With yet another of the wrong kind of Southeastern Conference sweep to its name, it would be easy to feel dejected and prepare for a repeat season for Mizzou baseball. 

Despite being swept to open conference play, the three loses to then-No. 6 Auburn brings encouraging signs for what could be to come for the team. One thing is for certain: this is a very different team. 

Toeing the rubber

Mizzou’s 13-game win streak came to an end on Friday, but it wasn’t without a valiant effort to keep it alive. The Tigers lost 2-0, 4-3 and 9-2 in the three games, all three of them featured a strong starting performance on the mound.

Left-handers Javyn Pimental and Brady Kehlenbrink and right-hander Josh McDevitt eclipsed six innings on the mound. Pimental allowed no runs to score in his stint on the mound, and McDevitt gave up just two. Kehlenbrink left the mound with only one run on the board, but he left the bases loaded and they all came around to score. 

Complications arise when trying to compare this to where the pitching rotation was around this time last year. For one, Mizzou had so many injuries to starting pitchers that the team didn’t really have a set starting rotation for much of the season. The most comparable series to facing No. 6 Auburn this past weekend would likely be then-No. 7 Texas at the end of March 2025. Both series were home matchups and featured a doubleheader. 

The Tigers were outscored 29-9 in that series from 2025, which is a bit different than the 15-5 difference from the 2026 conference opener. Eight of the runs came in the final three innings of the doubleheader and the series, when Mizzou ran out of gas. 

Two current Tigers, Ian Lohse and Kehlenbrink, started in the 2025 series against Texas. They combined for 15 earned runs in seven innings pitched across the three starts. 

The ability for the pitchers to go deeper into games and keep a potent opposing offense to minimal runs is encouraging for what the team might be capable against less dangerous teams and once they have have time to adjust to SEC play. 

“We’re going to be fine as it goes along, and our guys just have to understand we got work to do,” Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said. “We’re still growing and developing, and more importantly, maturing as a ball club.”

Closing the gap

Where the starters dominated, the bullpen still has room to improve. Nine of the runs in the series were credited to the relievers and there were four baserunners left by starters that were brought in by the bullpen. 

Mizzou’s bullpen is primarily made up of pitchers who have little SEC experience. Four of the relievers — Isaiah Salas, Sam Rosand, JD Dohrmann and Dane Bjorn — were freshman and gave up five runs, while three transfers — Keyler Gonzalez, Juan Villarreal and Luke Fricker — allowed three runs to score. 

Get to hitting

He once was at the top of the NCAA in multiple offensive categories, but Tyler Macon now sits over a week removed from his last hit. He went 0-for-9 at the plate in the first two games against Auburn. Macon’s performance at the plate let to Jackson sitting him for the final game of the series. 

“He’s kind of been pressing the last two games and taking some uncharacteristic at-bats,” Jackson said. “I think he put a lot of pressure on himself to do more than he needed to do, and so (I wanted to) give him a mental break.”

It wasn’t just Macon that struggled to make the jump against SEC level pitching. As a team, Mizzou combined for just five runs and 17 hits across the three games. They left 21 runners on base. While there were times that the Tigers had dry spells at the plate, they did show that they are capable of producing hits and getting on base. 

“It was a matter of how they pitched,” Jackson said. “They exposed us, so we have to do a better job of being disciplined at the plate.”

The good news for the Tigers is that they wont be facing a top-10 team every week. They will be facing a ranked team quite often, however, with 10 being selected in the most recent D1Baseball rankings. This series helped expose what they need to work on for their next conference battle against No. 22 Tennessee this weekend.Â