Coming off a season where Missouri baseball sat at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference with a 16-39 record and three wins in SEC play, there’s no place to look except up for a bounce-back season. Injury returnees, a revamp in identity, and a building project were some of the main talking points from Tigers head coach Kerrick Jackson on Friday afternoon when he met with the local media.
One key point in the talking points of positivity was that the build is going to take time, and there is no
satisfaction with where the program is currently. A flip on the constant reality of the Tigers being an underdog in the all-powerful SEC baseball conference this season is to simply use that status to help themselves play their best baseball.
“It’s year three for us, and we finally have the right people in place,” Jackson said. “Whenever you’re building something, it takes time. My first year here, we didn’t bring in 25 portal guys. We didn’t do that in year two, either. We slowly pieced things together and got the right people in for the system we want. Now we have people who have been here for several years, and they know what our culture needs to be, and how we need to go about things.”
“For me, it feels comfortable,” Tigers infielder Kam Durnin said. “Growing up where I did in the middle of nowhere, the closest facility I had to play baseball at was Columbia, which was an hour and a half away. I’m used to the underdog mentality, to having to work more to get the same amount done as everyone else.”
Durnin is certainly a player who could help the Tigers reach that timeline. A standout not just due to his two years at Wichita State, but also because of his off-the-charts season in the summer of 2025. The numbers and achievements at the plate speak for themselves: .407 batting average, 56 RBI, and a 1.181 OPS in 40 games, with his BA and RBI both Appalachian League records according to MU athletics.
In that timeframe, Durnin achieved a 13-game hit streak, which also led the Appalachian League, and ultimately finished the season with a 10-game hit streak. Durnin went 1-for-3 at the plate in the scrimmage Friday afternoon with a single and a stolen base.
“He’s a high-IQ baseball guy,” Jackson said. ”Obviously, he’s really talented. He’s a really good shortstop, and he’s going to be solid there. Offensively, he really hadn’t come into his own until this past summer, and then it took off. He’s made himself a complete baseball player. He comes from a baseball family, and what he’s done by coming in here — bringing that energy and that desire to compete — has been really infectious for our guys. It’s been really good.“
The Tigers are coming off a season in which their pitching staff posted a team ERA of 9.19 and allowed a conference-worst 458 earned runs and 290 walks. Enter new pitching coach Drew Dickinson.
In June 2025, Jackson announced the hiring of Dickinson, who coached a Virginia Cavaliers pitching staff that made three total trips to the College World Series since 2021 and ranked in the upper echelon of ERA, including the fourth-best in the nation in 2021, according to MU Athletics.
When asked about the mojo the revamped pitching staff aims to develop, Jackson had two words for what Dickinson will bring: energy and identity.
“That’s something our pitching staff hasn’t had — an identity,” Jackson said. “Now they do. He’s a competitor. He’s going to compete in anything: chewing gum, walking down the sidewalk, whatever it is. He loves to compete, and he puts that on those guys. They’re embracing that, and as a result, you’re going to see our guys go out and do just that — be relentless, put pressure on teams.”
Two arms on the pitching staff, JD Dohrmann and Dane Bjorn, both stood out among the appearances in Mizzou’s intersquad scrimmage on Friday afternoon. Dohrmann tossed six innings, allowing three earned runs, while Bjorn kept the bats quiet in his two scoreless innings of relief.
Javyn Pimental was accustomed to keeping runners off the basepaths himself, leading the Tigers in team ERA at 3.61, and allowed nine base hits, the least conceded on the Mizzou pitching staff. This strong 2024 season appeared to be a resurgence for the left-hander, before the nightmare scenario for every pitcher hit him: Tommy John surgery, which kept Pimental sidelined for the whole of the 2025 season. Pimental, being one of the multitude of starters who had limited time on the mound last season.
“I couldn’t really make an impact on the field where I wanted to, but in the locker room and clubhouse, I could still make an impact,” Pimental said. ”That year and a half where I sat on the sideline, I took things for granted, and when things get taken away, you have a different gratitude for it.”
2026 will mark the third season at the helm at Mizzou for Jackson in the rebuilding process of the Tigers’ program. Jackson said the difficulties have given him lessons, but one important one in particular.
“All good things take time. We’re building, not reloading. Nobody likes to build except the builder. It’s like the North End Zone project — nobody likes what it looks like right now, but when it’s unveiled, everyone’s going to love it. You have to enjoy the process and not get frustrated. Once we reach our timeline, we’re not going backwards.”
