Mizzou Baseball drops road matchup against Missouri State

Sam Horn’s first outing since 2023 went well. Others…. not so much.

Mizzou Baseball failed to find consistent hitting or pitching Tuesday night in Springfield, losing 11-0 to Missouri State in a seven inning run-rule. The Tigers defeated the Bears in Columbia only one week earlier but dropped the second game of a home-and-home.

The highlight of the game was Sam Horn’s return. Mizzou’s dual-sport hurler had not appeared in a game since Feb. 25, 2023, against TCU, missing all of last season after tearing his UCL and requiring Tommy John surgery.

He got off to a slow start, allowing a leadoff single and some hard contact, but showed the talent which made him a candidate to go in the first few rounds of the MLB Draft out of high school.

Horn consistently reached 95-96 miles per hour on his fastball and quickly settled in, striking out Nick Rodriguez and inducing a lineout that turned into a double play. He exited after one inning of work, allowing another pitcher to make their season debut and return from injury.

Josh McDevitt impressed in the Appalachian League last summer and shined in fall ball, becoming a dark horse rotation candidate. His season debut was much bumpier than Horn’s, as he allowed two runs in the top of the second to give the Bears an early advantage.

He displayed the raw stuff that could make him an impact pitcher down the stretch for the Tigers, touching 95 miles per hour with arm-side action on his fastball and solid cut on his slider. But McDevitt struggled to locate his pitches, leading to his struggles in one inning pitched.

Tony Neubeck entered in relief, the third straight pitcher who recently returned from injury. The junior entered the game having allowed 14 runs in 5.2 innings pitched since his return, a far cry from his 3.86 ERA in 2023.

His struggles continued, allowing a single up the middle by Rodriguez and a sacrifice fly to right field by Taeg Gollert as Missouri State extended its lead to 4-0.

Mizzou’s poor night kept going.

Brock Lucas entered in relief in the bottom of the fourth and allowed three more runs, 7-0.

He allowed two runners to reach scoring position on a leadoff walk, a single to left-center field and a wild pitch. He induced a double play on a groundout by Dylan Robertson, but Caden Bogenpohl responded with a home run to left center.

The Tigers looked like they might stop the bleeding with scoreless innings from Lucas and Josh Kirchhoff in the fifth and sixth.

But Kirchhoff quickly ran into trouble in the top of the seventh, allowing a leadoff walk to Rodriguez and a single through the right side by Jake McCutcheon. Right fielder Pierre Seals misplayed the ball, allowing both runners to reach scoring position.

Gollert brought them both home the next at-bat, hitting a triple to right field and making the score 9-0. Max Knight walked off the game one at-bat later, smacking a home run beyond the left field wall and clinching the 11-0 run-rule victory for the Bears.

Mizzou’s pitching consistently fell flat, but the team’s offense also never got off the ground. The Tigers combined for three hits and only put two runners in scoring position all game long.

This team has had its fair share of lowlights, from 0-18 in SEC play to splitting a four-game series with Binghamton. Missouri State has shown the ability to knock off quality competition, beating Arkansas and Oklahoma State this year, but the Bears’ domination arguably places the game in the same territory as those earlier stains.

Mizzou returns to its SEC schedule with a three-game series against No. 18 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The series opener begins Thursday at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network.