Tuesday, February 27
Columbia, Mo.
6:30 p.m.
University of Missouri
vs
Alabama A&M
@MizzouBaseball Begins 10-Game Homestand With Alabama A&M
2/26/2018 5:36:00 PM | Baseball
Tigers and Bulldogs will play Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday at 4 p.m.
- Mizzou Baseball, fresh off a season-opening 11-day, eight-game road trip to the state of Florida, returns home to Simmons Field at Taylor Stadium for a two-game series vs. Alabama A&M this Tuesday and Wednesday. Each game with Alabama A&M will air live on SEC Network+ with Ben Arnet and Tim Jamieson on the call. The games will also air on KTGR in the Mid-Missouri area with Tex Little and Matt Michaels on the call. The two games kick off a season-long 10-game homestand for the Tigers.
- Mizzou went 5-3 on its Florida road trip. It won two of three at Florida International to open the season. Then, the highlight of the trip came when the Tigers traveled to No. 24 Miami and blanked one of college baseball's blue bloods, 9-0, behind a tremendous pitching performance from junior RHP Brian Sharp. It was Mizzou's first road win over a ranked opponent since May 7, 2017, at Vanderbilt and it was the first road shutout for Mizzou since May 19, 2017, at Tennessee. Mizzou then drove two hours west to Fort Myers and split a four-game series with Northeastern at City of Palms Park. Mizzou won 5-2 Friday before Northeastern rallied to take game one of a doubleheader Saturday, 10-8. Mizzou won the nightcap, 20-1, behind a school-record nine RBI and two homers from Sharp, who hit an eighth-inning grand slam as he was attempting to hit a double to complete the cycle. He settled for a 5-for-5 performance with two homers, a triple and nine RBI and earned SEC Co-Player of the Week for his work at the plate and on the mound. Northeastern then took the Sunday finale, 4-2. Mizzou played the final three games of the Northeastern series in a span on 25 hours.
- Mizzou returns home to Taylor Stadium where it finished 18-13 a year ago. Mizzou has had three straight winning home seasons.
- Since joining the SEC, Mizzou has won four of five home openers, dating back to the 2013 season. Steve Bieser is undefeated at Mizzou in home openers after winning last year's vs. UIC and is 4-1 in his career as a head coach in home openers.
- Last year it was a new face in the dugout, this year it's a facelift for the field. Mizzou Baseball has put a brand new AstroTurf® baseball system into Taylor Stadium. The cutting edge artificial turf was installed in January and is ready to go as head coach Steve Bieser leads the Tigers onto the diamond this spring in his second year at the helm. When Mizzou takes the field for their home opener Tuesday, they'll step onto the Diamond Series RBI synthetic turf system. This premium baseball turf draws on AstroTurf's decades of research and development to deliver a high-performance field that emulates the look and feel of a natural surface. The artificial grass is engineered to produce realistic ball bounce while the synthetic turf base paths are designed to accurately replicate the footing and slide distance you'd find on clay. Utilizing AstroTurf's patented RootZone sublayer, as well as innovative infill compositions, the Diamond Series RBI baseball turf offers improved durability and increased longevity, especially in high-traffic areas of the field.
- Mizzou won the only meeting in history with Alabama A&M on March 9, 2016, at Taylor Stadium. Originally scheduled for a two-game, midweek series, weather got in the way, forcing the two teams to play a stand-alone game. Mizzou got a strong performance from former RHP Ryan Lee, who earned his second win of that season. The Tigers took advantage of four two-out RBIs and got a pair of two-out RBI singles from freshman Connor Brumfield to take an early 4-0 lead before holding on late.
- Lee allowed three earned runs in a career-high 6.2 innings pitched. He also struck out a career-high four batters while allowing only one walk. The only Alabama A&M hitters to reach base in the first five innings reached on a walk, a bunt, and a hit batter.
- Brumfield drove in two runners on a 2-4 performance from the plate. 1B Zach Lavy also drove in two, going 1-3 with a walk, and had a big two-out RBI single to plate a pair in the first inning. Below are the stat lines of current Mizzou players who saw action in that 2016 contest:
- Connor Brumfield: 2-for-4 | 2 RBI
- Brett Bond: 0-for-3 | Walk
- Trey Harris: 0-for-2 | R | Walk | HBP
- Brian Sharp: 0-for-3 | RBI | Walk ... 1.1 IP | 0H | 0R | Save
PROJECTED ROTATION
- Tuesday: RHP Konnor Ash (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. TBA
- Wednesday: TBA vs. TBA
SHARP IS SEC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Mizzou Baseball junior RHP/3B Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) is the SEC Co-Player of the Week, announced Monday (Feb. 26) by the league office. Sharp earns SEC Player of the Week for the first time in his career and it his first SEC weekly honor since 2016 when he earned SEC Freshman of the Week following the second week of action that season.
- Sharp was sensational in five games last week for the Tigers, who return home this week for five games at Taylor Stadium. The Liberty, Mo., native began his week by pitching 5.0 shutout innings in a 9-0 road win at No. 24 Miami Wednesday. In his first career start in 29 appearances, he reset career-highs for innings pitched and strikeouts (eight). He allowed just four hits against the nationally-ranked Hurricanes and did not walk a batter. He entered the game as the DH following his time on the mound and tallied a hit and a run in the win, a prelude to a huge weekend with the bat.
- In Mizzou's weekend series vs. Northeastern, Sharp exploded for one of the most impressive single-game performances in school history in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader. In Mizzou's 20-1 win, Sharp went 5-for-5 with a pair of homers, a triple, a walk and a school-record nine RBI, tying the mark set by Jacob Priday on April 11, 2008, vs. Texas. His 13 total bases were the most since Priday had 15 in that same game vs. Texas. A double shy of the cycle, Sharp came to bat in the eighth inning with the bases loaded. Instead of hitting the double he needed for the cycle, he launched a grand slam to right field to complete the historic performance. He also had a three-run, go-ahead homer in the second inning of that game. In all, he hit .563/.588/1.125 on the week with 10 RBI.
- Following Saturday's heroics at the plate, Sharp pitched the final 4.2 innings of the series finale vs. Northeastern. He did not allow a run or a walk and scattered just three hits while striking out six. He finished the week throwing 9.2 shutout innings without a walk and 14 strikeouts while scattering just seven hits.
MIZZOU SIXTH NATIONALLY IN WALKS
- Through eight games, Mizzou ranks sixth nationally and third in the SEC, drawing 51 walks.
- Through four games last year, Mizzou walked 45 times as it is six 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 at No. 24 Miami, at Florida International, which was picked to finish fifth in Conference USA, and vs. Northeastern
- A big part of Mizzou's ability to draw walks has been three-hole hitter Kameron Misner, who has walked 12 times through eight games, ranking him second nationally. The only player who has walked more is USC's Lars Nootbaar (13). Misner walked just 23 times a year ago,
- To put Misner's walk numbers into perspective, Mizzou did not have a player reach 12 walks until game No. 15 a year ago. While we realize it is a small samples size, Misner's 1.50walks have him on pace to walk 84 times this season - Mizzou's record is 61.
PITCHING SHINES IN FIRST YEAR UNDER FRED CORRAL
- Through two weeks of play, Mizzou's pitching staff has a pair of impressive metrics as first-year pitching coach Fred Corral is making his mark on the program.
- Mizzou ranks 18th nationally and third in the SEC in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.0. Mizzou also comes in at 19th as a staff in strike-to-walk ratio, averaging 3.95 pucnhouts for every walk. That also ranks third in the SEC.
- Mizzou also boasts a top-40 mark in walks allowed per nine innings, checking in at No. 36 nationally, averaging just 2.79.
MIZZOU BOASTS TOP-20 MARKS IN RUNS, HITS
- Coming into the home opener, Mizzou ranks in the top 20-nationally in both runs and hits.
Mizzou ranks eighth nationally in runs (74), good for second in the SEC. The Tigers have also pounded 88 hits, ranking 14th nationally and fourth in the SEC.
Players Mentioned
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