Friday, February 23
Fort Myers, Fla.
5:30 p.m. (CT)
University of Missouri
vs
Northeastern
@MizzouBaseball Closes Road Trip With Four-Game Set vs. Northeastern
2/22/2018 5:58:00 PM | Baseball
Mizzou is 9-3 when playing in City of Palms Park in Fort Myers
- Mizzou Baseball, fresh off a road win at No. 24 Miami, will continue its 11-day Florida road trip with a four-game weekend series against Northeastern, beginning Friday (Feb. 23) at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers. Game one will be Friday at 5:30 p.m. (CT) while Mizzou and the Huskies will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon. Mizzou and Northeastern will close the series Sunday at 10:30 a.m. (CT). All four games will air on KTGR with Tex Little and Matt Michaels on the call.
- This will mark the first time that Mizzou and Northeastern will meet on the baseball diamond. Northeastern is 2-1 this year after taking two of three from Creighton last weekend. The Huskies play an exhibition vs. the Boston Red Sox Thursday.
- Mizzou is 3-1 on the early year and turned in its most impressive win of the season Wednesday, blanking nationally-ranked Miami on the road, 9-0. It was Mizzou's first road shutout since May 19, 2017, at Tennessee and it was Mizzou's first win over a ranked team since May 7, 2017, at Vanderbilt.
- Junior RHP Brian Sharp earned the win, going 5.0 shutout innings while striking out eight, both career-best marks, in his first career start. He also remained in the game and played at DH, going 1-for-2 with a run. In all, Mizzou scored five runs in the fourth thanks to a key error by Miami starting pitcher Mike Mediavilla. The Tigers then tacked on four in the ninth inning.
- Mizzou's pitching staff was again brilliant Wednesday at Miami, keeping the 'Canes off the board for the first shutout of the season. In three of four games this season, Mizzou has allowed one run or fewer.
- Sophomore 1B/CF Kameron Misner appears to be one of the prime candidates to be one of college baseball's breakout stars this season and through four games, he has not disappointed. Wednesday at Miami, Misner went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs, one RBI and two walks, to add to his SEC-leading total 11. Below is a look at where Misner ranks in the SEC after the first four games of the season:
- 1st - BB - 11 - First Nationally
- 1st - OBP - .773 - Fifth Nationally
- 1st - SLG% - 1.455 - Third Nationally
- 3rd - TB - 16
- 3rd - 3Bs - 1
- 5th - Avg. - .545
- 5th - Runs - 7
- 6th - RBI - 7
- 7th - Steals - 2
- Senior OF Trey Harris is also off to a hot start for Mizzou. He has hit safely in all four games this season, the only Tiger do so this season. He is coming off a 2-for-4 outing with a double, two runs and two steals Wednesday at No. 24 Miami.
PROJECTED ROTATION
- Friday: RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Brian Christian (0-1, 23.62)
- Saturday (1): LHP Michael Plassmeyer (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Brown (1-0, 3.60)
- Saturday (2): TBA vs. TBA
- Sunday: RHP Andy Toelken (0-0, 11.25 ERA) vs. LHP Sean Mellen (1-0, 3.60)
MIZZOU LEADS SEC IN FIELDING THROUGH FIRST FOUR
- A bugaboo for Mizzou Baseball last season was fielding, turning in a .966 fielding percentage with 79 errors. That ranked 13th in the SEC and 194th nationally. But if the first four games of the 2018 season are any indication, Mizzou has left that trend in the rear-view mirror. Through four games, Mizzou leads the SEC in fielding a .993 and has committed just one error, and that is despite not being able to get outside and practice as much as it did a year ago before departing for Florida.
- Mizzou's .993 clip ranks 12th nationally.
MIZZOU SHINES IN SUNSHINE STATE
- Following Mizzou's win over No. 24 Miami Wednesday, the Tigers improved on their already impressive record in the state of Florida during the first two weeks of play. Since 2015, Mizzou has made a trip to Florida in the first two weeks of the season, playing 17 games through Wednesday. Mizzou is 13-4 in those games and looks to improve that mark this weekend against Northeastern.
TIGERS DOMINANT AWAY FROM HOME UNDER BIESER
- Second-year head coach Steve Bieser has the Tigers playing as well as any team in the nation when away from home since he took over the job last year. In fact, since the start of last season, Mizzou is 21-11 away from home, winning nearly twice as many games as it has lost during that span.
- Looking deeper into Mizzou's road success, the Tigers have won six of their last seven true road contests and are 7-3 in their last 10 games away from Taylor Stadium, dating back to last season. Mizzou will look to add to that impressive total this weekend vs. Northeastern.
MIZZOU SEVENTH NATIONALLY IN WALKS
- Through four games, Mizzou ranks seventh nationally and third in the SEC, drawing 32 walks. Mizzou is fourth nationally in walks among teams that have played fewer than five games.
- Through four games last year, Mizzou walked 28 times as it is four better at this point of the year versus a year ago. Keep in mind that those came against Eastern Michigan while Mizzou's 32 this year came against No. 24 Miami and Florida International, which was picked to finish fifth in Conference USA.
- A big part of Mizzou's ability to draw walks has been three-hole hitter Kameron Misner, who has walked a national-best 11 times through four games. The next-closest player on the list is South Alabama's Travis Swaggerty who has nine, but has played one more full game than Misner and Mizzou. Misner walked just 23 times a year ago and two of his free passes have been of the intentional variety as teams do not appear very interested in pitching two the Preseason All-SEC slugger early in 2018.
- To put Misner's walk numbers into perspective, Mizzou did not have a player reach 11 walks until game No. 13 a year ago. While we realize it is a small samples size, Misner's 2.75 walks have him on pace to walk 154 times this season - Mizzou's record is 61.
DOUBLES ON DOUBLES ON DOUBLES
- Through four games, Mizzou is has hit 11 doubles, ranking 16th nationally.
- The doubles number is worth noting for Mizzou as it had its best year in that category since 2010, hitting 109 a season ago.
- Mizzou is averaging 4.0 extra-base hits per game this season after averaging 2.91 a year ago.
Players Mentioned
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