Mizzou Baseball Takes Down No. 24 Kentucky in Game 1

Missouri earned its second win of Southeastern Conference play on Friday night in Lexington, Kentucky, with the Tigers taking down the No. 24-ranked Wildcats with a 5-4 win in Game 1 of the series.

The win puts Missouri at 18-13 on the season and 2-8 in conference play. It marks Missouri's first win in Lexington since 2021. The Tigers are just the second team to beat Kentucky as a road team this season, joining Morehead State.

Missouri and Kentucky entered the final inning tied at four runs each, but a single that brought in a runner on second lifted the Tigers past the Wildcats.

On the second at bat of the inning, senior infielder Keegan Knutson hit a double in order to put himself in position to bring in the game-winning run. Following Knutson was redshirt freshman outfielder Donovan Jordan, who hit a single to deep right to bring Knutson home.

DJ drives in Knutson, Tigers lead ‼️

T9 | MIZ 5, UK 4 pic.twitter.com/ZUcjeg2Gow
— Mizzou Baseball (@MizzouBaseball) April 4, 2026

Needing to hold off Kentucky in the bottom of the ninth inning, Missouri managed to do exactly that by forcing a ground out, followed by two strike outs engineered by sophomore Trey Lawrence. Taking the mound for the final three innings, Lawrence recorded five strikeouts to close out the game while allowing just one hit.

Missouri's pitching effort started with a hot start from junior Josh McDevitt, recording seven strike outs while allowing just one earned run on 104 pitches.

While Kentucky's earlier runs were spread out, Missouri's first four were concentrated in the third and fourth inning, with the Tigers scoring three in the third and one in the fourth.

In the third inning, a wild pitch from Kentucky allowed Kam Durnin to score the Tigers' first run of the night and for Kaden Peer to advance to second. A single on the next at bat brought Peer home.

Missouri will play Game 2 of the series at 1 p.m. tomorrow on the SEC Network +.

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