No delays, no problems. Missouri baseball ran the guantlet on Sunday afternoon in terms of breaking all-time droughts in its 4-1 victory over Vanderbilt at Taylor Stadium. It was the final home game at Taylor Stadium and the six arms that pitched for the Tigers guided them their first SEC home victory since Apr. 6 2024 against the then—No.4—ranked Florida Gators.
It also marked the first SEC series victory against Vanderbilt for Missouri since April 20, 2018. Similar to his outlook on the Tigers’ historic victory against Arkansas earlier this season, Mizzou coach Kerrick Jackson wasn’t overly focused on how past results affect the significance his team’s win on Sunday.
“The significance of winning the series and those types of things and what it is in my short tenure here is not as relevant as the idea of we’re playing good baseball,” Jackson said. “We’ve done that multiple times this year but we haven’t been able to finish the job, this weekend we were able to.”
The Tigers offense apart from their opening 3-run inning was held mostly in check for the afternoon. This time, Missouri didn’t need an offensive explosion as the bullpen game for the Tigers staff, saw six different faces take the mound. It started with a Keyler Gonzalez appearance—it ended with a Sam Rosand save and one earned run allowed.
“It wasn’t an offensive day today, the wind’s blowing in against a team that has a lot of home runs and rely on the long ball at times,” Jackson said. “Our guys were able to come in there, pitch both sides of the plate and throw their secondary pitches for strikes.”
This series loss puts the current NCAA tournament hopes for the Commodores on ice and not only did the Tigers play an effective spoiler, they gained some momentum heading into not only their final SEC series on the road against No. 4 Texas.
The top of the Missouri order of Jase Woita, Kam Durnin and Blaize Ward kickstarted the first with a walk and back to back singles, scoring the first run of the game for Missouri. Tigers catcher Mateo Serna kept the rally going with a RBI single to shallow right-field and the fog-gate hero for the Tigers, Donovan Jordan, grounded out, which did result in an RBI as Ward scored from third.
Apart from a sac fly by Ward in the eighth, the Tigers pitching took over. Out of the six pitchers that threw Sunday, three of them had pitched the Saturday evening before, Juan Villarreal, Eli Skidmore and Isaiah Salas.
“You might be realizing that you might be a little tired and something hurts,” Serna said. “You’ve just got to keep grinding and give what you can to the team. That’s what [the pitchers] did.”
The Commodores sit at third in the SEC in team home runs with 100. Not only did they not have any homers, they earned no extra base hits all afternoon in the series’ rubber matchup. Silent contact led to a column of zeros put up by not just the three repeated pitchers from Saturday, but Ian Lohse, Gonzalez and Rosand.
The pitching staff put together struck out seven batters and heavily relied on the ground ball to provide a college baseball game that was an impatient person’s dream. Quicker innings, less offense and a faster moving contest, especially compared to a series filled with delays and a suspension of play.
“We just tried to stay competetive through each game,” Durnin said on the events of the series. “I’m super proud of our pitching staff today. We just embraced a next man up mentality and that’s what led us to be able to get the win.”
Building blocks and outside noise
Jackson didn’t just go into the nuts and bolts of what got Missouri a home finale victory post-game. He discussed where the program currently rests at 23-27 and a 6-21 record in SEC play and his general takeaways on how the year has gone for his team.
“Not the way we wanted it to go when you look at the results of things. But if you take away the wins and losses, you see the progress the team has made. You see how many games in conference play, specifically, we were right there. We’re one pitch, one hit, one play away from putting ourselves in a position to win. When you’re talking about growth mindsets, I don’t think you can ask for anything better than anything better than that.”
The negative reaction to a loss and being once again in the bottom of the SEC has brought criticism from a Tigers fanbase that for Jackson reflects a “win right now mentality. Blocking out the noise and focusing on what the progress of his team that doubled its conference win tally this season is what Jackson has focused on not just this season, but since his tenure at Missouri began in 2023.
“The true baseball people that people that understand what this thing is about, they look at what we did this year and say there’s progress being made,” Jackson said. “I’ve never really listened to outside noise. The way I was raised, especially by my grandparents, I was taught not to let anyone else define your self-worth. The only opinions that matter are from the people in your circle—the ones who support you whether you’re at your highest or your lowest.
“When you look at social media, a lot of people call themselves fans, but all they do is spread negativity—that’s not real support. Truth is, a lot of people are quick to tear others down, even when they’re doing well. So what we tell our guys is simple: stay focused on what we’re doing, not what people outside the circle are saying.”
UP NEXT
The Tigers will next take on top-tier SEC opposition against No. 4 Texas (37-10, 16-10 SEC) on a Thursday-Friday-Saturday slate in Austin. The Longhorns are coming off dropping 2-of-3 against the Tennesee Volunters in Knoxville but will pose a stiff test for the Tigers before the SEC tournament in Hoover, Alabama.