Mizzou baseball took victories in both games of its doubleheader against North Dakota State, extending its win streak to eight games, the longest of the Kerrick Jackson era at Mizzou. The Tigers now move to 10-2 on the season, a strong beginning compared to a 5-5 start through their first ten games in 2025, which included series splits with Binghamton and Evansville.
GAME ONE
Mizzou’s timely, not explosive offense gave them the 5-3 victory over the Bison, clinching another series win, the Tigers’ fourth series victory of the season
thus far.
The Tigers jumped ahead early in the bottom half of the first, scoring a pair of early runs.
A sacrifice fly from Blaize Ward opened the scoring, followed by a bases-loaded walk issued to Eric Maisonet. The Bison quickly answered, not in bunches, but in non-small-ball fashion in the second and third innings. The fifth inning brought another
A second‑inning RBI double from Tommy Simon put the Bison on the board, and Colten Becker tied it in the third with a no‑doubt homer over the right field fence.
It took two more innings for NDSU to strike again, once again taking advantage of an opportunity with runners in scoring position. The Tigers’ starter Josh McDevitt, struck out six through four innings, but NDSU made the most of their limited chances.
Dante Smith punched in an RBI single to put the Bison up 3-2 for their first lead of the game and only lead of the whole series.
Then came the Missouri response that flipped the game around. After Ward reached base on the fielding error, he eventually came around to score on a fielder’s choice. The Tigers weren’t done there.
In a two-out, two-runners-on-base situation, Chris Patterson punched a sharp single up the middle, scoring Cameron Benson and Jamal George to put Missouri back in front 4-3, a lead they didn’t concede for the rest of the game.
Ultimately, from the third inning on, Josh McDevitt didn’t dominate, but gave the Tigers the hitting what it needed to stay in it and stopped the bleeding in innings where one run could have become three.
Across four innings, McDevitt allowed three runs on three hits, walked four, and struck out six. NDSU made him work—18 batters faced, 83 pitches. This outing marked the first start from a Mizzou pitcher this season that didn’t eclipse the five-inning mark, after McDevitt’s walk to begin the fifth inning drew Kerrick Jackson from the dugout.
From there, Missouri’s bullpen handled the rest. The staff combined for five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out seven. The Tigers played clean defense behind them, committing no errors and keeping NDSU from generating any late momentum.
Kadden Drew was the first to enter and delivered a two-out bridge, striking out one and giving up no hits, and left the game after giving up a walk to the third batter he faced. PJ Green came in to replace Drew, and after giving up an RBI single in the fifth, via the runner walked by McDevvit.
After that. Green followed with the longest and most important relief stretch of the game: 2.1 innings, two hits, no runs, and three walks managed without letting NDSU build any offensive momentum and earning his first win of the season in the process.
The freshman pitcher Sam Rosand followed Green and pitched a scoreless eighth, no hits, walks, and a strikeout. Ian Lohse shut the door on the Bison, striking out two to give the black and gold its ninth win of the season.
Offensively, Missouri didn’t tack on any more insurance following the bottom of the fifth and ultimately finished with 12 hits, including multi‑hit nights from Tyler Macon, Woita, Serna, George, and Patterson.
Jamal George ended the game with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate, and behind the dish on the defensive side, he threw out a base runner on a stolen base attempt.
GAME TWO
The Tigers completed the sweep in a 7-5 win that brought out the small ball and the pitching side of Kerrick Jackson’s squad to grit out a come-from-behind victory.
The sweep didn’t come easy, but the Tigers pieced together an inning‑by‑inning response that matched the tone Kerrick Jackson described afterward: a day where his team refused to get complacent and simply decided to win the game.
NDSU landed the first punch in the top of the third when Tyman Long turned on a 1–2 pitch and sent a two‑run homer to left.. The Tigers trailed 2–0, and the early offensive energy of the doubleheader finale dipped for the Tigers in the opening three innings.
The bottom of the fourth flipped the momentum. Jamal George chopped an infield single to short to score Jase Woita. The small‑ball theme kept showing up.
Cameron Benson followed with a bunt single to bring home Mateo Serna, and Sam Parker drew a bases‑loaded walk to make it 3–1 Missouri.
“Anytime you play a doubleheader… it’s tough to win the second game, Jackson said. “Your guys can get complacent… and the other team is hungry to make sure they don’t get swept.”
Kehlenbrink kept the lead intact into the fifth, hitting a career‑high nine strikeouts. The sixth unraveled rather quickly for the left-hander starter.
Dante Smith doubled in two, Cal Jones followed with a soft single to center, and Noah Gordon stole home, capitalizing on a slow toss back to Missouri reliever Isaiah Salas put NDSU ahead 5–4 in the sixth.
Jackson gathered the team after the inning and said afterwards, “It wasn’t a question of whether or not we were going to win the game. It was when they were going to decide they wanted to win the game… good teams don’t take that lull after winning the first two games of a series.”
The message took hold.
In the eighth, Donovan Jordan came in as a pinch runner and scored on Tyler Macon’s blooper down the right‑field line, a ball that just got down and tied the game. It might not have been pretty: they all count the same. Via the game tying knock to deadlock the score at 5, Macon extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Moments later, Woita punched a single through the left side to score two more to give Missouri the 7-5 lea and the dugout erupted. After the win, Jackson said the turnaround came from settling down.
“We struggle between getting the job done and trying to get the job done… trying doesn’t do us any good, you have to have the will,” Jackson said.”
“Some of those teams aren’t going to let us back into a game if we give them opportunities,” Jackson said. “We have to play clean and make another team earn everything they get.”
The Takeaways
- The great T.R Robertson summarized this second game well in his tweet. If this is 2025 Mizzou baseball, I’m not sure if they come out with the victory after a surprise sixth-inning hammer-blow by a visiting opposition. Instead of taking the sixth-inning steal of home as a ticket home, they took it as a challenge.
- The fourth inning rally in game two came from small ball: An infield single, a bunt single, and a walk. Jackson, in his post-game presser, reinforced this versatility is intentional, the Tigers need to be able to bunt, run and manufacture runs when SEC arms won’t let them slug freely.
- Ian Lohse as a closer, has proven to be very effective for the Tigers. Two saves on the day and four on the season, rising to a 1.45 ERA on the season. An arm of his reliability out of the bullpen can be a very reliable tool for Jackson as the season rolls along.
UP NEXT
Mizzou will attempt to continue its fast start to the season against the UIC Flames in a four-game set at Taylor Stadium. A Missouri Valley Conference squad who is 4-5 on the season, on paper, presents another big opportunity for the Tigers to build on an already hot start to its non-conference play.
“Every game matters,” Jackson said. “If we want to be the team we say we wanna be, then we can’t relax. We have to show up, compete, and make sure we get the job done.”
