Baseball Drops Series Opener at No. 5 Georgia

Friday, May 1

Athens, Ga.

5 P.M.

Missouri

21-24, 4-18

Georgia

36-11, 16-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Missouri	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Georgia	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	X	4	6	0

Josh McDevitt throws a pitch at No. 5 Georgia, May 1, 2026

5/1/2026 8:59:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

ATHENS, Ga. – Mizzou baseball dropped game one of its three-game Southeastern Conference series at No. 5 Georgia, 4-0, on Friday night at Foley Field.

Right-handed pitcher Josh McDevitt was dominant for the Tigers (21-24, 4-18 SEC) on the mound against perhaps the nation's most lethal offense, limiting the national home run leaders to a single run on just four hits over 6.1 innings of work, adding six strikeouts without issuing a walk.

The Tigers had chances throughout the game, four times getting a pair of runners aboard with less than two outs. However, Mizzou was unable to get on the scoreboard on all four occasions as it struggled to produce the timely hit.

McDevitt made his 12^th start of the season on the mound and was sharp out of the gate, cruising through four scoreless frames with just one hit and zero walks allowed. In the fifth, Kenny Ishikawa led the inning off with Georgia's (36-11, 16-6 SEC) second hit of the game – a triple off the wall in right field. He came in to score on a sac-fly off the bat of Ryan Black for the game's first run. McDevitt responded and struck out the final two outs of the frame, stranding two Bulldogs in scoring position.

After giving up the run in the fifth, McDevitt posted a scoreless sixth inning before returning to the mound in the seventh with his pitch count at 89. He won a 10-pitch battle with a strikeout for the first out of the inning before handing the ball off to lefty Juan Villarreal out of the bullpen. The Panamanian southpaw struck out the first man he faced before Michael O'Shaughnessy tagged him for a solo shot to make it a 2-0 Bulldogs' lead.

Villarreal returned to the mound for the eighth and loaded the bases before Black drove in his second and third runs of the game for the Bulldogs with a two-out, two-strike single to left field to double Georgia's lead – which proved to be final.

NOTEBOOK

McDevitt gave the Tigers a chance and turned in 6.1 innings of one-run ball, allowing just four hits and zero walks while striking out six.
In his 12 starts this season, McDevitt has allowed four hits or fewer in all but three of them. His six strikeouts marked his 10^th start this season with six or more.
Mizzou limited the fifth-ranked Bulldogs to four runs to mark just the 10^th time this season Georgia scored less than five runs.
Villarreal allowed three runs on two hits and two walks in 1.2 innings of relief, striking out three.
The Bulldogs entered the matchup leading the nation with 124 home runs and averaging nearly three per game and were limited to just one solo shot on the night.
The Tigers and Bulldogs each tallied six hits apiece. Mizzou received one hit apiece from each batter in the top six spots of the order: Jase Woita, Kam Durnin, Blaize Ward, Mateo Serna, Kaden Peer and Donovan Jordan.

The Tigers are back at Foley Field on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. CT / SECN+) for game two of the series versus the fifth-ranked Bulldogs. All Mizzou baseball games can also be streamed on the Varsity Network by Learfield, with longtime play-by-play announcer Tex Little on the call and Matt Michaels providing color.

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