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Updated Missouri Baseball Season Wrap-Up: Latest News and Notes
UPDATED Missouri Baseball Season Wrap-Up: Latest News and Portal Notes
After a 2025 season filled with injuries, players switching from their natural positions and a nearly winless slate in Southeastern Conference play, Missouri Baseball was looking for a year to show just about any signs of improvement.
They got that in 2026. While a 12-2 loss in the SEC Tournament might have brought an unceremonious end to the season for the Tigers, they didn’t leave Hoover in shame. Before the Tigers’ opening SEC Tournament win over Ole Miss a day earlier, Mizzou had not won its first game in the tournament since defeating Texas A&M in 2017. A pair of series wins over Kentucky and Vanderbilt, while picking up a win against Arkansas for the first time since 2022, gave the Tigers a doubled win tally in conference play.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMizzou closed the season at 24-31 overall and 6-24 in SEC games. The question is, how much have the signs of forward progress shown and what do they mean for the future of the program?
Jackson continuing with the program
Let’s start with the present. Those steps forward, paired with the increased competitiveness of the Tigers this season led to the decision by Missouri to retain Jackson as their head coach for the fourth straight season. (Editor’s Note: I’d also add that a 1.1 million buyout probably didn’t help, either.) A report on Friday evening from Kendall Rogers from D1 Baseball stated that the Tigers plan to retain their current head coach Kerrick Jackson.
Ultimately, the broader picture for Missouri baseball, despite all of the aforementioned improvements, is the obvious. They fall behind in the investment aspect compared to other SEC programs — a conference in which the No. 9 seeded team in the SEC tournament is the No. 17 ranked team in the country and where 10 of the nation’s top-25 teams hold a spot.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementUltimately, as Joe Healy pointed out in his analysis of the program for D1 Baseball ($$), the Tigers finished well below .500 and were an absent non-factor in the postseason. They have a stadium infrastructure that is, in comparison to the other teams in the conference, lower in quality. He wrote, “Everyone associated with Mizzou baseball has been sent into a gun fight with a Super Soaker.”
That’s why the second part of the post is almost more notable than the decision to keep Jackson onboard. What would a program with more investment and internal support under Jackson look like? More interesting — because it not only gives a chance for him to yield his vision of what his team can look like — but if the program’s downhill slide since joining the SEC continues, the naysayers of Jackson could also be proven right. Ultimately, what is true investment needed to be seen for Tigers fans that not said?
What’s happening on the inside of the program is more important to Kerrick Jackson than hearing all of the noise on the outside, as he described in detail after the Tigers’ historic home series win over Vanderbilt.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI’ve never listened to it,” Jackson said. “Growing up, it didn’t matter what other people thought except for the people in your circle. You never let anybody else establish your self‑value and self‑worth. There are only certain people whose opinions really matter, because those are the people who support you whether you’re at the top or the bottom. When you look at social media, a lot of people want to see someone fail. So we tell our guys: don’t worry about what other people outside your circle think. Stay focused on what we’re doing and what we’re about.”
Throughout the season, Jackson has remained consistent in his stance on the longterm building process. It will take time, and while earning the historic wins was nice, it isn’t as important as Mizzou playing good consistent baseball.
“If you take away the wins and losses and you see the progress the team has made,” Jackson said. “We want to be in regionals… as we’re continuing to grow and develop, we’re going to put ourselves in a position to be able to make those things happen.”
Breaking down the Tigers’ remaining stars
With seven seniors honored in the team’s final home game: Peyton Basler, Cameron Benson, Gehrig Goldbeck, Jamal George, Keegan Knutson, Juan Villarreal and Jase Woita, Mizzou now enters an important transition period. Here is where the roster stands heading into the post-graduation offseason.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe bats were alive this season, and a few star players will hopefully return for more. Junior Kam Durnin led the way with a .329 batting average while also posting the team’s highest slugging percentage at .570 and adding a high of 11 stolen bases. After transferring from Wichita State in June 2025 with two years of eligibility left, Durnin quickly became a key piece of Mizzou’s lineup. Retaining Durnin for his senior season would be a major boost for Mizzou, and a vital offensive threat on the basepath.
Another key contributor, freshman Blaize Ward, ranked second on the team with a .296 batting average. Ward was especially dominant in SEC play, hitting .667 during the series win over Kentucky and .462 during the series against Vanderbilt. He also earned SEC Co-Freshman twice this year, and his emerging young talent will be a key necessity for the Tigers.
As for the Tigers’ pitching staff, junior Josh McDevitt is exactly who they need on the mound during his senior year. McDevitt posted a 4.42 ERA with a 3-5 record this season, including a career-high 11 strikeouts against Arkansas in a 5-4 tough loss. After his 2025 year of just seven appearances on the mound, he has proven to be the kind of arm Mizzou put at the top of its rotation. McDevitt took the ball as the starter a total of 15 times this season, and will be just as crucial in the upcoming one.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMay 24: The roster will continue to evolve this offseason, and the first two moves came when infielder Chris Patterson and right-hander Keagen Kohlhoff both entered the transfer portal. Patterson missed nearly two months with an injury from March 14 through May 9 before returning for the final three SEC regular‑season games and both SEC Tournament contests.
Patterson started all 24 games he played in this season and hit .237 in the 2026 season with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and 14 RBI. As a freshman in 2025, he appeared in 35 games with 30 starts and hit .232 with eight doubles and 18 RBI. Across two seasons, he hit .234 in 59 games with 32 RBI and posted a .955 fielding percentage.
Kohlhoff appeared more scarcely for Missouri in the 2026 season, pitching 4.1 innings total in three relief appearances. He gave up three earned runs and struck out seven batters while walking nine batters and hitting one. Thus marks the first Mizzou pitcher to enter the portal after the conclusion of the 2026 season.
May 26: Former Missouri baseball hitting coach Bryson LeBlanc, who joined the Tigers staff in June 2023 after previously playing for the program from 2005-06, will not return for the 2027 season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLeBlanc played two seasons for Mizzou, and was welcomed into Kerrick Jackson’s hitting staff. He has spent the past several years working with the Tigers offense.
Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball was first to report the news.
May 27: Missouri pitcher Kadin Muckley has officially entered the NCAA transfer portal as a graduate student with one year of eligibility remaining.
Muckley’s collegiate journey began at Golden West College in 2023, after undergoing hip surgery in 2022, where he made his debut at the junior college level. He missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery before making his return to the mound on April 22, 2025.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFollowing his comeback season, the 6-foot, 200-pound right-hander transferred to Mizzou for the 2026 season, and will now look for the next opportunity.
The information was reported by Muckley himself.
Missouri’s right-handed pitcher PJ Green has officially entered the NCAA transfer portal after spending the past two seasons with the Tigers.
Green is coming off his sophomore year, where he appeared in multiple outings for Mizzou, having pitched 13.2 innings with 12 strikeouts. His notable moments this year included scoreless innings against North Dakota State, Illinois, Georgia and Texas.
During his freshman season, Green pitched 26.1 innings with 15 strikeouts while also recording a save against Evansville, and his first collegiate win over Missouri State for the Tigers.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe information was reported by Green himself.
May 28: Joining the wave of departures from the Tigers’ roster is shortstop Gehrig Goldbeck, who has officially entered the NCAA transfer portal after spending the last two seasons with Mizzou.
Goldbeck is coming off his senior year, where he appeared in four games to open up the 2026 season, reaching base at a solid .533 clip and scoring four runs. He was slated to return to live action this summer with the Battle Creek Battle Jacks of the Northwoods League in July.
During his junior season in 2025, Goldbeck started 35 games in his first year for Mizzou, hitting .248 with eight RBIs. Prior to his time in Columbia, Goldbeck was the 2023 NJCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Year at Kansas City Kansas CC.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe information was reported by Golbeck himself.
May 31: The roster overhaul continues as Missouri’s right-handed pitcher Keyler Gonzalez becomes the fourth pitcher to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Gonzalez has two years of eligibility left after spending one season in Columbia.
The Nova Southeastern transfer proved to be a key piece for the Tigers this past spring, striking out 36 batters in 28.2 innings across 11 appearances. He leaves Mizzou with a 5.02 ERA, and a rather tough blow to the Tigers pitching staff.
The information was announced by Gonzalez himself.
Jun 1: The official opening of the portal for non-graduate players saw the portal entries for Missouri baseball increase by four (so far). Two standout offensive contributors, Blaize Ward and Kaden Peer, will leave significant voids. Ward won SEC Co-Freshman of the Week two times and ranked second in batting average on the team, hitting .296.
Ward hit four homers and accumulated 33 RBI with a .421 slugging percentage and appeared in 44 games this season even with not making an appearance in the lineup from Feb. 28—Mar. 10. At second base, Ward consistently dazzled in the field, while in SEC play his hitting continued to elevate, ranking second on the team in batting average in conference play and second in OPS.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPeer leaves the Tigers program after three years in Columbia. Coming into the 2026 season, Peer was one of the team’s top hitters in a season marred with difficulty, hitting a .299 batting average and second on the team in hits.
Peer continued to be a consistent figure in the Tigers’ lineup in 2026, starting in 42 games and hitting .266 with two homers, 14 RBI and 41 hits. His grand slam against Ole Miss in the opening round of the SEC tournament helped Missouri secure its first win in the tourney since 2017.
To a lesser extent on significance, Peyton Basler and Todd Feurtado III also entered the portal. Basler played 35 games for Mizzou in 2025 but only appeared in three this past season due to injury, starting in one and collecting one hit in two at-bats.
The left-handed pitcher Feurtado joined the Tigers out of St. Mary’s High School in New York and didn’t make any appearances in the 2026 season. He still has four years of eligibility remaining.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJun 2 (technically he entered Jun 1): Perhaps the significant blow to the Tigers’ lineup, however, is the departure of redshirt outfielder Tyler Macon. After spending three years with the program, Macon has officially entered the transfer portal with two years of eligibility remaining.
Macon started 29 out of the 34 games he appeared in during the 2026 season, highlighted by a dominant afternoon on February 15 against Mount St. Mary’s. In a huge 34-3 victory, Macon went 6-for-6 at the plate with two doubles and eight RBIs. While he cooled off as the season advanced into the heart of the SEC schedule, he still put together a strong opening to his season. He leaves Columbia with a .327 batting average, 35 hits and 27 RBIs.