The Southeastern Conference announced each member school’s 2026 baseball conference schedule Tuesday, including the Tigers, providing a look at the gauntlet that lies ahead for Kerrick Jackson’s program.
Teams in the conference will again have 10 series with SEC opponents for a total of 30 conference games, with five of those series taking place in Columbia for Mizzou.
The team will open its conference schedule
against Auburn this season, facing (one of) the other Tigers at Taylor Stadium from March 13 to 15. Auburn hosted and won a regional in 2025 before falling to College World Series (CWS) finalist Coastal Carolina in the super regionals.
Mizzou follows that matchup with a trip to the Volunteer State from March 20 to 22, facing Tigers alum Tony Vitello’s Tennessee team. The Vols also made it to the super regionals before falling to Arkansas, a loss that ended their attempt to repeat as national champions.
The Tigers then return home to face the team that Tennessee defeated in the 2024 WCS finals, Texas A&M, from March 27 to 29. Mizzou shocked the Aggies by sweeping them in College Station last season, the team’s only three wins in conference play.
The alternating home and road schedule continues when the Tigers travel to Lexington from April 3 to 5, facing a Kentucky team that’s also coming off a disappointing year much like A&M. The Wildcats made the CWS in 2024 but fell in the Clemson regional last year.
Mizzou’s next series comes against South Carolina in Columbia (west) from April 10 to 12 in what should be one of the team’s best opportunities to pick up a series win. The Gamecocks went 6-24 in SEC play last season, finishing second-to-last in the conference.
The Tigers face a lineup of top teams for the rest of the conference schedule, though, likely giving the diamond edition of the Mayor’s Cup added importance in a crucial year for Kerrick Jackson’s rebuild.
That stretch begins when the team travels to Norman to face Oklahoma, April 17 to 19, and try to avenge last year’s drubbing at Taylor Stadium. The Sooners won all three games of the 2025 series by a combined score of 46-12, an average margin of victory over double digits.
The revenge tour continues the following week when Mizzou hosts Arkansas from April 24 to 26. The Razorbacks scored a combined 51 runs on the Tigers last year in Fayetteville, and Mizzou has not defeated their rivals to the south since 2022.
The Tigers will return to the road May 1 to May 3 to face Georgia, a team that hosted a regional last season but was upset by Duke. Mizzou’s series against the Bulldogs was one of its closest in 2025, losing two of the three games by two or less runs.
The team’s final home series of the year is from May 8 to 10, when they host a baseball blue blood in Vanderbilt. This marks the first time the Tigers have hosted the Commodores during Jackson’s tenure as head coach.
Mizzou’s regular season wraps up with a road series at Texas from May 14 to 16. The Longhorns were one of the top teams in college baseball last year, entering the NCAA Tournament ranked fourth in the nation, but were shocked by upstart UTSA (managed by former Tigers assistant Pat Hallmark) in regionals.
All together, Mizzou plays six of the top eight teams in the 2025 SEC standings and six teams that ranked in the top 25 at the year’s end. Eight of the Tigers’ ten conference opponents reached the NCAA Tournament.
Mizzou faces another uphill battle, but that’s life in the SEC. Now, the Tigers will try and find a way to bounce back from one of the worst seasons in program history.
