Mizzou, still looking for their first SEC win of the season, heads to Gainesville to visit the 1-11 Gators
After getting swept in Fayetteville over the weekend against the Arkansas Razorbacks by a combined score of 51-9, the Missouri Baseball program has reached rock bottom in the Kerrick Jackson era as the Tigers fell to 0-12 in SEC play.
Meanwhile, Mizzou’s next opponent (Florida) only has one SEC win coming into this series. It has been a disastrous season for the Gators as well especially by their program standards.
Both teams are coming off midweek wins as Mizzou beat SIUE 11-9 and Florida outlasted Florida State 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Florida Overview:
Head Coach: Kevin O’Sullivan
2025 record: 21-14 overall (1-11 SEC)
Florida was picked to finish 5th in the SEC Preseason Poll, but things haven’t turned out well for the Gators after a 1-11 start in conference play. On paper, Kevin O’ Sullivan’s team still has the talent on the roster as 2B Cade Kurland (First Team), C Luke Heyman (Second Team) and SS Colby Shelton (Second Team) were named to preseason-all conference.
Make no mistake about it, Florida is better than their record shows as they still have a 20-3 non-conference mark with a quality series win over Miami and their recent midweek win over Florida State.
Team Leaders:
Batting average: Colby Shelton (.360 AVG)
Home runs and RBI: Bobby Boser (11 HR, 37 RBI)
ERA: Aidan King (3.12)
Strikeouts: Liam Peterson (54)
Probable Pitching Matchups:
Thursday (6:00 p.m. CST first pitch): Kaden Jacobi (2-4, 9.93 ERA) vs Liam Peterson (4-2, 3.63 ERA)
Friday (5:30 p.m. CST first pitch): Brady Kehlenbrink (0-2, 9.64 ERA) vs Aidan King (3-1, 3.12 ERA)
Saturday (4:00 p.m. CST first pitch): Tony Neubeck (0-1, 32.40 ERA) vs Alex Philpott (0-3, 7.89 ERA)
Note: Pitching match ups are based off of starters from previous series.
Thursday night’s game can be seen on SEC Network with Friday and Saturday’s game on SEC Network Plus.
Series Expectation (Mizzou Gets Swept):
If Florida has any hope of turning their season around and making it to the postseason, they have to sweep Mizzou in this series. Despite a frustrating season so far for the Gators, they still have more talent and will come in desperate at home in Gainesville. It’s fair to predict a depleted Mizzou team will get swept once again.