@MizzouBaseball Brings Five-Game Winning Streak into Midweek Matchup with Eastern Illinois

Tuesday, March 6

Columbia, Mo.

6:30 p.m.

Missouri

Eastern Illinois

Images of the Mizzou baseball team facing off against University of Maryland Baltimore County at Taylor Stadium on Sunday, March 4, 2018 in Columbia.

@MizzouBaseball Brings Five-Game Winning Streak into Midweek Matchup with Eastern Illinois

3/5/2018 3:48:00 PM | Baseball

GAME NOTES vs. Eastern Illinois

Junior lefty Tyler LaPlante gets his first home start of the season

Mizzou Baseball continues its season-long 10-game homestand Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. contest against Eastern Illinois. The game will air live on SEC Network+ with Ben Arnet and Tim Jamieson on the call while KTGR will have the radio broadcast, courtesy of Tex Little and Matt Michaels.
Mizzou enters the Tuesday contest having won five straight and six of seven and is coming off a three-game series sweep of UMBC, which included a Friday night no-hitter, Mizzou's first since 2005. EIU was swept by Georgia State last weekend. EIU had won its previous five games, including a three-game sweep at Memphis.
Mizzou is playing Eastern Illinois for the second consecutive season. Mizzou RHP Bryce Montes De Oca, who is the current SEC Pitcher of the Week and Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, had a great outing in his first career start vs. EIU last season. He went 5.0 innings while allowing just one earned run on a wild pitch with three strikeouts. He allowed just three hits and two walks. Mizzou's offense slugged 15 hits and then junior C Brett Bond led the offense with Mizzou's first five-hit game since April 23, 2011, when Jonah Schmidt had five at Baylor. Mizzou scored six of its 10 runs with two outs in that game. That extended Mizzou's winning streak to 11 games
Mizzou leads the all-time series with Eastern Illinois, 8-0. Before last year, the two teams last met during the 2011 season in a game that was played at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo. Mizzou scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings of that game and Phil McCormick tossed the final 1.2 innings, striking out three to earn the save.
With Eastern Illinois being in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Panthers of course have a history vs. second-year Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser as the two teams met 12 times in OVC play while Bieser was the head skipper at Southeast Missouri. In all, Bieser went 8-4 against the Panthers in 12 all-time meetings while sweeping the season series in his final season at SEMO in 2016. Bieser's SEMO teams outscored EIU, 129-74, over those 12 games and put up three games of 20 or more runs and six games with double-digit run totals. After going 1-2 against EIU during his first year at SEMO, Bieser went 7-2 over the final three seasons en-route to winning three consecutive Ohio Valley Championships.
Below are notable stat lines for current Mizzou players vs. EIU:
- C Brett Bond: 5-for-5, three runs, RBI, double
- 1B Kameron Misner: 1-for-4, run, double
- OF Trey Harris: 2-for-4, run, four RBI, double, walk
- 3B Brian Sharp: 2-for-4
- SS Chris Cornelius: 1-for-3, run, two RBI, walk
- INF Matt Berler: 0-for-4
- INF Alex Samples: 0-for-4, run, walk
- RHP Bryce Montes De Oca: 5.0 IP | 1R | 0ER | 2BB | 3Ks | Win
Mizzou continues to draw walks at a torrid pace thanks to a very patient approach through the first 13 games. Mizzou has walled 91 times this season, trailing only South Alabama (94) natioanlly. Mizzou is averaging seven walks per game, which averaged out over an entire 56-game season would be 394. The school record for walks in a season 384 in 1996. Sophomore 1B/CF Kameron Misner leads the way with 20 walks, also the second-best mark in the nation. He trails only South Alabama's Travis Swaggerty. Misner drew just 23 walks during his Freshman All-America season a year ago as he has already almost surpassed that total this season.
After the first three weeks of play, Mizzou has found itself in some pretty elite company. The Tigers are one of only nine teams that rank in the top 30 nationally in runs scored (eighth) and ERA (26th). Five of the nine teams come from the SEC - Mizzou, Florida, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M - while the other eight teams all rank in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll, with six of the nine ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Mizzou also leads the SEC and ranks fourth nationally with 134 batters struck out.
Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser will send junior lefty Tyler LaPlante to the hill Tuesday for his second start of the season. His last outing was a dominant performance in the second game of a doubleheader vs. Northeastern on Feb. 24. He went 7.0 innings and allowed just one earned run while Mizzou's offense pounded out 20 runs. He earned the win in the game and walked just one while striking out five. Tuesday will be his first career start at Taylor Stadium.
Mizzou is 3-0 in midweek games this season, including a 9-0 win at then No. 24-ranked Miami during the second week of the season. Mizzou is 12-4 in midweek contests since head coach Steve Bieser took over the program prior to the 2016 season.