Sunday Sit-down with Mizzou baseball color commentator Matt Michaels
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones brought on Matt Michaels, the color commentator for Mizzou baseball, in this week's edition of Sunday Sit-down.
The two discussed the SEC Tournament picture for the Tigers, as the regular season continues to wind down. MU has two more conference series remaining in 2023, along with one midweek match up.
"They have a head to head tiebreaker over Ole Miss, which is at the bottom of the SEC standings right now, actually tied with their in-state mates Mississippi State, if you could believe that with just six league wins. Missouri has seven," Michaels said. "So if it all ended today, after all of this, Missouri would still be the number 12 seed in Hoover."
However, there are still a couple weeks left in the regular season and Mizzou will need to pick up some critical wins against Georgia and Auburn to remain in that conference tournament picture.
Michaels noted that Tiger slugger Luke Mann will need to continue to put this team on his back for the remainder of the season. The fifth-year senior has 17 home runs through the 2023 season and is moving his way up the Mizzou career home run list. He is currently tied for second all-time. If he hits five more, he will take the No. 1 spot.
"Last season he maybe didn't hit for as much average, but he had a chance for professional opportunities, and then came back to the Tigers in this season with something to prove. He has improved all facets of his game, in my opinion. He has hit for more average, he has hit in clutch spots, he has learned the pitches that he wants to hit and the pitches he doesn't and he has used all that experience," Michaels said. "He is a true son as Mizzou fans would define it, by every measure, and to see him having this level of success is really just special to watch for anybody who has been able to follow the arc of his career. That story, again, isn't completely written there could still be a couple more pages written in what will be the legend of Luke Mann around Mizzou baseball."
The Tigers will have a week off for finals, but will get back into SEC action on Friday, May 12 at Taylor Stadium, hosting Georgia.
You can watch the full conversation with Matt Michaels during Sunday Sit-down at 9:30 on Fox 22 and 10:30 on ABC 17.
