“We just have to grow up as a baseball team,” head coach Kerrick Jackson said after the game.
In front of one of the largest crowds Taylor Stadium has seen all season, the Mizzou Tigers (13-35, 0-24) faced off against the Kansas Jayhawks in the second game of their home-and-home series, but lost 6-5 after blowing a late-game lead. Kansas has now swept the Tigers in the 2025 Border War.
After the Tigers scored first in both of the final two games of the Georgia series, it was the Jayhawks who struck first in this one.
After a single and a walk to open the game, Mizzou starter Josh McDevitt, making his first start of the year, quickly found himself in a hole when Kansas’ third batter launched a three-run homer over the right-field wall, giving the Jayhawks a quick 3-0 lead.
Similar to the Tigers in those other two games, the Jayhawks couldn’t get anything going offensively after the first inning. Over the next four frames, Kansas managed just one hit and had only one runner reach scoring position.
Josh McDevitt’s final line: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 52-31 (Total Pitches-Strikes)
After McDevitt was pulled and Jackson turned to the bullpen, the Tigers’ relievers were dominant for the first half of the game. PJ Green and Victor Christal combined for three hitless innings, each allowing a walk and striking out one.
“We’ve been doing some work with him on the side to get him in a better position,” Jackson said after the game about Christal. “These last few weeks, he’s been working on that. So this was the opportunity to put him in.”
The Tigers finally got on the board in the third inning after loading the bases in the first and getting runners on the corners in the second. Once they broke through, they kept the runs coming.
A two-out triple by Tyler Macon led to the Tigers' first run when a wild pitch bounced more than 10 feet in front of the plate, allowing Macon to score. Mizzou added two more in the fourth, starting with a leadoff homer from Brock Daniels. A few batters later, Jackson Lovich blasted a shot off the scoreboard, bringing the Tigers within one at 4-3.
“Tyler is also a high school football player, and he was really, really good at it,” Jackson said after the game about Macon. “He plays baseball like football, and that’s both a gift and a curse. The gift was him scoring on the wild pitch — it didn’t get that far away, but he was on it. The curse is, this weekend, we get a leadoff single and immediately try to steal without even knowing the guy’s move.”
The Tigers took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth. After a walk and a hit-by-pitch to start the inning, a stand-up double by Chris Patterson brought home Cayden Nicoletto to tie the game. Mateo Serna, attempting to go first-to-home, was thrown out at the plate trying to score the go-ahead run.
Two batters later, a walk to Daniels put runners on first and second for Keegan Knutson, who dropped a single into left-center, giving the Tigers their first lead of the game, 5-3.
“We talked to our guys about hunting the next 90 feet on the bases, and most of the guys out there have a green light,” Jackson said postgame. “I want them to get after it, put pressure on the defense to make plays. We want to bunt for hits, move the ball, and get guys advancing on ball endurance.”
That didn’t stop the Jayhawks from coming right back and reclaiming the lead just a couple of innings later, which they did.
After a solo home run off Mizzou’s Brock Lucas brought the game within one, new pitcher Tony Neubeck walked the bases loaded with one out in the eighth. The Jayhawks capitalized with a sacrifice fly and took the lead on a misplay by the Tigers' infield, giving Kansas a 6-5 advantage and securing the win.
“I’m talking to them about those things that didn’t go well at the time,” Jackson said after the game. “After the game, they’re listening, but they’re not really listening. At the moment, they don’t have success, but I can grab them right now and say, ‘Hey, you should have done this. This is what you should have been looking for. Here’s the situation that should have happened, or here’s where our mindset needs to be in those situations.’”
At the plate, the Tigers looked the best they have in a while, despite striking out 14 times as a team. With 10 hits and four walks, they scored the most runs in a game for almost two weeks, dating back to the second game of the Alabama series.
The biggest performances at the plate came from Patterson, Daniels, and Macon, who all reached base at least twice. Patterson led the way with two doubles, an RBI, and a run scored. Daniels and Macon also reached twice, with Macon recording a triple and a walk, while Daniels added a single to go along with his homer.
Another big positive takeaway from the game was the performance from Christal. Having not pitched in nearly a month — his last outing coming in Game 2 of the Oklahoma series — Christal entered the game without having had a single outing this year without allowing a run. Despite that, he delivered two innings of no-hit baseball for the Tigers.
Neubeck (0-4) took the loss in this one, while Kansas’ Eric Lin (3-2) earned the win and Alex Breckheimer (6) picked up the save.
“Hey fellas, we’re taking strides. Now, let’s stop doing dumb stuff, right?” Jackson said.
Mizzou will hit the road following this game, traveling to College Station, Texas, for a three-game series against Texas A&M. The series will kick off on Friday at 6 p.m. and will be available to watch on ESPN+.