Tuesday Trip to Kansas Opens Five-Game Road Swing for Baseball

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri baseball kicks off a five-game road swing Tuesday (March 12) with the first of two nonconference meetings against Kansas, a 6 p.m. (CDT) contest at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence, Kan.

The Tigers (8-8), who will play the Jayhawks (9-5) next Tuesday (March 19) at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City as well, bring a sizable 219-129-2 overall series advantage into this year’s first meeting with KU. Tuesday’s game will be Mizzou’s final nonconference tune-up before opening the 2024 SEC season this weekend against No. 2 Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Tuesday’s contest will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Steven Davis and Kevin Wheeler 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

LHP Daniel Wissler (Mizzou) vs. LHP Evan Shaw (Kansas)

SERIES HISTORY

Tuesday’s game will mark the 351st meeting of the Tigers and Jayhawks.
Mizzou holds a 219-129-2 all-time edge over KU.
The Tigers have won 68 of the 120 games played in the series in Lawrence, but just one of the last seven contests at Hoglund Ballpark (dating back to 2010).
Last year, the Tigers claimed an 8-3 win over KU at Kauffman Stadium (March 22) in Kansas City, before finishing the season sweep with a 9-7 victory in Columbia (May 2).
Offense has been the story in the last seven games in the series, with the Tigers averaging 9.4 runs per outing in going 5-2 vs. the Jayhawks.

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 with 19 RBIs and brings a career-best 11-game hit streak into Tuesday’s contest.
Lovich has reached base safely via a hit or walk in all 16 contests this season and is hitting .395 over the course of his current hit streak that dates back to February 24.
LHP Daniel Wissler struck out a career-best five hitters in his last start, March 5 vs. Lindenwood, a 5-4 Mizzou victory.
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 10 games, hitting .412 (14-for-34) with five homers and 13 RBIs, as well as an OPS of 1.535.
OF Jackson Beaman has been lethal at the plate over the same stretch as well, batting .500 (7-for-14) with three round-trippers, 12 RBIs and a club-leading .680 on-base percentage.
C Jedier Hernandez has gunned down three would-be base-stealers on the season.
RHP Carter Rustad notched career victory No. 15 Saturday with 6.0 strong innings in MU’s win over Purdue Fort Wayne.
Over their last 21 1/3 combined innings, Mizzou starting pitchers have posted a 1.26 ERA.
As a team, Mizzou has been hit by 35 pitches this season, good for fourth in the SEC.
RHP Jacob Peaden shares the SEC lead for saves (3 and ranks second in games finished (5).
The Tigers rank fourth in the conference in stolen bases (21) as well, led by OF Jeric Curtis’ five steals.
In their last 16 home games at Taylor Stadium dating back to May 2, 2023, the Tigers have hit .335 (175-for-523) as a team with 42 home runs, while averaging 11.0 runs per contest.
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.
In its 28-10 rout of Northern Kentucky on March 2, Mizzou scored 14 times in the first inning, marking its biggest rally since 2005.
The Tigers’ 28 runs in the victory not only marked the most for an SEC squad this season, but also represented their top single-game total since a 28-2 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on March 24, 2010.

SCOUTING KANSAS

Under second-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald, the Jayhawks are off to a 9-5 start after taking two of three from No. 3 TCU to open the Big 12 season over the weekend.
The Jayhawks are hitting .310 as a team, as the duo of OF Lenny Ashby (.375) and C Jake English (.357) have combined for 11 home runs and 28 RBIs to lead KU.
On the hill, KU has fashioned a 4.39 ERA, led by RHP Patrick Steitz’s 0.96 mark.
RHP Hunter Cranton has been KU’s most dependable arm out of the bullpen, logging seven consecutive scoreless outings to start the season.

GOING DEEP

Mizzou powered up to hit nine home runs last week and has now out-homered the opposition, 24-16.
The Tigers are 7-5 when hitting at least one home run and 1-3 when they fail to go deep.
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.
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.
The long ball for Frost not only represented his first HR as a Tiger, but also his first hit.
In their last 29 games, extending back to April 29, 2023, 19 different Tigers have combined to hit 57 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.

FRESH LOOK

Mizzou has received contributions from up and down its roster, but the Tigers’ talented crop of freshmen have been perhaps their most consistent performers.
MU’s four primary freshman position players — SS Drew Culbertson, DH Thomas Curry, OF Tucker Moore and OF Kaden Peer — each rank among the Tigers’ top batters offensive contributors.
The quartet has combined to hit .275 (50-for-182) with four homers and seven stolen bases (in seven attempts) through 16 games.
Culbertson has logged three multi-hit outings to date, hitting .273 overall while starting 11 games at shortstop.
Moore has spent time in the leadoff spot in the MU batting order, recording four multi-hit performances and reaching base safely in 13 of his 15 games.
Curry has hit a pair of homers and notched four multi-RBI efforts, while drawing a team-best 10 walks.
Peer has heated up as well, registering his first three-hit effort Sunday vs. Purdue Fort Wayne.

LOVIN’ LOVICH

1B Jackson Lovich will bring a career-best seven-game hit streak into Friday’s game.
The sophomore from Overland Park, Kan., is hitting .357 (10-for-28) with three of his four home runs on the season and 11 RBIs during the same stretch.
Lovich has slugged a team-best .652 for the season and has reached base safely via a hit or walk in all 12 contests in 2024.
He also leads the Tigers in multi-hit (5) and multi-RBI (5) games and ranks 14th in the SEC in RBIs (15).

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

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 contest with Kansas will be streamed live on ESPN+.

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
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This article is provided by University of Missouri Athletics