Mizzou Baseball Drops to Mississippi State in Final Series Opener of Regular Season

The Tigers tagged on seven late runs, but it wasn't enough to come back from the large deficit made by the Missouri pitching.

Reliever Kaden Jacobi tosses from the mound against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on May 15, 2025. | Mizzou Athletics

The solid pitching of the Missouri Tigers staff seemingly did not follow them back from College Station.

A series-opening loss was handed to the Tigers by the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday. Mizzou was able to tag on some late runs, but still fell 25-7 to the Bulldogs. Mississippi State hit eight homers in the game.

In Game 1 against Mississippi State, Missouri starter Brady Kehlenbrink gave up seven runs in just 3 1/3 innings and set the tone for the game. He was followed by the Tigers staff allowing 22 more runs before the end of the game.

The Bulldogs plated three runs before the close of the first inning, with the first run crossing on wild pitch and the next two were unearned after an error by second baseman Keegan Knutson. Kehlenbrink allowed four more runs on three homers across the second and fourth inning.

The Tigers then handed the ball to reliever Kaden Jacobi in the fourth inning. He gave up a solo homer in his second batter faced to put Mizzou down by eight half way through the game. Jacobi followed it with a clean inning, but them gave up a three-run homer in the sixth to push the Bulldogs into run-rule range.

A few hits were scattered by the Tigers throughout the first five innings and they managed to get baserunners on in each of the innings. It didn't result in run, as they also stranded seven runners on base.

That all changed in the sixth inning. A walk from right fielder Isaiah Frost and back-to-back singles from first baseman Mateo Serna and Knutson is what finally broke the shutout that the Bulldogs had going against the Tigers.

Then shortstop Jackson Lovich stepped up to the plate with two on and continued his hot streak at the plate with his fourth homer in nine days. This brought the game out of run-rule range.

Three more runs crossed from a massive homer from Serna in the seventh. It came after third baseman Peyton Basler was hit by a pitch and Frost singled to get on. But the Tigers scoring stopped there.

It was followed by the Bulldogs adding 13 runs in the eighth and ninth to add to the deficit and no response from the Tigers in the final two innings. Mississippi State sent homers out of the park on back-to-back pitches off of reliever Josh Kirchhoff in the ninth. Reliever Seth McCartney then took over and allowed the next six runs.

The Tigers (16-36, 3-25) will look to even the series against the Bulldogs (32-20, 13-15) in Game 2 at 6 p.m. on Friday.