@MizzouBaseball’s Bartlett, Sikkema Earn SEC Weekly Honors
5/22/2017 10:00:00 AM | Baseball
Bartlett named SEC Pitcher of the Week; Sikkema Co-Freshman of the Week
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On the heels of an SEC series sweep at Tennessee, Mizzou Baseball's Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) and T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt, Iowa) earned SEC Pitcher of the Week and SEC Co-Freshman of the Week, respectively, announced Monday by the league office. Bartlett earns SEC Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career and he is the first Tiger to take home the award this season. Sikkema has now been named SEC Freshman of the Week twice this season and Monday is the third time a Mizzou player has earned that distinction.
Bartlett, a redshirt junior RHP, earns SEC Pitcher of the Week after firing a complete game, one-hit shutout Friday at Tennessee to guide the Tigers to a 2-0 win while claiming their second consecutive SEC series win. Bartlett did not allow a runner to reach second base in the game and the only hit he allowed was a one-out single in the first inning. After a leadoff walk in the third inning, he retired 16 straight Vol batters until a two-out walk in the eighth inning. Bartlett needed just 105 pitches to mow through the Vol order as he was dominant throughout the start. Bartlett finishes the regular season ranked eighth in the SEC in ERA at 2.78.
Sikkema was equally as impressive, throwing a complete game shutout while scattering just five hits and striking out seven with no walks in Thursday's 5-0 win over Tennessee. He threw Mizzou's first complete game shutout since Feb. 20, 2015, when Reggie McClain did so against Sam Houston State. It was Mizzou's first in SEC play since Rob Zastryzny did so in SEC play at Georgia in 2013. Sikkema allowed just two runners into scoring position and that came after a catcher's interference extended an inning. He now leads the SEC in opponent batting, hits allowed per nine innings and WHIP while ranking fifth in ERA, wins and strikeouts looking.
Bartlett and Sikkema are part of a Mizzou pitching staff that has posted a 3.43 ERA at the end of the regular season, the second-best mark in the SEC and the best at Mizzou since 2006 when guys like Max Scherzer and Aaron Crow were patrolling the dugout. Mizzou's 3.69 ERA in league games was also the second-best mark in the SEC.
Mizzou has won six straight games and seven of its last 10 as it heads into postseason play. Mizzou's 35 wins are the most for a Mizzou team since 2009 and the most regular season wins since 2008 (37).
Mizzou opens the SEC Tournament on Tuesday, May 23, at approximately 1 p.m. against seventh-seeded Texas A&M. For all the latest on all things Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MizzouBaseball and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Missouri Baseball).
