Columbia News

The Missouri Tigers baseball team is set to host the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday, May 6, at Taylor Stadium in Columbia, Missouri. The non-conference matchup will begin at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network+ with commentary from Mickey Doolittle and Ashley Moore. Fans can also listen to live coverage through the Tiger Radio Network via the Varsity App, featuring Tex Little and Matt Michaels.

This meeting marks the 354th game between the two programs, a rivalry that dates back to 1901. Missouri leads the all-time series with a record of 220-131-2 against Kansas. In their most recent encounter last week in Lawrence, Kansas secured a 9-3 victory by scoring six runs in the first four innings.

Single-game tickets for Tuesday’s game are available through the Mizzou Athletics ticket office or online at MUTigers.com. The event includes several promotions: FSL Day, happy hour with half-price beer, autographs from Mizzou Football players between 5 and 6 p.m., and a sunglasses giveaway for the first 250 fans.

On the mound for Missouri will be right-handed pitcher Josh McDevitt, while Kansas is expected to start right-hander Malakai Vetock.

Missouri enters this contest with a season record of 13-34 after being swept by No. 9 Georgia over the weekend. Head coach Kerrick Jackson is in his second year leading the Tigers after joining as head coach in June 2023. Last season, Missouri finished with a record of 23-32.

Several returning players have contributed to this year's performance. Junior infielder Jackson Lovich has posted a .379 batting average with seven home runs and has hits in 27 of his last 35 games since February 28. Sophomore outfielder Kaden Peer leads Missouri in stolen bases with twelve and reached base safely in twenty-one consecutive games earlier this season.

Newcomers such as Pierre Seals and Cayden Nicoletto have also impacted offensively; Seals is batting .348 over his last twenty-one contests while Nicoletto holds a .282 average with six home runs across forty-seven games.

Pitching highlights include senior right-hander Kaden Jacobi’s forty-four strikeouts over forty-one innings and graduate left-hander Ian Lohse's forty-one strikeouts in thirty-one innings pitched.

The Tigers’ pitching staff has recorded more than three hundred strikeouts for twenty-nine out of thirty years—a consistent mark for the program—and currently averages more than nine strikeouts per game.

Attendance figures show continued support from fans; so far this season Missouri averages about one thousand three hundred spectators per home game—one of its best historical averages—with previous seasons setting attendance records for both single-season total attendance and average crowd size.

Kansas arrives at Taylor Stadium under third-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald with an overall record of thirty-six wins and thirteen losses this season. The Jayhawks lead their conference in several offensive categories including home runs (eighty-eight) and walks (three hundred fourteen), ranking among national leaders as well.

When these teams last met on April 29, Kansas relied on early offense including Brady Counsell’s three-run homer to take control against Missouri starter Josh Kirchhoff. Counsell finished that game two-for-three with five RBIs as Kansas held off Missouri’s attempts at a comeback throughout the contest.

As individual milestones accumulate for Tigers players—such as Pierre Seals reaching one hundred career hits—the team looks to leverage home field advantage where they are hitting .290 collectively across twenty-four games played at Taylor Stadium this year.