May 13, 2002
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri and Northern Iowa meet in a three-game, non-conference series this week at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field. The games will be Thursday at 6:30 p.m.; Friday at 6:30 p.m.; and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. On Friday, the Tigers will honor the eight members of the senior class.
Records: Missouri enters the series 23-27 while Northern Iowa is 27-22-1. The Panthers, members of the Missouri Valley Conference, defeated Western Illinois, 8-4, on Tuesday. The Panthers participated in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
Last Time Out: Missouri's game against Kansas State on Sunday was rained out. In Saturday's MU/KSU contest, the Wildcats scored a run in the first and third innings before erupting for three runs in the seventh inning and five more in the eighth to pick up the 10-1 victory. Brock Smith held Missouri to only four hits in the contest. Wes Fewell hit his first home run of the season to open the ninth inning. Fewell, who entered the game in the ninth inning, also made two running catches in center field.
MU/Northern Iowa Series: Missouri leads, 12-2. The series started in 1958 in the District Five Playoffs. MU picked up two wins over then-Iowa State Teachers College, which later became known as Northern Iowa, to advance to the College World Series. The last meeting between the two teams came in 1991 with a 27-1 MU win.
UNI Notes: Shortstop Travis Welsch became the school's all-time hit leader against Western Illinois. He has 286 career hits. The Panthers have won their past seven games and scored a school-record (in conference play) 21 runs in a 21-7 (seven innings) win over Bradley. UNI is hitting .319 this season as a team.
Academic Prowess: Garrett Broshuis was a first-team selection to the Academic All-Big 12 team. Broshuis was the lone student-athlete nominated with a 4.0 grade-point average. For the second-straight season, Drew Endicott and Tony Vitello were named second-team picks.
On the Horizon: Missouri head coach Tim Jamieson needs one more win to record the 250th of his career. The Tigers are 249-192-1 during his eight seasons as head coach.
Off And Running: Jayce Tingler's next stolen base will break his tie with Dave Silvestri (1986-88) for fourth place on MU's all-time career chart with 47 stolen bases. Tingler, who stole his 13th base of the season against Kansas State on May 10, also ranks 10th with 120 career walks and ranks 10th with 157 career runs.
Here's a look at where Tingler stands and who is 10th or ranks above him:
Walks - Tingler, 120/9th, Nick Rallo (1983-85), 121
Hits - Tingler, 189/10th, Curt Brown (1974-78), 210
Runs - Tingler, 158/9th, Phil Bradley (1979-81), 161
Tingler needs to score one more run to crack into the program's single-season Top 10 chart for runs scored in a season. Tingler has scored 65 runs this season. Bryan Seymour scored 66 runs in 1997 to rank 10th.
The Schedule: According to boydsworld.com, Missouri has faced the nation's 11th-toughest schedule this season.
Big 12 Leader: Infielder Jody Roughton leads the Big 12 Conference (in league games only) with 30 runs batted in (1.25 RBI/game). Roughton currently is tied for third with 38 hits and is fourth in runs (25), doubles (eight) and total bases (63). He is also fifth in walks (14) and in on base percentage (.444), sixth in hitting (.369) and eighth in slugging percentage (.612). Jayce Tingler is tied for first with 29 runs scored. He also is third in walks (18) and ninth in on base percentage (.431).
Others in the Big 12: Mick Weiss is tied for seventh with six home runs. He is also fourth in doubles (eight), seventh in RBI (25), ninth in total bases (55), and 10th in slugging percentage (.579). Cody Ehlers is seventh with in walks (13) and is tied with Weiss and Roughton for fourth in doubles. Lee Laskowski is fourth with 27 RBI. Abel Newton is eight with 38 strikeouts while Travis Wendte is third with 13 appearances. Justin James is seventh with 52.1 innings of work and he is tied for the lead by starting nine games. Garrett Broshuis is 10th with 49.2 innings in Big 12 games.