We’ve got a full weekend of diamond sports ahead of us, and it got started on Thursday night in College Station against the Aggies, who, according to Kortay in his baseball preview, have underwhelmed despite preseason expectations. You can read his preview here. The Tigers are coming off a run-rule victory over Missouri State, and a 1-2 weekend home series vs. Vandy. Kortay wrote a recap of the Vandy Boys series. You should read it.

Anyway, back to the game. It started nicely, guys. And then…. Yikes.

The Tigers struck first after walks by Austin and Zeisler and a HBP by Leach loaded the bases with 0 outs before Pena walked home a run. Unfortunately, a fielders choice and a strikeout ended the inning, and all the Tigers could get was one run, leaving the bases loaded.

The Aggies tied it back up with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, only for the Tigers to pull ahead in the top of the third on a Zeisler two-run homer, which brought in Mann, who led off with a single.

But then. disaster struck. This is a live shot of what happened in the third inning.

But also, here’s what really happened. HIDE YOUR EYES.

The Tigers got a chance to make a dent in the score when they loaded the bases in the fourth with a single and two walks, but yeah.... they got nothin’. At least neither did the Aggies?

In the fifth, Missouri made it a smidge closer, as they added two runs after a leadoff single by Austin, a walk by Zeisler, and a FC put runners in scoring position for Garcia, whose sac-ground out scored a run before Leach also scored on a wild pitch.

However, the joy of coming back, even a minute amount, was stopped short in the bottom of the inning, as a walk, dropped fly ball error, and sac fly allowed one run in, and then a wild pitch allowed another, making it... I don’t even know what score was. Let’s just go with “a lot to not enough”? They added another run in the bottom of the seventh after another error and a balk gave way to an RBI ground out, making it 13-5, and that is how it would end.

Ew.

The decision to use Wissler, a freshman, in a very important SEC road game, was… a choice. And the errors — SO MANY ERRORS — were unsightly and devastating. Not good, y’all.

SOME STATS:

• Luke Mann: 2-4 | R | BB | K
• Trevor Austin: 1-3 | R | H | BB
• Hank Zeisler: 1-2 | 2 R | 2 RBI | HR | 2 BB | K
• Cam Chick: 0-4 | Dalton Bargo: 0-5

Overall batting stats: 5 R | 6 H | 4 RBI | HR | 8 BB | 7 K | HBP | 10 LOB | 4 errors | .182 BA | .250 w/ 2 outs | .143 w/ runners on | .000 RISP

• Lunceford: 2 IP | 1 H | 5 ER | 6 BB | 2 K | 12 BF | HR
• Wissler: 0.1 IP | 4 H | 5 R | 4 ER| BB | K | 7 BF | HR
• Smith: 5.2 IP | 3 H | 3 R | 0 ER | 3 BB | K | WP | BK | 24 BF | 2B

Overall pitching stats: 8 H | 13 R | 9 ER | 10 BB | 4 K | 3 XBH | .250 OppBA | .238 w/ runners on | .308 RISP | .500 bases loaded

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As for the softball team, the Tigers also are coming off a midweek run-rule victory against a Missouri opponent, Lindenwood. You can read my recap (as part of my links) here.

Per MUTigers.com, you can catch the weekend action on SEC+: 2pm on Saturday, 3pm on Sunday, and 6pm on Monday.

On to the Links! M-I-Z!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Parker drops the news: Mizzou tight end Gavin McKay enters the transfer portal
• Ever the busy bee, he also shared some Gates press conference notes
• Oh yay, more transfer portal updates from Sam. This document is getting very long, y’all.
• Josh penned a piece about DRF, looking at how she’s done and what there might still be to come
• Kortay previewed Mizzou’s series with Texas A&M, which runs Thursday-Saturday
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: I went on tv! To chat gymnastics and softball with ABC17’s Chanel Porter. Please give it a watch if you haven’t already. Oh, and while you’re at it, read my gymnastics recap/peek into next year, would ya? Love that team.

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More Links:

Hoops

• Columbia Missourian: Hodge sets sights on draft; Grill to visit MU this weekend (Jaden Lewis)
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Five things to know about Mizzou basketball’s in-flux roster as transfer portal churns (Dave Matter)
• Columbia Tribune: What Dennis Gates said about Isiaih Mosley, scholarship math and more (Matt Stahl)
• Kansas City Star: Will Mizzou star Kobe Brown enter 2023 NBA Draft? Here’s what the process looks like (Matt Stahl via Columbia Tribune)
• PowerMizzou: Mizzou trying to be proactive in the portal (Drew King) | Everything Dennis Gates said on Thursday w/video (Gabe DeArmond)
• D’Moi out there doing D’Moi things in the PIT pre-scouting combine tourney. (This is not a new tourney for Dennis Gates-coached players, btw. Saw that Tre Mann participated in 2019)

Hodge’s final stat line in the 92-78 win? DraftExpress was impressed. He was named Player of the Game For his heroics.

31 min | 26 points on 8-10 FG & 5-7 3PT | 5-7 FT | 1 REB | 2 TO | 1 BLK | 1 STL

• ABC17/KMIZ: Dennis Gates gives offseason update on Kobe Brown, transfer portal and more (Chanel Porter)

Portal SZN

• Bye, Gavin. We saw you on the field so little Parker couldn’t even find a picture in a Mizzou uni for his article.

• And bye, Tionne Gray? We REALLY never knew ye (I only knew he went to Hazelwood Central, which is my alma mater). He de-committed and went somewhere else before ever arriving in CoMo and pledging his allegiance just 26 short days ago.

• Kadin Shedrick is rescheduling his upcoming visits to not only Texas, but also Mizzou. Not sure what’s up with that, other than On3 reports “personal reasons.” Hopefully, the personal reasons are not, “I’m going to Duke.”

• Intriguing. I fully recommend watching one of the videos with Gates’ full comments. Truly enlightening info about how the days of “scholarship limits” are basically over. He doesn’t reference NIL, but yeah... it’s NIL.

Football

• PowerMizzou/Rivals: Four-star DL Tionne Gray flips to Oregon (Clint Cosgrove) | Checking out the Comp series w/ Jarod Hamilton: Florida | Tennessee | Listen to the True Tiger Insider podcast w/ Luther Burden (Gabe DeArmond) | Transfer Visit Profile: Cam’Ron Johnson (Sean Williams)
• Columbia Tribune: Missouri football loses commitment from four-star in-state defensive lineman (Matt Stahl)
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read Matter’s subscriber chat | Mizzou basketball’s roster outlook hinges on Kobe Brown’s looming NBA decision (Matter)
• Our very own Nate Edwards went on the That SEC Podcast to chat about Mizzou Football. Have a watch!

Other Mizzou Sports

• BASEBALL: Third inning dooms Missouri in blowout loss to Texas A&M (Ethan Burke, Missourian) | Nine-Run Rally Dooms Baseball in Series Opener With Texas A&M (MUTigers.com)
• SOFTBALL: On the hop: Missouri softball’s key to success on the field (Maddie Orr, Missourian)
• WOMEN’S GOLF: Women’s Golf Continues Play at SEC Championship (via MUTigers.com)

The Missouri women’s golf team competed in the second round of the SEC Championship on Thursday, carding a 327. Freshman Kate Bibby led Mizzou with a 79 during round two to move into a tie for the team lead through 36 holes of play with a 154. Junior Emily Staples was second on Thursday with an 81 as she has equaled Bibby at 154.Sophia Yoemans (83), Melanie Walker (84) and Jade Zamora (86) rounded out the action for MU.

• GYMNASTICS: In the last meet and last performance of her career, Alisa Sheremeta KILLED IT. OMG, she killed it, scoring a 9.925 among SIX judges. Per MUTigers.com, she earned 2nd Team All-American honors after her score was the third-highest score of Semifinal I.

Do yourself a favor and watch this.

Mizzou in the Pros

• Congrats to Tilly, who has re-signed with the Hamilton Honey Badgers of the Canadian Basketball League for the summer. He’s been working out in CoMo as of late, getting ready for what’s ahead.

• JORDAN CLARKSON NEWS: COLUMN: Jordan Clarkson on the precipice of first free agency. Where to? (Homer D. Sayson, Spin Philippines) | Jazz GM Breaks Silence on Jordan Clarkson’s Future in Utah (Chad Jensen, SI.com)
• MICHAEL PORTER, JR NEWS: Film Study: Michael Porter, Jr. is peaking at the right time (Matt Brooks, NBA.com)

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