Tigers End Regular Season At Texas A&M
5/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 12, 2000
The Missouri Tigers (29-22, 10-14 in the Big 12 Conference) have a long trip ahead of them this week as they journey to College Station, Texas, for the final series of the regular season against the Texas A&M Aggies (23-30, 11-16). Then the Tigers will load up the bus and head straight to Oklahoma City for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament that begins on Wednesday at the Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark. There's plenty at stake this weekend for both teams, who currently sit in seventh and eighth place in the Big 12 standings. Depending on the outcome of the Texas Tech-Oklahoma State series, both the Tigers and the Aggies have the chance to be the sixth, seventh or eighth seed heading into next week's tournament. This weekend's action begins tonight with a 7 p.m. game at Olsen Field, followed by a 7 p.m. contest on Saturday and a 1 p.m. game on Sunday. All three games will be televised by College Sports Southwest (Bill Doleman, Glen Tuckett), which may be seen on various cable systems in Missouri (Columbia - AT&T Channel 28), Kansas City (Metrosports), and Springfield (AT&T Channel 36).
Series Record
Texas A&M leads Mizzou 22-11, and won two-of-three games in Columbia last year. The Aggies also took two-of-three from the Tigers in College Station in 1998. MU won game 2 of the series, 5-3, in between 9-2 and 4-3 wins by A&M.
Missouri's Pitching Rotation
Ever since the Nebraska series a month ago, the Tigers have struggled to get a quality start from its pitching staff. And consequently Missouri has juggled its rotation in recent weeks to try to find some answers. This weekend's rotation will feature three junior righthanders - Logan Dale, Pete Sansone and Jon Harris. Dale has not started a Big 12 series game since April 14, against Nebraska.
Missouri Coach Tim Jamieson
Head Coach Tim Jamieson has firmly established himself as one of the top young coaches in college baseball. In his sixth year, "T.J." has led Missouri to a 191-139 record, which includes four postseason conference tournaments, a trip to the NCAA Tournament ('96), and a regular-season Big Eight title ('96). Jamieson's Tigers are 172-105 since 1996, and have won at least 30 games in each of the last four seasons.
Tigers Need To Snap The Streak
Missouri enters this weekend's series riding its longest losing streak of the season - five games, including four Big 12 games. It's the Tigers' longest losing streak since late in the 1995 season - Tim Jamieson's first as the MU coach - when they also lost five games. MU hasn't had a losing streak of more than five games since earlier in that same '95 campaign when they dropped seven in a row.
Pitching, Defense Have Struggled For Mizzou
After a nine-game stretch in which Mizzou went 7-2, with a team ERA of 3.00, and committed only five errors, the Tigers have experienced a pitching and defensive collapse. During MU's current five-game losing streak, the team earned run average is a lofty 8.57, and the Tigers have committed 12 errors. Opponents have hit .386 during the last five games in scoring 49 runs, while the Tigers' team batting average was .278 (26 runs).
Tigers Know How To Handle Close Games
Missouri is 14-6 in games decided by one or two runs. MU is 8-2 in one-run games and 6-4 in two-run affairs. Mizzou has also played seven three-run games.
Brandes Is The Hottest Tiger
Third baseman Landon Brandes is on a torrid stretch at the plate. He's on a six-game hitting streak during which he's hit .440 with two doubles, a triple, three home runs and 10 RBI. In the Tigers' last three games, he's 8-for-13 (.615) with six extra-base hits. He missed nine games earlier in the season with a broken bone in his left hand. Since returning to the lineup in late March, he's hit .379 and driven in 30 runs over a stretch of 24 games. Brandes leads the team lead in home runs (9) and is second in RBI (47). He's just seven RBIs behind Ryan Stegall (54).
Mizzou Big 12 Tidbits
Missouri, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech are the only teams that have advanced to the Big 12 Post-Season Tournament each season since the formation of the conference in 1997. The Tigers are 6-6 on the road in conference play this season, having won series at Texas Tech, Kansas and Iowa State. The only road series they've lost was last week at Oklahoma. Missouri has gone 2-5 on Big 12 Fridays, 3-5 on Saturdays, and 5-3 on Sundays. Last week's OU series concluded on Monday, when MU fell, 9-4.
Ticket Information For Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament
Some tickets still remain for the Phillips 66 Conference Baseball Tournament which will be contested May 17-21 at the Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Okla. While club level and box seats are sold out, reserved tickets and general admission tickets still remain. All-session reserved seats are available for $60 and all-session G.A. tickets are on sale at $40. To order by mail, make checks payable to Big XII Baseball, and mail to OKC All Sports Association, 100 West Main, Suite 285, Oklahoma City, OK 73102. Include $3.00 for postage and handling per order.
Baseball America Touts Mizzou's Stegall, Tingler
Baseball America recently featured an All-America checklist, broken down by class, and two Missouri Tigers were prominently included. Sophomore Ryan Stegall, the Big 12 Conference's leading hitter in league play, was a second-team choice among the nation's sophomores both as a position player and as a relief pitcher. Jayce Tingler, one of the Big 12's hottest hitting freshmen, was a second-team selection in the outfield. Both have had long hitting streaks this season - Tingler, 15 games, and Stegall, 11.
Four Tigers Land On All-Academic Team
Missouri placed four players on the Big 12 All-Academic Team, released earlier this week. RHP Logan Dale (psychology) was a first-team choice, while C Ryan Pickett (management), 1B Mike Rallo (consumer & family economics) and IF Mick Weiss (arts & science) were named to the second team.
Stegall Making A Bid For All-America Honors
As the Big 12's top shortstop and one of its best closers, Missouri sophomore Ryan Stegall is making a serious run at All-America status. Although he's cooled a bit at the plate, hitting just over .300 in MU's last 17 games, he's still among the Big 12's leading hitters with a .378 average - .416 in conference games. He leads the Tigers in hits (76), doubles (22), triples (3), runs batted in (54), total bases (125) and slugging percentage (.622). When Ryan Stegall needed just eight pitches to post a 1-2-3 ninth inning against Kansas State on April 29, preserving a 8-6 Missouri victory, it earned him his school-record 10th save of the season. He had been tied with Jeff Cornell for the Mizzou record. Cornell, now a scout with the Toronto Blue Jays, saved nine games for the Tigers in 1978. In his last four appearances, he has a 1.35 ERA, and he enters the Texas A&M series having retired seven hitters in a row. His 10 saves already have him tied for fourth place on the MU career list. Stegall had not hit lower than .333 in any conference series this season until Oklahoma stifled him to the tune of a .167 average last week. He was two-for-four with a two-run home run on Wednesday night against Southeast Missouri State. Stegall has 22 doubles which is tied for 4th place on the MU season charts - six away from the school record of 28 by Aaron Jawoworski in 1996. Stegall has hit safely in 42 of Mizzou's 51 games, and is among the Big 12 leaders in many categories. Stegall set a Missouri and Big 12 Conference record March 1 by driving in six runs in the first inning against Western Illinois. The old conference mark was five by Iowa State's Matt Nordby against Northern Iowa last season. His first time at bat, he hit a three-run home run to right-center field. As MU batted around (the Tigers sent 14 men to the plate in the inning), Stegall came up again with the bases loaded and cleared them with a 3-run double.
Tingler Is One Of Big 12's Best Freshmen
Jayce Tingler (Smithville, MO) has firmly established himself as one of the top freshmen in not only the Big 12 Conference but in the nation. As the season has wore on, though, the little outfielder has tired and his batting average has dropped in the last several weeks. He was among the league leaders for a good portion of the season with a batting average that hovered near the .400 mark. He enters that A&M series, though, just two-for-his-last-24, and his average has dropped to .327 - still third on the club. He's among the league leaders in hitting with a .352 batting average, and during MU's last 29 games, he's had hitting streaks of 15 and 7 games. During MU's six games prior to last weekend's Kansas State series - in which the Tigers won five times - he hit .391 and scored eight runs. Tingler was the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week in early March after enjoying the finest week of his young career with a .500 average (11-for-22) as the Tigers went 3-2 and completed the week with a 5-3 victory over the No. 4 Texas Longhorns. The rookie scored six runs, drove in six more, and was 3-for-3 in the stolen base department. He also threw out a runner at home and made a diving, game-saving catch in Mizzou's win. Entering the Texas series, Tingler reached base in 11-of-12 at bats - including a streak of nine straight spanning the final Texas Tech contest and both games against Western Illinois.
Kiler Piles Up The Appearances, Gets Saves
Junior lefthander Mitch Kiler leads the MU pitching staff with 25 appearances this season, tied for sixth on the MU season charts. All but one of those trips to the hill have come in relief. He started at Oklahoma on Monday and was dealt a 9-4 loss. He earned his first two saves of the season two weeks ago, and has posted a 1.88 ERA in his last 12 relief appearances - a stretch of 24 innings in which he's allowed only five runs, while striking out 24 and walking six. Kiler is especially tough against lefthanded batters who have hit just .089 against him this season. Kiler's longest relief stint of the season came in Missouri's 9-8 victory over Baylor when he worked the final three-and-two-thirds innings. He held the Bears to four hits and one run in earning his second victory of the season. Kiler's ERA is a staff-best 3.64 overall, and 3.86 in Big 12 games. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is a staff-best 48-15.
Around The Bases
? Dustin Barnes had played almost exclusively as a late-inning, defensive replacement until the last nine games. He got into the St. Louis U. (4/25) contest late for defense and wound up with two hits, the second of which drove in MU's final run in a 5-3, 12-inning victory. He has started at second base in Mizzou's last eight games. Barnes has hit safely in seven of the last nine games, including a 5-game hitting streak, and in that stretch has hit .387 - boosting his season average to .292.
? MU's pitchers are piling up the strikeouts, and the first strikeout against Texas A&M will be the Tigers' 400th of the season. Mizzou pitchers have fanned 399 opposing batters this season and have issued 201 walks, and. have struck out 10-or-more batters in 16 games this season.
? Missouri has hit into 53 double plays in 47 games, while turning just 30. The Tigers have turned two double plays in the same game only five times this season.
? Jon Harris took a no-hitter into the sixth inning vs. Cal State Northridge and had allowed only six hits in his two starts prior to last week's game at Oklahoma when he hurt himself by committing three errors - most by any Tiger this season.
? Missouri has hit back-to-back home runs three times in 2000 - Ryan Stegall and Jon Williams vs. Pepperdine in the first game of the season, Nick Wilfong and Williams in the third game against Kansas, and J.R. Warner and Ryan Stegall in the series-opener vs. Baylor.
? Ryan Stegall and J.R. Warner are the only Tigers who have started all 51 games this season. Stegall has started every game at shortstop while Warner has started 50 games in right field and one as the designated hitter.
? Landon Brandes hit Missouri's only grand slam home run of the season against Southwest Missouri State, giving MU a 7-4 victory.
? Despite ranking in Missouri's career top 10 for home runs, Mike Rallo has not delivered a round-tripper this season. Mick Weiss has taken over for Rallo at first base and has a four-game hitting streak entering the Texas A&M series.
? Luke Cassis' home run against Baylor was his first in 127 career at bats and was his only hit in the series.
? C Ryan Pickett was honored at MU's basketball game against Oklahoma State as one of Mizzou's three Bank of America Community Champions.
? Missouri dedicated its new Ralph and Debbie Taylor/Phi Delta Theta Stadium (or more practically Taylor Stadium at Simmons Field) on April 8 when the Tigers entertained the Baylor Bears. The new facility has become affectionately known as "The Ralph."
