Missouri baseball hosted their five-game Fall World Series scrimmage
In preparation for the upcoming 2025 season, Missouri baseball had its Fall World Series from Oct. 10 to 17.
The team held a draft night where all the players were split into two separate rosters ahead of the five-game series. These games have alternate rules so every player would get an equal amount of plate appearances. Instead of having three outs per inning, each inning would have four batters tracking runners on base and outs remaining.
As the series continued it became apparent that there was a definite struggle in pitching, particularly when it came to walking batters. Throughout the 86 innings, there were 69 walks. This comes out to about 7.22 walks per nine innings, well above the 4.16 average last season.
With plenty of time before the season, the number should stabilize by the spring season. Although pitching had its struggle, there were still several encouraging performances.
Josh Kirchoff pitched in two of the five games — his first appearance since transferring from Iowa Central Community College. He threw six innings in the series and did not allow a hit or a run. Despite limited action against Division 1 level hitting, Kirchoff was dominant and gave the impression of a clear rotation member in the spring.
First baseman Danny Ramirez had an efficient series at the plate, getting five hits in his 13 at-bats, plus an RBI. Last year, Ramirez had a batting average of .358 at Seminole State College. After a successful first series showing as a Tiger, there is a lot of hope for Ramirez in the upcoming 2025 season.
Missouri sophomore outfielder Jeric Curtis watches the baseball during the FallWorld Series intrasquad tournament on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 at Taylor Stadium inColumbia. The teams scores are cumulative throughout this five game series.
Another standout was outfielder Jeric Curtis, who hit two home runs in the first game of the series. Curtis finished getting four hits in his 19 at-bats. In the five-game set, he displayed some serious power after finishing with two home runs and three RBIs. He will likely be an exciting player to watch for the Tigers and an important part of the outfield in the upcoming season.
Missouri baseball is set to begin its regular season in February, the exact schedule has yet to be released.
Edits by Dylan Heinrich | dheinrich@themaneater.com
Copyedited by Ethan Palgon and Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com