Tuesday, May 1
Iowa City, Iowa
3 p.m.
University of Missouri
at
Iowa
@MizzouBaseball Heads North for Final Road Nonconference Game at Iowa
4/30/2018 3:51:00 PM | Baseball
Both teams rank in the RPI Top-50 this week
- Mizzou Baseball will close a four-game road trip as it heads to Iowa City, Iowa, for a Tuesday game with the Big Ten's Iowa Hawkeyes at 3:05 p.m. at Duane Banks Field. The game will air live on KTGR with Tex Little and Matt Michael. The game will stream on Big Ten Network+ as well. Tuesday will mark Mizzou's final road non-conference game of 2018. After Tuesday, Mizzou will play seven of its final 10 games at Taylor Stadium.
- Mizzou and Iowa are meeting in the regular season for the first time since 1997 when Mizzou won two games over the Hawkeyes.
- Mizzou leads the all-time series with Iowa, 27-13, with most of the meetings coming in the 1980s when Gene McArtor was at the helm of the Mizzou program. Mizzou played Iowa in 2011 in a pair of fall games that benefited the relief efforts for a tornado that devastated the town of Joplin, Mo. Mizzou won game one, 9-1, and tied the Hawkeyes in the finale, 3-3.
- Mizzou is coming off a 2-2 week, defeating Missouri State and sweeping the season series with the Bears for the first time since 2012, on Tuesday before losing two of three at No. 13 Kentucky.
- Mizzou lost Friday's game at UK in a 2-1 pitcher's duel that saw Mizzou get 6.0 innings from starter LHP T.J. Sikkema, who allowed just two runs on a two-out homer in the fifth inning, while striking out seven in a tough-luck loss as Mizzou failed to take advantage of several scoring opportunities against Sean Hjelle.
- Mizzou then won the Saturday game in a slugfest, 14-11, thanks to four homers. Mizzou scored its most runs in an SEC game this year and most in a league game during the Steve Bieser era. It was the most runs scored by Mizzou in an SEC game since May 2, 2015, when the Tigers hung 18 on Ole Miss. The 14 runs match the most ever by a Mizzou team in a road SEC contest. Mizzou also scored 14 at Tennessee on March 23, 2013, its first season in the league.
- On Sunday, after Mizzou rallied from down 6-1 to take a 10-6 lead, Kentucky's Cole Kottam hit a go-ahead eighth-inning grand slam as the Wildcats claimed the series finale, 11-10.
- Iowa took two of three from Big Ten leader Michigan, which had won 20 consecutive games before the Hawkeyes won the series over the weekend at Duane Banks Field. Iowa has won four of its last five games.
- Mizzou has 11 games remaining, all of which are against RPI top-100 teams. The lowest-ranked RPI team that Mizzou plays in it last nine is Indiana State at No. 83. Iowa is No. 46 this week while this weekend's opponent Georgia is No. 8. Mizzou is 24th in this week's RPI.
- Mizzou has played 20 games vs. the RPI top-50, the 11th-most nationally. Mizzou is 10-10 in those games. Of the 10 teams ranked ahead of Mizzou, six are from the SEC.
- Mizzou played its 25th errorless game of the season Friday at Kentucky and is now fielding at a .982 clip, ranking fourth nationally. Mizzou ranked 194th nationally in fielding a year ago at .966, marking the nation's largest turnaround in that category this season. We researched all the way back to 2003 and could not find a Mizzou team that had 20+ errorless games in a single season. Mizzou is 25 in 44 tries this season.
- Mizzou held Kentucky to just two runs Tuesday, marking the 21st time in 44 games that Mizzou has limited its opponents to two or fewer runs. Mizzou has limited its opponents to three or fewer runs in 24 of 44 games as it has been one of the nation's elite in pitching and defense this season. Mizzou ranks 13th nationally in runs allowed per game at 3.66, trailing only top-ranked Florida among SEC teams.
- Mizzou will send freshman RHP Konnor Ash to the mound for his second career start. He is 0-0 with a 4.38 ERA and last started a game vs. Alabama A&M on Feb. 27. He allowed one run on three hits in that game. On the year, he has pitched 12.1 innings, allowing six earned runs with 13 strikeouts and six walks.
- Iowa will send freshman LHP Trenton Wallace to the mound. He is a two-way player and is 1-0 with a 4.29 ERA in 12 appearances on the mound. His last pitching appearance came on April 25 against Milwaukee when he threw 2.0 innings and allowed two runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
- Tuesday's game will be a homecoming for two Mizzou players who call Iowa home - sophomore LHP T.J. Sikkema (DeWitt) and freshman RHP Ian Bedell (Davenport). Junior OF Zach Hanna played junior college ball at Iowa Western CC.
PROJECTED STARTERS
- Tuesday: Freshman RHP Konnor Ash (0-0, 4.38 ERA) vs. Freshman LHP Trenton Wallace (1-0, 4.29 ERA)
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