Columbia News

Missouri baseball will play Missouri State in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, April 22, at Hammons Field in Springfield. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Tiger Radio Network via the Varsity App.

Missouri enters the contest with a 13-26 record, while Missouri State stands at 20-18. The Tigers have won their last five games against the Bears and hold a slight overall series advantage of 35-31. In non-conference games since 2014, Missouri has compiled a record of 192-85, including a 65-25 mark over the past four seasons.

The probable starting pitchers are right-hander Sam Horn for Missouri and left-hander Tyler Charlton for Missouri State.

Missouri’s recent performance includes dropping three SEC games to No. 16 Oklahoma over the weekend. Head coach Kerrick Jackson is in his second season after joining as head coach in June 2023. Jackson previously served as an assistant coach at Missouri from 2011 to 2015 under Tim Jamieson, who is now pitching coach.

Junior third baseman Jackson Lovich leads returning position players, batting .412 with seven home runs and 34 RBIs since February 28. Sophomore outfielder Kaden Peer has reached base safely in a stretch of 21 consecutive games this season and leads the team with eleven stolen bases.

Several newcomers have contributed offensively, including Cayden Nicoletto, who is hitting .303 with five home runs and nineteen RBIs through thirty-nine games. Chris Patterson has driven in fourteen runs over his last fifteen contests, while Pierre Seals is batting .395 during his most recent fourteen-game stretch.

On the mound, senior right-hander Kaden Jacobi leads Missouri with forty strikeouts in thirty-eight innings pitched. Graduate left-hander Ian Lohse has recorded thirty-nine strikeouts in just under thirty innings this year.

As a team, Missouri’s pitching staff has tallied three hundred eighteen strikeouts across three hundred eighteen innings so far this season—marking their twenty-ninth time surpassing three hundred strikeouts over the past thirty years. The Tigers have also posted five fifteen-hit performances and twenty double-digit hit totals through thirty-nine contests this spring.

Missouri ranks fourth in the SEC for steals per game (1.46), projecting to eighty-one stolen bases over its fifty-five-game regular-season schedule—a figure that would place fifth all-time for program single-season steals totals.

Missouri State is led by first-year head coach Joey Hawkins and was picked by D1Baseball.com as favorite to win its conference this year. The Bears’ pitching staff currently leads their conference in strikeouts per nine innings (9.5) and holds a top-fifty national ranking in that category.

The last meeting between these teams saw Jackson Lovich hit a grand slam as part of a seven-run inning that propelled Missouri to a narrow ten-to-nine victory at Taylor Stadium.

With just three non-conference games remaining on their schedule after Tuesday's matchup, Missouri has already clinched an eleventh winning non-conference slate over the past twelve seasons.