April 15, 2002

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri (16-18) will play nationally ranked Southwest Missouri State (24-6) Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field. In this week's polls, SMS is ranked 25th by Collegiate Baseball and is receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN/ABCA Coaches' Poll.

MU's Last Game: Lee Laskowski drove in seven runs, four coming on a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning, to power Missouri to the 16-12 win over No. 10/14 Nebraska on April 14. Brent Lacy had three hits while Laskowski, Luke Cassis, Chris Julo and Jody Roughton each had two hits. Travis Wendte improved to 3-1 after allowing one run in three innings of relief work.

MU vs. SMS: The nationally ranked Bears picked up a 6-4 win over the Tigers in Springfield on April 9. Missouri leads the series, 15-12.

Big 12 Player of the Week! For the second time in his career, Lee Laskowski was chosen as the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week for the games between April 8-14.

Big 12 Numbers: With his .383 batting average, Lee Laskowski ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference batting race for all games. Jayce Tingler ranks 14th with his .350 average while Cody Ehlers is 15th at .347. Tingler is third in runs scored (42) while Ehlers is tied for sixth in home runs (eight). Tingler is eighth with his .454 on base percentage and Laskowski is 10th at .451. Laskowski's seven runs batted in against Nebraska (4/14) is tied for the single-game high in Big 12 play. MU's pitching staff ranks third with 7.87 strikeouts per nine innings.

What A Week: Lee Laskowski hit .500 (8-of-16) with 10 runs batted in four games. Laskowski, a sophomore from Clayton, Mo., had three multi-hit games. W.T. Hoover made the most of four pinch hitting roles, reaching base each time and scoring four runs. Travis Wendte saw his scoreless streak snapped at 12 innings (10 appearances) but he picked up one win and one save in three appearances.

Record Crowd: Missouri had a Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field record crowd of 1,508 on April 13 against Nebraska. On April 14, Missouri had its eighth crowd (since Taylor Stadium opened for the 2000 season) of 1,000-or-more fans as 1,006 fans watched the Tigers down Nebraska, 16-12.

Next Up: Missouri plays Saint Louis Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field. The Tigers return to Big 12 Conference play against Kansas Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field. Games two and three of the Big 12 series will be at KU.