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Feb. 12, 2001
Columbia, Mo. -- The University of Missouri baseball team will play in the Applebee's Baseball Fiesta this weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Tigers are 1-1-1 this season after playing three games in California.
This Week's Schedule: Missouri faces the upcoming schedule:
*Nevada-Las Vegas - Friday, 2:30 p.m. (Central), Lobo Field
*New Mexico - Saturday, 11:30 a.m., All Sports Stadium
*Utah - Sunday, 1 p.m., All Sports Stadium
Upcoming Opponents
Nevada-Las Vegas: The Rebels are 2-4 this season and have dropped four straight games with three of the losses coming at the hands of UCLA. UNLV is scheduled to play Lewis-Clark State Tuesday and Wednesday. The Rebels are hitting .239 as a team.
New Mexico: The Lobos are 1-6 and snapped its losing streak by downing Southern Utah 11-6 Sunday. The two teams meet again Monday before New Mexico faces Texas Tech Tuesday. The Lobos are hitting .283 this season.
Utah: The Utes have won their past five games and are 5-5 this season. Utah swept UC Riverside this past weekend. Utah dropped its first three games of the season to Cal Poly.
Recent Action: Missouri opened the season with a 0-0 tie against San Jose State on Friday, Feb. 9. The game was called due to rain after five and one-half innings with the Tigers coming to the plate. Drew Endicott struck out five batters in his six-inning stint on the mound. Missouri broke out with 11 hits in a 10-7 win over Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Feb. 10. Jayce Tingler drove in a career-best five runs with a pair of two-out doubles. Ryan Stegall had a pair of home runs and recorded a save in the contest. Matt Hobbs picked up the win. The Tigers suffered a 4-1 loss to Pepperdine on Sunday, Feb. 11. The Waves, ranked 14th in this week's Baseball America poll, limited MU to four hits in the game. One of those hits was a solo home run by Jon Williams.
A Tie?: Yes, the Missouri Tigers had a tie game last weekend. The tie was not the first in school history. Missouri tied Illinois 3-3 in the 1986 season and tied Murray State 8-8 in the 1984 campaign. The 1980s decade featured three tie games. MU has been involved in seven tie games since the 1940 season and now has played 19 tie games all-time. A total of 10 of those tie games came between the 1897 and 1921 seasons.
Preseason Honors: Junior shortstop/relief pitcher Ryan Stegall has collected a number of preseason honors this season. They are:
*Named to Rotary Smith Award's watch list for Player of the Year
*Big 12 Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball
*Second-team All-American utility player by Collegiate Baseball
*Third-team All-American utility player by the National Collegiate Baseball
Writers Association
Sophomore outfielder Jayce Tingler and senior pitcher Mitch Kiler were mentioned as "Players to Watch" in the Big 12 by Collegiate Baseball.
2000 Recap: The Tigers went 33-24 in 2000 and advanced to the Big 12 Conference Tournament for the fourth consecutive campaign. Ryan Stegall was honored as the first-team all-Big 12 shortstop and was named an All-American utility player by two organizations. Jayce Tingler was named to the Freshman All-American team.
Coaching Staff: Head coach Tim Jamieson enters his seventh season and has an overall mark of 196-142-1 and a record of 79-61 in Big 12/Big 8 play. A University of New Orleans graduate, Jamieson was an assistant coach for the Tigers for six seasons before taking over the top spot. He is assisted by Chal Fanning (pitching coach, fifth season), Evan Pratte (hitting coach/infield, fourth season) and Chris Smith (outfield, first season).
Another Season, Another 30 Wins: Missouri has won 30-or-more games the past five seasons and in 14 of the last 16 campaigns.
Success: The Tigers opened the 2001 season ranked 35th among all NCAA Division I teams with 1,743 wins. In its 104 seasons of baseball, Missouri has won 61.0 percent of its games.
Missouri versus ... : The Tigers have previously played Nevada-Las Vegas twice their history, dropping both meetings. The last meeting was a 4-3 victory by the Rebels in 1995, Coach Jamieson's first season. Missouri holds a 4-2 edge in the series against New Mexico. The schools split a pair of contests in the 1985 season, MU winning 11-5 before New Mexico won 4-3. Utah has a 3-2 edge in its series against Mizzou. The Utes won the last meeting by a 10-2 score in the 1997 season.
Road Start: MU continues its stretch of road games. Missouri plays 12 of its first 14 games on the road, including the first two series in Big 12 Conference play. Home/Big 12 Opener: Mizzou hosts Creighton on Feb. 21 before heading to Stillwater, Okla., to meet the Cowboys of Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Conference opener. The Tigers and Cowboys have not played the past two seasons due to weather.
Broadcasts: All of the Tigers' games this season will be carried on KWWC (90.5 FM) as well as on www.mutigers.com. Sean Kelley will serve as the play-by-play announcer while color commentary will be provided by Mike Cronemeyer (home games) and Matt Schmidt (road contests). Kelley is in his third season as the voice of the Tigers.
Home Runs for Kids: Again this season, the Tigers have teamed with the University of Missouri Children's Hospital to develop a special program called "Home Runs for Kids." The program is geared to raise money for sick children at the Children's Hospital at University Hospital and Clinics. The fund-raising program will recruit baseball fans, individuals, businesses, clubs and organizations, to pledge 25 cents to $10 or more for every home run the Tigers hit this season. All of the money raised by the "Home Run for Kids" program will be used locally to fund equipment, research and programs for patients at Children's Hospital. Currently, the Tigers have hit three home runs.
Big 12 Predictions: Missouri was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 this season by Collegiate Baseball. Its rankings are as follows: 1, Nebraska, 2, Oklahoma, 3, Baylor, 4, Texas, 5, Texas A&M, 6, Oklahoma State, 7, Texas Tech, 8, MISSOURI, 9, Kansas, 10, Iowa State, 11, Kansas State.
Experience Counts: Missouri returns five seniors to this year's squad among its 15 letterwinners. Catcher Jon Williams leads the way for MU with a .315 career batting average. Pitchers Logan Dale, Jon Harris, Mitch Kiler and Pete Sansone will be counted on to lead the pitching staff again this season. Dale has been one of the Tigers' mainstays the past three seasons, ranking among the team's leaders in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. Harris led the team in wins and strikeouts in his only season with MU. Kiler, who had a stellar starting performance in the 2000 Big 12 Tournament, moves to the starting rotation after leading the Tigers in appearances (28) last season. Sansone moves to the bullpen after posting a 5-1 mark in 2000. He missed the previous two seasons due to injury and transfering to the program.
Academic Success: Seven members of the Tigers' squad were named to Missouri's Fall Student-Athlete Dean's List. They are: Dan Bane, Garrett Broshuis, Logan Dale, Bo Davis, Mitch Kiler, Malachi Momper, Andy Runyan
Career Mark Watch: Ryan Stegall sits in third place with 13 career saves. Stegall set a single-season record in 2000 with 12 saves and recorded his first of the 2001 season against Loyola Marymount. Stegall's 22 home runs rank him just out of MU's top 10 list. Nick Wilfong (1998-2000) and Kevin LeCompte (1984-87) are tied for 10th with 23. Stegall has started 88 consecutive games.
Big 12 Statistics: A pair of Tiger pitchers, Drew Endicott and Matt Hobbs, are among the leaders in the Big 12 Conference for earned-run average at 0.00. Neither pitcher has allowed an earned run this season. Endicott's six-inning shutout against San Jose State makes him the lone pitcher in the league to toss a shutout. He ranks third among conference pitchers with a .095 batting average allowed. Ryan Stegall is in a seven-way tie for second place with two home runs. He is in a six-way tie for second place with one save. As a team, Missouri ranks fifth in earned-run average at 2.74. The Tigers rank 10th in batting at .202.
Next Week: The Tigers meet Creighton in a 4 p.m. contest on Feb. 21 before heading to Stillwater, Okla., to face Oklahoma State for a three-game series in Big 12 Conference action.