COLUMBIA, Mo. — An unusually rough Missouri softball season has reached the postseason stage, while the Tigers’ baseball team hits the final home stretch with more to gain over the coming weeks.
Coach Steve Bieser’s baseball Tigers (27-20, 7-17 Southeastern Conference) are coming off a weekend series victory over Mississippi, taking two of three games against the defending College World Series champions at home.
Third baseman Luke Mann continued his surge through the record book with four home runs in the series, giving him 45 for his career, tied for second all-time at Mizzou and four behind Jacob Priday’s MU career record of 49. The Tigers outscored Ole Miss 24-12 in the first two games of the series before the Rebels won Saturday’s home run fest 20-14. Both teams clubbed six homers, including four by Ole Miss catcher Calvin Harris.
Mizzou begins the week at No. 47 in the RPI rankings and out of the projections for the NCAA Tournament field of 64 with two SEC series left to play. The Tigers host Georgia from Thursday through Saturday, then after next week’s home finale against Indiana State finish the regular season with a three-game series at Auburn. If the season ended today, Mizzou would be the No. 12 seed in the 12-team SEC tournament — with Ole Miss and Mississippi State both missing the field at 6-18 in league play.
People are also reading…
Georgia (10-14 SEC) is three games ahead of Mizzou in the SEC East standings and enters the week on the NCAA bubble at No. 29 in the RPI.
As for coach Larissa Anderson’s Mizzou softball team, despite clinching its first SEC series on Sunday with a 7-6 comeback win over Arkansas, the Tigers (33-23, 7-17) are the No. 13 seed in the 13-team SEC tournament that begins this week in Arkansas. Kara Daly slugged walk-off home runs in back-to-back wins for the Tigers over the Razorbacks to close the regular season.
At No. 38 in the RPI, Mizzou is in danger of missing the NCAA tourney field for the first time since 2006. The Tigers have been selected for NCAA regional play every year there’s been a tournament from 2007-2022. (The 2020 event was canceled during the pandemic.)
Mizzou plays No. 12 seed Mississippi State in the single-elimination SEC tournament at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bogle Park in Fayetteville in a game to be televised on SEC Network.
