Why Texas A&m Is Treating Series Vs Last-place Missouri Like It's A Series Vs Texas

COLLEGE STATION — As the Texas A&M baseball team comes off three straight weeks of facing the top two teams in the country, the idea of playing a winless Missouri Tigers squad may not carry the same intrigue.

Fans may have become accustomed to high-stakes matchups against College World Series contenders. While the Tigers (13-35, 0-24 SEC) fall outside that category this season, don't tell that to the Aggies, who need every win they can get to secure a postseason spot.

A&M (27-20, 10-14) personnel say they see no difference between a weekend matchup in Austin against the highly ranked Texas Longhorns and games at Blue Bell Park against 16th-placed Missouri — because they can't afford to do so.

"Yeah, I know what the record says, I know all those things; I'm not trying to be coach-y, and this and that, but they've (Missouri) got some really good players," A&M head coach Michael Earley told reporters Thursday. "They've got a lot of guys who are going to play professional baseball. They have talent, they just haven't been able to string it together."

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Missouri features junior shortstop Jackson Lovich, who is leading the team in batting average (.340), RBIs (42) and home runs (nine).

On the mound, freshman Will Libbert leads the way for the Tigers. Libbert has made 10 starts, going 2-3 with a 6.33 ERA and tallying a team-leading 47 strikeouts.

Missouri struggled last year, too, but not quite to the extreme it has in 2025. The Tigers finished 23-32 overall, including a 9-21 mark in conference play in 2024.

However, with one-run losses to LSU and Florida in March and April, respectively, the Tigers have shown the ability to battle.

"We're going to have our hands full, I mean, they've got some guys with some good stuff on the mound, and offensively I think they're a pretty good ball club," Earley said. "We're going to have to go out and have the same mentality against them that we had against Arkansas, Texas, LSU..."

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Despite the stated respect, there may be reasons to believe A&M should feel comfortable heading into the matchup.

Offensively, Missouri is last in the conference in team batting average (.263) and doubles (65). The Tigers are also second-to-last in total hits (400). On the mound, the Tigers are the SEC's worst in team ERA (9.27), total hits allowed (526) and home runs allowed (82).

"We've had success over this last month because we're not worrying about opponents, we're just trying to play really good baseball, so we're going to continue to do that this weekend," Earley said.

The first pitch for Friday's game is scheduled for 6:02 p.m.

This weekend's series

Missouri (13-35, 0-24) at Texas A&M (27-20, 10-14), 6 p.m. Friday (SEC Network +), 2 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network +), 1 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network +)

Reach Texas A&M Beat Reporter Tony Catalina at Acatalina@gannett.com.Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Access all of our best content with this tremendous offer.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas A&M baseball prepares for winless Missouri Tigers