an OPS of 1.440.
OF Jackson Beaman has been lethal at the plate over the same stretch as well, batting .444 (8-for-18) with three homers, 13 RBIs and club-leading .633 on-base and 1.056 slugging percentages.
C Jedier Hernandez has gunned down three would-be basestealers on the season.
RHP Ben Pedersen logged three consecutive scoreless relief outings as part of his return from a two-year absence due to injuries. The 6-foot-6 Minnesota native notched his first collegiate save in Tuesday’s 10-inning victory over Kansas.
OF Thomas Curry enjoyed a debut to remember in Missouri’s season-opening series at Cal Poly (Feb. 16-17), as the freshman paced all Mizzou hitters with his .444 average, while homering and driving in four runs. The Wisconsin product has recorded four multi-RBI performances in his first 13 games as a Tiger.
RHP Carter Rustad notched career victory No. 15 Saturday with 6.0 strong innings in MU’s win over PFW.
Over their last 25 1/3 combined innings, Mizzou starting pitchers have posted a 1.78 ERA.
As a team, Mizzou has been hit by 36 pitches this season, good for fourth in the SEC and 17th nationally.
RHP Jacob Peaden ranks second in the SEC in saves (3) and third in games finished (5).
The Tigers rank fourth in the conference in stolen bases (23) as well, led by OF Jeric Curtis’ five steals.
INF Brock Daniels logged his first multi-hit game as a Tiger Tuesday at Kansas, including the go-ahead RBI double in the 10th inning as part of a 2-for-5 night.
All 13 Mizzou hitters who came to the plate in Sunday’s 20-2 rout of Purdue Fort Wayne recorded at least one hit, while seven different Tigers drove in multiple runs in the victory.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS

Under 22nd-year head coach Dave Van Horn, the Razorbacks are off to a 14-2 start that has them sitting atop the majority of the national polls this week.
Arkansas has utilized a dominant rotation that has combined to log 11 wins and 120 strikeouts through just 16 games.
The Razorbacks led the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.84), strikeouts per nine innings (13.9) and rank second nationally in WHIP (1.03).
Leading those mound efforts have been Friday starter LHP Hagen Smith, who has registered a pair of wins and a 2.12 ERA and 40 K’s, the latter of which leads the SEC. Two other weekend staples, RHP Brady Tygart (3-0, 0.90) and LHP Mason Molina (2-0, 3.57 ERA) have been dominant as well.
At the plate, the Razorbacks have fashioned a .296 batting average, led by INF Jared Sprague-Lott’s .381 average.
INF Ben McLaughlin (.351) and INF Wehiwa Aloy share the team lead with 15 RBIs.

DIGGING THE LONG BALL

Mizzou’s offense has picked up right where it left off last spring, out-homering the opposition by a 24-17 count through its first 17 games.
Eleven different Tigers have homered in the first 16 games, continuing a recent trend that was evident in 2023, when 14 different Tigers hit at least one homer.
Mizzou powered up to hit nine homers in five games.
The Tigers are 7-5 when hitting at least one home run and 2-3 when they fail to go deep.
2B Trevor Austin and 1B Jackson Lovich have powered the early attack for MU. Austin clubbed three homers in four games at the Tony Gwynn Legacy series (Feb. 22-24), then pounded four balls out of the yard in this past weekend’s series with PFW.
Lovich blasted his fifth homer of the season Sunday vs. PFW.
Austin has produced a pair of two-homer games, first in a 6-3 win over CSUB (Feb. 22), as well as this past Saturday’s 11-1 victory over PFW.
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 vs. CSUB.
In their last 30 games (since April 29, 2023), 19 different Tigers have combined to hit 57 homers.
In their last 16 games at Taylor Stadium, the Tigers have gone deep 42 times.
MU clubbed 79 homers in 2023, which represented the program’s top total since the 1998 squad blasted a school-record 110 bombs.
Mizzou reached the 75-home run plateau on just four previous occasions — 1998, 1988, 1986 and 1985.

RUSTAD RISING

RHP Carter Rustad has been one of the Tigers’ most consistent hurlers, turning in four starts in which he has allowed three earned runs or less to date.
Rustad has registered wins in three of his four starts, hiking his career win total to 15, including his nine victories at San Diego (2020-21).
This past weekend vs. Purdue Fort Wayne, the Kansas City product eclipsed his Mizzou career high with eight strikeouts while allowing just one unearned run on four hits over 6.0 innings. His strikeout total was just one shy of his overall career best (9 on March 7, 2020).
The right-hander was lights-out in Mizzou’s first win of the season, a 3-1 decision over Cal Poly (Feb. 16), permitting just one hit over 5.0 shuotut innings.
Rustad’s total of three wins is tied for fifth in the SEC, while his 15 career wins are tied for seventh among all active league pitchers.

LOVIN’ LOVICH

1B Jackson Lovich will bring a career-best 12-game hit streak into Friday’s series opener.
The sophomore from Overland Park, Kan., is hitting .383 (18-for-47) with four of his five home runs on the season and 15 RBIs during the same stretch.
Lovich has slugged .692 for the season and has reached base safely via a hit or walk in all 17 contests in 2024.
He also leads the Tigers in multi-hit (7) and multi-RBI (6) games and ranks ninth in the SEC in hits (24).

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 March 5 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.
Since Garcia’s return to the Tigers lineup, the Mizzou offense has hit .308 and averaged 9.1 runs per game in going 4-2.
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, was hit by a pitch four times during Mizzou’s initial home stand of the season, running his 2024 total to eight HBPs, which ranks third in the SEC.
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

Each of this weekend’s contests will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with Brett Dolan and Troy Eklund calling the action.
Every Missouri baseball game in 2024 will be produced by the Tiger Radio Network and streamed live via the Varsity Network app, with Tex Little and Matt Michaels once again handling broadcast duties.

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