October 13, 1998
The Missouri Tigers baseball team will wrap up the fall season with their annual 7-game Fall World Series beginning this Thursday night at 7 p.m. under the lights of Simmons Field. Admission is free.
The MU squad is split into two teams via a draft. Assistant coaches Chal Fanning and Evan Pratte will coach the two sides. The first team to win four games will win the series, just like any professional 7-game series. Head Coach Tim Jamieson will decide whether to prolong the series if one team wins in four or five games.
The series schedule looks like this:
GAME 1: Thurs. Oct. 15, 7 p.m.
GAME 2: Fri. Oct. 16, 3 p.m.
GAME 3: Sun. Oct. 18, 2 p.m.
GAME 4: Mon. Oct. 18, 7 p.m.
GAME 5: Tues. Oct. 20, 7 p.m.
GAME 6: Thurs. Oct. 22, 7 p.m.
GAME 7: Fri. Oct. 23, 3 p.m.
RALLO OUT, DALE QUESTIONABLE FOR WORLD SERIES
Mike Rallo, Missouri's top returning hitter from a year ago, will miss the Fall World Series due to surgery on his left shoulder. Rallo had the surgery performed on Monday morning. The operation has been planned since the beginning of the fall.
Rallo was hitting close to .400 in intrasquad competition this fall. In 1998, the junior first baseman hit .336 with 13 home runs and 43 RBI. He also tied for the team lead in doubles with 18.
Rallo is expected to be ready by the first practice in mid-January.
Honorable Mention Freshman All-American Logan Dale has yet to pitch this fall due to elbow problems. There is a chance that he may see some mound time during the World Series.
MU HITTERS STILL GETTING IT DONE
As good as the Missouri pitching staff is supposed to be in 1999, the Tiger hitters are still swinging steady bats. Even without the likes of Ryan Fry, Griffin Moore and Torre Tyson, MU hitters are still hitting around .300 for the fall.
Heading the list of hot hitters is freshman shortstop Ryan Stegall, who has been around .400 for most of the fall. Perhaps the hottest hitter has been Mike Rallo, but he will sit the rest of the fall out after having shoulder surgery on Monday. Freshman Wes Fewell and sophomore Jon Williams have been very steady, as have veterans Jake Epstein and Aaron Wilson. JUCO transfer Dustin Barnes has caught fire as of late.
STINE vs. JAMISON IN GAME ONE
The two top returning starting pitchers for Missouri will oppose each other in Game One of the Fall World Series. Senior Justin Stine and junior Ryan Jamison combined for a 14-7 record in 1998. The veterans of the MU pitching staff have also been the hottest pitchers of the fall.
Stine, a 19th round draft choice of the Anaheim Angels in the this past summer's Amateur Draft, threw very little over the summer. After deciding to come back to MU, Stine struggled a bit during the first couple of weeks of intrasquad competition. The last few weeks, Stine has been back to his old stuff. He was masterful in an outing last week where he struck out the side in the first inning.
MEDIA NOTE
Box scores and play-by-play will be FAXed out following each game. Players and coaches will be available following each game. The Tigers will intrasquad on Monday and Tuesday of this week at 3:00 p.m.