COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball has announced its tentative 2016 schedule. On the docket for 2016 will be home SEC weekend series with Vanderbilt, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee and Georgia and an 11-day stay in the state of Florida to open the 2016 campaign. In all, Mizzou will play 19 games against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago, with 11 of those 19 contests being held at Taylor Stadium. All of the SEC game times are subject to change based on television announcements.
Mizzou will open its season in Fort Myers, Fla., where it will play host to a four-game series against Seton Hall beginning on opening day, February 19. Saturday will feature a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Instead of heading back to Columbia, Mizzou will stay in Florida to play a road game at NCAA Regional qualifier Florida International on Wednesday (Feb. 24) before hosting Hofstra in a four-game series in Fort Myers that weekend (Feb. 26-28). The games in Fort Myers will be held at the old Boston Red Sox Spring Training facility, City of Palms Field.
Opening Day at Taylor Stadium will be held on March 2 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 4 p.m. The weekend opener will be the following Friday (March 4) with a four-game series against Illinois-Chicago. Those five games are part of a 12-game homestand for the Tigers as they will host a two-game series with Alabama A&M from March 8-9 and a three-game weekend series with Youngstown State on March 11-13. The final tune-up before SEC play will be a two-game midweek series vs. SEMO on March 15-16.
SEC play will begin for Mizzou with a road trip to Florida, a team Mizzou took two of three from last season, on March 18-20 in Gainesville. The following weekend, Mizzou will host College World Series runner-up Vanderbilt on March 25-27. Florida and Vanderbilt were the only teams to finish ahead of Mizzou in the SEC East last season as Mizzou begins SEC play with two of the best right off the bat.
Following the Vanderbilt series, Mizzou will be on spring break with a midweek game against St. Louis at Kauffman Stadium on March 29 highlighting the week. Mizzou last played at Kauffman Stadium, the home of Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals, in 2014 against Wichita State and that game ended on a walk-off single by Dillon Everett. Mizzou will then make the short trip south to Arkansas to play the Razorbacks from April 1-3. It will be the first meeting between Mizzou and Arkansas at Baum Stadium as members of the SEC.
SIU-E will be next for Mizzou on April 5 at Taylor Stadium before hosting Auburn in a Thursday-Saturday series from April 7-9. Mizzou’s annual midweek series with Missouri State will begin in Springfield this season on April 12 before Mizzou hosts LSU in a three-game series from April 15-17.
There are no midweek games on tap following LSU as Mizzou will prepare for an SEC East battle at South Carolina from April 22-24. Mizzou of course took two of three from the Gamecocks last season at Taylor Stadium. Missouri State then pays its return visit to Taylor Stadium on April 26 and Mizzou will host Tennessee the following weekend (April 29-May 1). The Tennessee weekend is Mizzou’s annual Alumni weekend in which former players return to Taylor Stadium. Mizzou will honor its 1996 and 2006 teams that weekend.
A four-game road trip then awaits Mizzou, beginning with a rivalry game against NCAA Regional participant Illinois at GCS Ballpark in St. Louis at 6 p.m. on May 3. Mizzou’s first trip to Mississippi State as members of the SEC is on tap that weekend, beginning Thursday (May 5). Mizzou will not have a midweek game the following week as the team takes final exams, but a three-game home series with Georgia will await the Tigers that weekend (May 13-15).
The Tigers then renew their rivalry with Big 12 foe Oklahoma at Taylor Stadium in a midweek game on May 17 before closing regular season play at Kentucky in another Thursday-Saturday series (May 19-21). The SEC Tournament then begins on May 24 in Hoover, Ala.
