Wednesday, March 28
Macomb, Ill.
3 p.m.
University of Missouri
at
Western Illinois
No. 22 @MizzouBaseball Opens Five-Game Road Trip at Western Illinois
3/27/2018 12:17:00 PM | Baseball
Tigers and Leathernecks will play at 3 p.m. on KTGR
- Mizzou Baseball opens a five-game road trip Wednesday at Summit League opponent Western Illinois. The game is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch and will air on KTGR Sports Radio in Mid-Missouri or online at KTGR.com. Tex Little and Matt Michaels will have the call.
- Mizzou is coming off an SEC series win over west foe Mississippi State last weekend at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou won, 4-1, Friday night behind a strong pitching performance from junior LHP T.J. Sikkema and a pair of clutch RBI singles from senior C Brett Bond. Mizzou then fell, 3-1, Saturday in a 15-inning marathon despite the Tigers carrying a 1-0 lead into the top of the ninth inning. In the Sunday rubber game, Mizzou rallied from down 4-2 to score a pair of runs in the ninth inning and then walked it off on an RBI sacrifice fly by freshman INF Mark Vierling in the bottom of the 11th inning. Vierling also had the game-tying RBI in the bottom of the ninth. In all, Mizzou played 35 innings and 12 hours, 25 minutes of baseball in the three-game series. Mizzou pitchers threw 493 total pitches over the three-game set.
- Mizzou and Western Illinois are meeting for the 28th time in history Wednesday. The Tigers have won 22 of 27 meetings in the all-time series, which dates all the way back to 1978. Mizzou and Western Illinois last met during the 2009 season, playing twice that year. Mizzou won the first meeting that year, 8-0, on March 4 behind a 'Johnny Wholestaff' effort as nine different pitchers combined for the shutout. Future Big-Leaguer Ryan Lollis went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBI in the win. The two teams met again one week later and Mizzou again Johnny Wholestaffed its way to an 18-4 win.
- Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser will send junior RHP Brian Sharp to the mound Wednesday. Sharp is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA in five appearances. It will be his first start since Feb. 21 at No. 24 Miami. Sharp was sensational in that start, going 5.0 shutout innings, striking out eight with no walks while scattering only four hits.
- Western Illinois will send RHP Javin Drake (0-1, 9.00 ERA) to the mound Wednesday.
- With a 55-29 mark in his first 84 games as Mizzou's head coach, Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser is just three wins shy of winning more games in his first two seasons than any Mizzou head coach in history. Tim Jamieson won 55 in his first two seasons at the helm of the program in 1995-96. Bieser needs three wins to match that mark and four to pass it.
- Mizzou is 26 games over .500 at 55-29 since Bieser took over, marking the first time Mizzou has been that far above .500 over an 84-game span since Feb. 9, 2007 through March 29, 2008, when it was 62-22.
- Mizzou is one of just two teams to rank in the national top 20 in both runs allowed per game (3.36) and runs scored (198). Mizzou ranks 10th nationally with its 198 runs and 17th in runs allowed per game (3.36). The only other team in the national top-20 in both categories is defending national champion and unanimous preseason No. 1 Florida.
- Mizzou is now 10th in the nation in fielding percentage at .983. Over the last 12 games, Mizzou has 10 errorless games and now has 15 games without an error this season. Mizzou had just 16 such games all of last season.
- Mizzou has a budding young superstar on its hands in sophomore 1B/CF Kameron Misner. After a Freshman All-America season a year ago, Misner is turning into one of the nation's most feared hitters, posting multiple hits games in eight of his last 10 contests. He leads the SEC in four different categories and is all over the league's top 10 in nearly every statistical categories. Below is just snapshot of some of the stats that make him one of the most feared hitters in all of college baseball.
- Nation's Leader in Walks (31)
- 25th Nationally / 3rd in SEC in hits (38)
- Second Nationally / Leads SEC in OBP (.565)
- Third Nationally / Leads SEC in Runs (34)
- 24th Nationally / Leads SEC in Stolen Bases (12)
- Second in SEC in hitting (.413)
- 24th Nationally / 5th in SEC in Total Bases (64)
- Mizzou is wrapping up a stretch during which it played 14 of 17 games at home, going 14-3 in those games, including an incredible 13-1 at home. And while Mizzou returns to the road this week, that's not necessarily a bad thing as Mizzou has been very good away from home under Steve Bieser. In fact, Mizzou went 18-10 away from home a year ago and is 24-14 away from him during his young coaching career at Mizzou.
- After playing at Western Illinois, Mizzou will head to Auburn for a three-game series against a Tiger team that is ranked in all of the national polls. Mizzou checks in a No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30 this week. Auburn is No. 16.
PROJECTED STARTERS
- Wednesday: Junior RHP Brian Sharp (2-0, 1.20 ERA) vs. RHP Javin Drake (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Players Mentioned
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