
Baseball to Kick Off Five-Game Week in Show Me State Tuesday Night vs. Illinois
3/23/2026 5:58:00 PM | Baseball
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball is set for a five-game week in the Show Me State, beginning with a Braggin' Rights matchup versus Illinois at CarShield Field in O'Fallon on Tuesday night (6 p.m. CT) and a Wednesday night matchup (6 p.m. CT) in St. Charles versus Lindenwood. The Tigers will return to Taylor Stadium for a weekend series Friday through Sunday versus No. 25 Texas A&M.
The Tigers (16-8, 1-5 SEC) won the series opener at No. 22 Tennessee, 8-4, on Friday night in Knoxville before dropping the next two games to the Vols (17-7, 3-3 SEC). They shift their attention to the double mid-week slate and an Illinois (12-10, 4-5 B1G) team that is coming off a weekend series win over Rutgers in which it scored 28 runs. Tickets to Tuesday night's Braggin' Rights game at CarShield Field can be purchased at THIS LINK.
Mizzou will turn to right-hander PJ Green (1-0) on the mound for his first start of the season on Tuesday night against the Fighting Illini, who will counter with RHP Ben Plumley (1-2). Starting pitchers for Wednesday's matchup versus Lindenwood (10-13, 0-3 OVC) which will be streamed on ESPN+ will be announced once available.
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.
- Mizzou vs. Illinois, Tuesday, March 24 @ 6 P.M. CT
- CarShield Field | O'Fallon, Mo. | LIVE STATS
- Mizzou vs. Lindenwood, Wednesday, March 25 @ 6 P.M. CT
- Lou Brock Complex | St. Charles, Mo. | LIVE STATS | TV
- Mizzou vs. No. 25 Texas A&M, Friday, March 27 @ 6 P.M. CT
- Taylor Stadium | Columbia, Mo. | LIVE STATS | TV
- Mizzou vs. No. 25 Texas A&M, Saturday, March 28 @ 4 P.M. CT
- Taylor Stadium | Columbia, Mo. | LIVE STATS | TV
- Mizzou vs. No. 25 Texas A&M, Sunday, March 29 @ 1 P.M. CT
- Taylor Stadium | Columbia, Mo. | LIVE STATS | TV
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING ILLINI
- Illinois enters Tuesday's matchup 12-8 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten after three weeks of conference play.
- After being swept opening weekend of league play by No. 12 USC, the Fighting Illini picked up series wins over Minnesota and Rutgers.
- Additional notable wins include a 4-2 extra-inning win over South Florida on Feb. 14 and a 14-5 win over No. 6 Coastal Carolina on Feb. 22.
- As a team, Illinois is slashing .268/.370/.433 with 23 home runs, five triples and 48 doubles.
- The pitching staff has combined for a 4.42 ERA while Tuesday's starter Ben Plumley is 1-2 with a 5.75 ERA with 10 strikeouts and nine walks over 20.1 innings.
- Offensively, Illinois is led by AJ Putty (.386 AVG. / 4 HR / 10 2B / 31 RBI).
SERIES HISTORY vs. ILLINOIS
- Tuesday's matchup will mark the 34th all-time meeting between the two programs, with Mizzou leading the series, 17-15-1.
- At a neutral site, the Tigers hold an 11-5 advantage.
- Mizzou has won three of the past four matchups dating back to 2022, all at a neutral site.
SCOUTING LINDENWOOD
- Lindenwood enters Wednesday's matchup 10-13 overall and 0-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play after being swept by Eastern Illinois over the weekend.
- The Lions earned a notable win over Iowa, 4-3, on March 7 in Iowa City before dropping the series finale in extra innings.
- As a team, Lindenwood is slashing .240/.341/.356 with 13 home runs, five triples and 39 doubles.
- The pitching staff has combined for a 4.11 ERA over 201.2 innings.
- Offensively, the Lions are led by Jake Radosevich (.278 AVG. / 5 HR / 23 RBI).
- Three Lions have recorded 10-plus steals (Will Geary; 12, Kam Edwards; 11, Charlie Isom-McCall; 10) while the team has swiped 47 total on 56 attempts (84%).
SERIES HISTORY vs. LINDENWOOD
- Wednesday's matchup will mark the eighth all-time meeting between the two programs, with Mizzou undefeated in the series, 8-0.
- In St. Charles, Mizzou is 1-0, defeating the Lions 7-5 in 2023.
- Last season, the Tigers topped the Lions 14-10 in Columbia.
MAKING STRIDES ON THE MOUND
- Under first-year pitching coach Drew Dickinson, the Tigers have made impressive strides on the mound through the first 24 games of the campaign.
- As of March 23, the Tigers rank 20th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (7.24), 39th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3), 45th in ERA (4.38) and 53rd in WHIP (1.37).
- Five innings from starting pitching has become the standard under Dickinson in 2026. Mizzou starters have gone five-plus innings in 18 out of 24 starts, including five out of six SEC starts.
- In the opening weekend of SEC play vs. No. 6 Auburn, Mizzou starters Javyn Pimental, Josh McDevitt and Brady Kehlenbrink each went six-plus innings.
- Over 119.0 innings of work, the starting rotation has combined for a 9-4 record, a 3.93 ERA, 134 strikeouts to just 50 walks and opponents are batting just .206 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.
OFFENSE CONTINUES TO ROAR
- The Tigers are top 10 nationally in triples (9), No. 16 in HBP (53), No. 29 in runs (203), No. 39 in on-base percentage (.422), No. 63 in batting average (.297) and No. 68 in hits (230).
- 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).
- 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.
MACON US GO!
- Lead-off hitter Tyler Macon has been a spark plug for the Mizzou offense to start the season.
- Through the first 24 games of the campaign, Macon is tied with teammate Jase Woita for 12th in the SEC with a .378 batting average and has scored 26 runs (No. 18 SEC) to go along with 25 RBI.
- Macon has slugged a team-best seven doubles and a pair of triples and is getting on base at a .481 clip. He's continued to make an impact once reaching base, stealing a team-best seven bases in eight tries.
- In the game three record-breaking win over Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 15, Macon became the first Tiger in program history to go 8-for-8 on base – going 6-for-6 at the plate with a pair of doubles, eight RBI and four runs scored, also reaching twice via walk.
- In addition, Macon became just the third Tiger ever to record six hits in a game and the first since Jeff Terrell in 1995 (6-for-6, cycle, vs. Iowa State). The other was Jay Hawkins in 1956 in a 27-4 win over Nebraska (6-for-7, school-record six runs scored, three stolen bases, four RBI).
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 .378 with an OPS of 1.053 thanks to a team-leading four home runs in 21 games played.
- He's driven in 29 runs to lead the squad and rank top 60 in the country and top 10 in the SEC in that department.
- Better yet, Woita is top 40 nationally in RBI per game (1.38).
- 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 30th in the country in that metric, striking out just once every 13.7 at-bats (six times in 82 at-bats).
- Woita saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end vs. No. 6 Auburn but extended his on-base streak to 19 games in Sunday's series finale at No. 22 Tennessee – the longest by a Tiger this season.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
- The Tigers have scored 203 runs through 24 games (8.5 per game) to rank 29th nationally and sixth 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, 8th inning)
- Eric Maisonet / Isaiah Frost (March 5 vs. UIC, 7th inning)
- Kaden Peer / Cameron Benson / Pierre Seals (March 8 vs. UIC, 3rd inning)
- 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 its 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 19-game on-base streak into Tuesday's matchup – the longest by a Tiger this season.
- Graduate outfielder Pierre Seals has put together a nine-game hitting streak, longest actively on the team and fourth longest by a Tiger this season.
- Center fielder Kaden Peer has been on base in all 12 games since returning from injury and has hit safely in three-straight games.
- Shortstop Kam Durnin has reached base safely in 11-straight games.
ON LIKE DONKEY KONG
- Mizzou ranks 39th nationally with a .422 on-base percentage, thanks to ranking 68th nationally in hits (230) and 73rd in walks (120).
- In addition, MU ranks 16th in the country with 53 HBP.
WEAR IT!
- The Tigers are averaging 2.2 HBP per game to rank 16th nationally, being plunked 53 times so far this season.
- Winthrop leads the nation with 71 HBP.
- Mizzou has been hit five-plus times on five occasions and has been hit at least twice 10 times.
- Freshman Blaize Ward was hit three different times in the series finale versus New Haven and has been hit six times (second on the team) in just 41 at-bats.
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 10-3 start on the new digs.
- With their 10-0 shutout of UIC on Sunday (March 8), the Tigers officially have 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 15-3 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 116 more non-conference games than it has lost (207-91).
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.
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