No. 18 Kentucky Hosts Missouri in Battle of Surprising SEC East Ballclubs

The Bat Cats are looking to win their third SEC series in as many tries.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The third weekend of Southeastern Conference series are on deck, and for Kentucky baseball, the chance to continue stacking wins at Kentucky Proud Park is an opportunity that head coach Nick Mingione's team cannot pass up on. 

Following a sweep of Mississippi State at home and a series win on the road at Alabama, the No. 18 Bat Cats are set to host the surprising Missouri Tigers in Lexington. It's not often that a series between these two ballclubs isn't a battle of basement-dwellers. 

The SEC Preseason Coaches Poll placed Kentucky sixth and Mizzou seventh in the SEC East. Neither team has struggled this far, however. The Wildcats ripped 17 wins in a row, propelling them to a 22-3 record, while the Tigers — manned by head coach Steve Bieser — own a respectable 19-6 record. 

Mizzou is currently No. 28 in RPI thanks to some early success against Power 5 programs. The Tigers opened the season in Arlington, Texas, participating in the College Baseball Showdown, where they lost to current-No. 17 Oklahoma State, but defeated No. 21 Texas and TCU. 

After breezing through the bulk of the non-conference schedule, Missouri welcomed then-No. 2 Tennessee to Taylor Stadium in Columbia. In stunning fashion, bookended by 9-1 and 7-1 wins, the Volunteers were swept. The Tiger pitching staff allowed six runs all weekend and just one UT hit in the sweeping victory. 

No. 9 South Carolina brought the Tigers back down to earth last weekend, winning all three games at home, including a 9-8 win that saw the Gamecocks plate four runs in the bottom of the ninth, as well as a 12-inning thriller that saw SC come out on top, 5-4. 

Missouri will head to Lexington having already won two midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday — a 6-5 win over rival Illinois and a testy 7-5 victory over Lindenwood. Kentucky is three days removed from its wowing 10-8 win over Western Kentucky in Bowling Green, Ky. 

Below are the projected starters for the three-game series at Kentucky Proud Park: 

• FRIDAY: UK – TBA; MIZ – RHP Austin Troesser (2-1, 2.66 ERA) 
• SATURDAY: UK – LHP Tyler Bosma (3-1, 5.13); MIZ – RHP Chandler Murphy (3-1, 4.15) 
• SUNDAY: UK – RHP Zack Lee (3-0, 2.73); MIZ - RHP Rorik Maltrud (1-0, 2.13)

The statistics don't exactly paint Mizzou as a formidable foe, as the Tigers rank low in most offensive stats amongst its conference compatriots in the SEC:

• Batting Average: .287 (12th in SEC)
• Slugging Percentage: .494 (11th)
• On-Base Percentage: .399 (12th)
• Runs Scored: 178 (14th)
• Hits: 233 (13th)
• RBI: 162 (T-13th)
• Walks: 120 (11th)
• Strikeouts: 215 (4th most)

Just six players have appeared in 20 or more of Missouri's 25 games this season. Five of those six are hitting over .300. Third baseman Luke Mann leads the way slashing .361/.479/.670. He's 13th in the SEC in hits with 35 — eight of which have left the yard for home runs. First baseman Hank Zeisler has nine four-baggers, a team-high 32 RBIs and is slugging a whopping .711. He has walked (22) more times than he's struck out. 

Designated hitter Dalton Bargo is batting .353 in 82 plate appearances, while left fielder Trevor Austin sits at .345. The pair of Tigers own a 1.025 and 1.034 OPS, respectively. 

The slack that's left in the batters box is picked up via a capable pitching staff that features some top-notch arms :

• Earned Run Average: 3.97 (7th)
• Opposing Batting Average: .202 (4th)
• Batters Struck Out: 272 (6th)

Troesser, who'll toe the slab on Friday night, is making just his third start of the season. Last Sunday against South Carolina, he threw three innings, allowed one hit, no runs and struck out six. 

Murphy has been the most up-and-down pitcher on the staff, but he's also thrown the most innings at 30.1. During that time, he's given up 25 hits equaling 14 earned runs, has struck out 30 and walked 13. All six of his appearances this season have been starts. 

Sunday is set to feature Maltrud, who has statistically been the top pitcher for the Tigers this season. In eight outings (three starts), he owns a 2.13 ERA (fifth in SEC) and has allowed just six ER across 25.1 IP. He's walked only six batters and struck out 40. Opponents are hitting just .146 (third in SEC) against the New Mexico State transfer. 

Kentucky's Friday-night starter is still to be announced, though it'll likely be either Logan Martin or Darren Williams. Martin returned from a non-arm related injury last weekend at Alabama, firing two scoreless innings. Williams piggybacked in relief, hurling five innings of three-hit, one-run baseball. UK pitchers rank 5th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings, 6th in WHIP and 8th in ERA.

The No. 18 Bat Cats have held their opponents to three runs or fewer in 18 of 25 games and are 17-1 in those games. The home team has won the series each of the past four seasons between UK and Missouri.

First pitch on Friday night is set for 6:30 p.m. EST. The game will air on SEC Network+.

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