Baseball Heads to Bluegrass State for SEC Series at No. 24 Kentucky

Friday, April 3

Lexington, Ky.

5:30 P.M.

Missouri

Kentucky

Josh McDevitt at No. 22 Tennessee, March 21, 2026

Baseball Heads to Bluegrass State for SEC Series at No. 24 Kentucky

4/2/2026 5:27:00 PM | Baseball

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mizzou Baseball is back on the road for its second Southeastern Conference road series of the season, set for a three-game set versus the 24^th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats at Kentucky Proud Park. First pitch of the series opener is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT (SECN+) on Friday, followed by a 1 p.m. CT (SECN+) start on Saturday and a 12 p.m. CT (SEC Network) first pitch for Sunday's finale.

The Tigers (17-13, 1-8 SEC) dropped a weekend SEC series to No. 25 Texas A&M last weekend before falling to Kansas 11-8 on Tuesday in front of a regular-season record crowd of 3,207 fans at Taylor Stadium in the second 2026 diamond edition of the StorageMart Border Showdown.

Mizzou will aim to get back in the win column this weekend at No. 24 Kentucky (22-6, 5-4 SEC), who is coming off a 14-11 midweek win over Miami (Ohio) after dropping its SEC series to LSU, two games to one after taking the Friday game, 7-4, last weekend.

All Mizzou baseball games are available via audio stream on The Varsity Network app by Learfield with longtime play-by-play voice Tex Little on the call alongside Matt Michaels providing color.

Expected Pitching Matchups vs. No. 24 Kentucky

Friday, April 3 (5:30 P.M. CT)
- Mizzou – RHP Josh McDevitt (3-2, 3.93 ERA, 45 K, 23 BB)
- Kentucky – RHP Jaxon Jelkin (6-0, 2.81 ERA, 44 K, 9 BB)
Saturday, April 4 (1 P.M. CT)
- Mizzou – LHP Brady Kehlenbrink (3-2, 3.93 ERA, 45 K, 23 BB)
- Kentucky – RHP Nate Harris (3-2, 5.70 ERA, 30 K, 17 BB)
Sunday, April 5 (12 P.M. CT)
- Mizzou – TBD
- Kentucky – LHP Ben Cleaver (1-1, 3.86 ERA, 26 K, 15 BB)

SCHEDULE

Mizzou vs. No. 24 Kentucky, Friday, April 3 @ 5:30 P.M. CT
- Kentucky Proud Park | Lexington, Ky. | LIVE STATS | TV
Mizzou vs. No. 24 Kentucky, Saturday, April 4 @ 1 P.M. CT
- Kentucky Proud Park | Lexington, Ky. | LIVE STATS | TV
Mizzou vs. No. 24 Kentucky, Sunday, April 5 @ 12 P.M. CT
- Kentucky Proud Park | Lexington, Ky. | LIVE STATS | TV

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS

Through 28 games, the Wildcats are off to a 22-6 start and 5-4 in the SEC.
Last weekend, UK dropped its series at LSU after taking the Friday night game, 7-4.
The Wildcats have drawn at least 10 walks in three of their past six games.
Infielder Tyler Bell has been on base in 67 of his 70 career games. He has missed 14 games this season.
Outfielder Jayce Tharnish is 19-of-20 on stolen bases in 2026 and is 56-of-58 in his career.
Infielder Luke Lawrence has reached base safely in 33-consecutive games.
Infielder Ethan Hindle has 19 extra-base hits out of his 27 total hits on the season.
As a team, the Wildcats are slashing .292/.419/.451 with 23 home runs, 10 triples and 55 doubles. They have stolen 80 bases in 97 attempts.
On the pitching side, UK has a team ERA of 4.52 with 263 strikeouts and 123 walks.

SERIES HISTORY vs. KENTUCKY

Friday's game will mark the 35th all-time meeting between the two programs, with UK leading the series, 20-14.
In Lexington, the Wildcats hold a 5-10 advantage.
The two teams last met in Columbia, March 22-24, 2024. Kentucky won the series, two games to one, with the Tigers winning a 2-1 game on Saturday.

OFFENSE CONTINUES TO ROAR

The Tigers are top 15 nationally and tied with Kentucky for the SEC lead in triples (10).
In addition, MU is No. 15 nationally in HBP (63), No. 28 in runs (238), No. 42 in hits (286) No. 43 in on-base percentage (.415) and No. 59 in batting average (.295).
With the Tigers' 15-1 victory over UAPB on Feb. 24, they became the fastest team in program history to reach 100 runs (8 Games).
Mizzou reached the 150-run milestone in game 14, also becoming the fastest team in program history to that mark.
The Tigers' run-rule victory over UAPB on Feb. 24 marked the first time Mizzou has recorded four-straight run-rule wins in the 56-game regular season era (1997).
MU earned its fifth run-rule victory of the season on Sunday (March 8) in a 10-0 win over UIC.

MAKING STRIDES ON THE MOUND

Under first-year pitching coach Drew Dickinson, the Tigers have made impressive strides on the mound through the first 30 games of the campaign.
As of April 1, the Tigers rank 40th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (7.9) and 41st in strikeouts per nine innings (10.1).
Over 135.0 innings of work, the starting rotation has combined for a 9-7 record, a 4.80 ERA, 148 strikeouts to 65 walks and opponents are batting just .220 against the unit.

CONSECUTIVE SHUTOUTS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2017

The Tigers recorded consecutive shutouts for the first time since May 18-19, 2017, after defeating UIC 7-0 and 10-0, respectively, March 7 and 8.
Those shutouts accounted for 16 innings within a 22-inning stretch of consecutive scoreless frames by Tiger pitchers.

WAITER, BRING ME WOITA

South Carolina transfer Jase Woita has made an immediate impact in the Mizzou lineup this season after hitting .300 with six home runs in 45 games for the Gamecocks in 2025.
The physical, left-handed slugger is off to a hot start with the Tigers, batting .354 with an OPS of 1.070 thanks to a team-leading six home runs in 27 games played.
His .354 batting average is 15th in the SEC and he's driven in 33 runs to lead the squad and rank 11th in the SEC in that department.
He drove in a career-high eight runs in the record-breaking 34-3 win over Mount Saint Mary's on Feb. 15 - one shy of the program record for RBI (9) in a game.
In addition to the run production, Woita has been among the nation's toughest batters to strike out. He ranks fifth in the SEC in that metric, striking out just once every 9.0 at-bats (11 times in 99 at-bats).
Woita saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end vs. No. 6 Auburn but extended his on-base streak to 25 games after reaching safely against Kansas on Tuesday night.

LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD

The Tigers have scored 238 runs through 30 games (7.9 per game) to rank 28^th nationally and seventh within the league.

PASS THE TORCH

The Tigers have already hit consecutive home runs on three occasions this season:
- Sam Parker / Chris Patterson (Feb. 15 vs. Mount St. Mary's, 8^th inning)
- Eric Maisonet / Isaiah Frost (March 5 vs. UIC, 7^th inning)
- Kaden Peer / Cameron Benson / Pierre Seals (March 8 vs. UIC, 3^rdinning)
In the series finale vs. UIC on March 8, the entire starting outfield (Peer, Benson, Seals) went back-to-back-to-back in a matter of five pitches – all solo shots.
It marked the second time of Benson's career being a part of back-to-back-to-back home runs, the first coming April 11, 2023, as a member of the Kerrick Jackson-coached Memphis Tigers in an 11-9 win at Ole Miss.

GOING STREAKING!

Mizzou had a 13-game winning streak snapped by No. 6 Auburn on March 13 – its longest since rattling off 20-straight victories in 2017.
South Carolina grad transfer Jase Woita is riding a 25-game on-base streak into this weekend's series – the longest by a Tiger this season.
Center fielder Kaden Peer has been on base in all 18 games since returning from injury.
Shortstop Kam Durnin has reached base safely in 17-straight games and has knocked a hit in six-straight contests.
Freshman Blaize Ward has been on base in 11-straight games and has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games.

ON LIKE DONKEY KONG

Mizzou ranks 43rd nationally with a .415 on-base percentage.
The Tigers rank 42nd nationally in hits (286) and 59th in batting average (.295).
In addition, MU ranks No. 15 in the country and third in the SEC with 63 HBP.

WEAR IT!

The Tigers are averaging 2.1 HBP per game to rank 15th nationally, being plunked 63 times so far this season.
Winthrop leads the nation with 79 HBP while Kentucky leads the league with 74.
Mizzou has been hit five-plus times on five occasions and has been hit at least twice 15 times.

KEEP STACKING BRICKS

The Tigers and head coach Kerrick Jackson have developed a new winning ritual: stacking bricks.
After each win, the Tigers add a brick to the wall, each of them resting on three black cinder blocks at the base of the wall that each display one of the team's three core values: accountability, respect and connection.
The bricks themselves have a color-code black are non-conference victories, gold are SEC victories and tiger-striped brick signifies a series-clinching victory.

DEFEND THE TURF

Mizzou is in its first season of a brand-new turf surface at Taylor Stadium, and the Tigers are off to a 10-7 start on the new digs.
With their 10-0 shutout of UIC on March 8, the Tigers clinched having more home wins this season than they had all of last season, going 8-20 at Taylor Stadium in 2025.

NON-CON DOMINANCE

After concluding the 2025 season with a 13-11 record against non-conference opponents, the Tigers are off to a 16-5 start in 2026.
Last year's Tigers clinched a winning non-con season slate for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons; only MU's 2021 squad (7-14) failed to reach the .500 mark vs. non-SEC foes over that span.
Over the last 13 seasons, the Tigers' dominance has been equally impressive, with MU winning 115 more non-conference games than it has lost (208-93).

HISTORIC OFFENSIVE OUTPUT

Mizzou baseball used a record-setting performance from its offense in Sunday's series finale to earn a dominant 34-3 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 15.
Missouri's 34 runs were its second most in a single game in program history and the most since a 35-run outing in 1902.
As a team, the Tigers had a program-best 32 RBI, passing the previous record of 28 against Texas on April 19, 2008.
In addition, the Tigers' 26 hits matched a program record that had been done just twice (2005 vs. Navy; 2008 vs. Texas).
Lead-off hitter Tyler Macon went 6-for-6 (eight RBI) to become the third Tiger in program history with a six-hit performance while Jase Woita, batting second, went 4-for-7 with a home run and eight RBI. The top two spots in the Tigers' lineup combined to go 10-for-13 with 16 RBI and seven runs scored, while both Macon and Woita came up one RBI short of tying the school record (nine).
Left fielder Isaiah Frost was overshadowed while still having a huge day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and five RBI.
Four Tigers scored four runs apiece: Macon, Chris Patterson, Jamal George and Gehrig Goldbeck.
Overall, 11 Tigers recorded hits while 13 players scored a run.

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 Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.