After losing all three games in their final SEC series of the 2023 season against Auburn, the Missouri Tigers will get a rematch in a single-game matchup this Tuesday to open the SEC tournament. It is the first time Mizzou has qualified for the league's postseason tournament in four years.
Missouri (30-23, 10-20) exits regular season play after a sweep of Georgia at home thanks to walk-off hits from Dylan Leach and Cam Chick, but giving it back in a disappointing series on the road against Auburn the following weekend.
The main issue for the Tigers--their starting pitching--will be especially tested on Tuesday as they prepare for the possibility of taking on multiple high-caliber opponents over the course of the week.
Not that that’s any different from their schedule during conference play.
Led by second-team all-SEC selection Luke Mann, Missouri’s offense has been the engine for most of Mizzou's success this season. In order to best Auburn, Missouri will likely have to overcome deficits and keep its foot on the gas. Otherwise, Auburn will roll through the Tigers for a fourth straight game and continue its late-season momentum.
Auburn (33-19-1, 17-13) enters without a lost SEC series in over a month — including back-to-back sweeps of Missouri and Ole Miss.
The Tigers rely on a powerful offense to roll through opponents, and have mostly disregarded putting together a coherent pitching staff similar to other top teams in the nation. Led by senior Bryson Ware (.358 AVG, 21 HR, 57 RBI), Auburn has a formidable offense that proved itself more than capable of giving Missouri’s pitching staff fits at any point in the game.
However, the Auburn pitching staff is one of only three teams in the SEC to have a worse ERA (5.82) than Missouri (5.78). They share a common problem — a lack of consistent starting pitching — and aren’t well adapted to overcoming an offensive barrage. Their schedule is riddled with games that were lost due to poor pitching performances.
Auburn has used 12 different starting pitchers this season, with graduate student Tommy Vail being the only one with double-digit starts or more than 50 innings thrown. Vail has been a dependable arm, tossing 61 ⅓ innings in 12 starts while holding a 3.38 ERA and 72 strikeouts. Given the prolific offensive teams in the SEC, such numbers are nothing to scoff at.
Though Missouri has an outside shot to make the NCAA tournament (41st nationally), they tread a fine line between admission and elimination if they go down without a fight in the SEC tournament.
Missouri takes on Auburn thirty minutes after the conclusion of the Alabama-Kentucky game at 4:30 CST, with a variety of options on the mound to attempt to shut down the Auburn offense.
The winner will move on to meet Vanderbilt in the second round, at which point the tournament becomes a double elimination event. See the entire bracket here.
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