Mizzou Baseball Exits SEC Tournament in First Round

With the new Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament format, even the Missouri Tigers with just three conference wins got to participate. But it also made the tournament single elimination.

The No. 16 seed Tigers made a first round exit from the tournament after a 4-1 loss to the No. 9 seed Alabama Crimson Tide. Mizzou gained the first lead, but lost it in the bottom half of the inning.

On the mound for the Tigers, starter Sam Horn contrasted a scoreless start with five walks. Horn went just three innings and was pulled due to pitch count combined with the traffic allowed in his final inning. He allowed runners in each of his innings and loaded the bases in the third after a single and three walks, with outs in between in the form of a caught stealing and a groundout.

Horn was followed by usual weekend starter Wil Libbert, who faced a rough beginning to his outing. Libbert allowed two runs to cross and Alabama to take the lead after three singles and a walk in the fourth. But he followed that with back-to-back clean innings.

Despite allowing many runners to reach base, Horn and Libbert combined to strand nine Alabama players on base.

The lead was given to the Tigers with a solo home run from the catcher Mateo Serna. It was his ninth of the season. It didn't last long, as the Crimson Tide followed with the two runs in the bottom half of the inning, taking a one run lead. They made it a three-run lead with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a solo-shot in the eighth.

The offense grounded themselves around the ever-consistent Jackson Lovich. The Missouri shortstop had two hits for the Tigers and raised himself to eigth in the conference in batting average. Center fielder Kaden Peer joined Lovich as one of the top producers, he had three hits on the day and stole a base.

The Tigers loaded the base in the ninth with a single, hit-by-pitch, and a fielder's choice thrown to second that hit Lovich in the back, leaving everyone safe. With a homer already in the game, Serna stepped up to the plate and flew out to end the season.

On the injury report prior to the game, Peer was listed as questionable. He looked in pain following his single in the fifth inning and didn't put his sliding glove on when he reached base. It appeared to be a clever trick, however, as he stole second shortly after.

The Tigers had just one inning in which they didn't have a runner touch base. The team was able to consistently get runners on, but were not able to get the runners home. Mizzou stranded 12 on base.

This concludes the Tigers 2025 season. They finish with a 16-39 overall record and a 3-28 record in conference play.

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