April 1, 2003

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Missouri travels to Cape Girardeau, Mo. on Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader with Southeast Missouri State. Game one will begin at 3 p.m. with game two to follow. The Tigers are 19-13 on the season and are coming off a weekend split with No. 20 Texas A&M. After dropping the first game of the series 4-2, MU rebounded for a 6-5 extra inning win on Sunday. SEMO is 6-15 on the year heads into Wednesday's doubleheader after taking two of three against Tennessee State last weekend. Mizzou leads the all-time series with the Otakians 18-5 and swept last year's doubleheader in Columbia. The Tigers return to Big 12 play this weekend for a two-game series with Texas, with game one at 2 p.m. on Saturday and game two at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

A LOOK AT THE OTAKIANS
Southeast Missouri State is 6-15 heading into the doubleheader with MU after taking two of three against Tennessee State last weekend. Two Otakians are batting over .300 led by Kelly Birk's .318 average. Alana Bagby-Leonard is hitting .309 and is tied with Brooke Nett with nine RBI. The Otakians have three pitchers that have each appeared in 12 games. Jesscia Hunter is 2-3 with a 3.24 ERA. Melissa Van Velkinburgh is 0-6 on the season and has a 4.95 ERA, while Kelly Birk has a record of 4-5 and a 5.75 ERA. Lana Richmond is in her 21st season with as the SEMO head coach, compiling a record of 658-372-2. Last season, Southeast Missouri State was 14-27 and finished fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 9-12 record.

ON TAP
Mizzou returns to Big 12 Conference play this weekend as No. 5 Texas visits Columbia for a two-game series. Game one will start at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with game two to take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers picked up a split in their two-game series with No. 20 Texas A&M last weekend, their second series split of the week. Missouri fell to the Aggies 4-2 in Saturday's game, but rebounded to take the second game of the series 6-5 in 10 innings. Rachael McGinnis hit home runs in each of the two games to extend her team lead in that category to seven on the year. McGinnis was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored on Saturday and went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored on Sunday. Morgan LeCluyse extended her hitting streak to 12 games, recording hits in each of the games over the weekend, including a home run to lead of the second inning of Sunday's game. With Sunday's win, the Tigers move to 19-13 on the year and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference. The four wins in conference play match the number of league wins Mizzou had last season. The victory was also the second win over a ranked opponent for Missouri in less than a week, after it defeated No. 4 Oklahoma in the opening game of a doubleheader last Wednesday.

STREAKY
Two Tigers currently have hitting streaks in tact heading into Wednesday's doubleheader with Southeast Missouri State. Morgan LeCluyse is on a 12-game hitting streak, hitting .421 during that stretch. She has had hits in every Big 12 Conference game, with a .381 average in conference games. Heather Kunkel has an eight-game hitting streak on the line. She too has had a hit in each of Mizzou's six Big 12 Conference games, hitting .400 in league games.

ITS A DOZEN FOR LECLUYSE
MU junior Morgan LeCluyse had one hit in each of the Tigers' games against Texas A&M last weekend, extending her hitting streak to 12 games. Since the start of the streak against Pittsburg State on March 12, LeCluyse has hit .421 and has three homeruns, two triples and a double. Her slugging percentage during the streak is an robust .857. She is also a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts during the streak. For the season, LeCluyse is hitting .337, which is ninth best in the Big 12 Conference, and has four homeruns and 18 RBI. She is tied or the Big 12 Conference lead in triples with three and her slugging percentage of .602 is 10th best in the conference.

LET'S PLAY TWO
Erin Kalka has taken Ernie Banks' famous quote, "Let's play two" to heart. Two times this season Kalka has stepped into the pitcher's circle in back-to-back games against some of the best teams in the nation and has been dominate. Kalka took the ball in the first of two games on the final day of the UCLA Tournament, and was still in the circle when the second game ended. Kalka pitched back-to-back complete games, striking out 16 batters and giving up no earned runs in 13 innings of work on the day. She picked up a win in a four hit shutout against Boston College to start the day. Then, against the No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins, Kalka gave up no earned runs and struck out 10. Last Wednesday, Kalka again took the start in both games of a doubleheader, this time against No. 4 Oklahoma. Like she did in Los Angeles, Kalka was 1-1, pitching a three-hit shutout in the first game, as she struck out six Sooners and walked only one. She then held OU to only four hits and one run through four innings in the nightcap, before OU's Leah Gulla connected on a three-run home run, the first big hit for Oklahoma on the day against Kalka. Kalka is 11-7 on the season with a 2.23 ERA. She has 136 strikeouts in 122.2 inning pitched, which is 1.11 strikeouts per inning.

THE MAC ATTACK
Mizzou junior Rachael McGinnis' name can be found among the leaders in the Big 12 Conference statistical categories. She is currently fifth in the conference in batting with a .354 mark. McGinnis is fourth in on base percentage (.436) and fourth in the Big 12 in slugging percentage (.667). She is also, once again, at or near the top of nearly every offensive categories for MU. McGinnis leads the team with a .354 batting average. She also leads MU in hits (34), homeruns (7) and runs scored (22). She is second on the team in triples (2) and RBI (20) and is third in stolen bases (6) and doubles (5).

HITS KEEP COMING FOR KUNKEL
Of Heather Kunkel's 29 hits this season, 12 have gone for extra base hits and her 20 RBI is tied for the team lead Kunkel is tied for the team lead in doubles with six on the season and has three homeruns and one triple. She is hitting .293 heading into the doubleheader with Southeast Missouri State. She opened the season with a five-game hitting streak and currently has an eight-game hitting streak on the line. Kunkel is also a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts on the season.

J-LO
Freshman Joanne Loethen has been arguably the Tigers' most consistent player this season. The freshman is hitting .290 heading into this weekend. She is second on the team lead in doubles with six and has stolen six bases on eight attempts. She has had a hit in 21 of Mizzou's 32 games this season and at one point had a seven game hitting streak. She has also had eight multiple-hit games this year.

RUN AND SHOOT OFFENSE
Ty Singleton has promised that the Tigers will be an aggressive team this season and so far he is following through on that promise. Missouri has stolen 49 bases on 69 attempts. Its opponents, on the other hand, have only stolen 25 bases on 35 attempts. Daisy Mettlach leads the team with 10 stolen bases on 14 attempts, which is tied for fifth best in the Big 12 Conference. Morgan LeCluyse has nine, followed by Joanne Loethen and Rachael McGinnis with six.

EXTRA, EXTRA
Of Missouri's 209 hits through 32 games, 63 have gone for extra bases, including 21 homeruns. Rachael McGinnis leads the team with 14 extra base hits, while Heather Kunkel has 12 and Morgan LeCluyse has 10. McGinnis leads the team in homeruns with seven. LeCluyse has four homers, followed by Kunkel and Daisy Mettlach who each have three homeruns on the year. LeCluyse has connected for three homeruns, three triples and three doubles this season. Kunkel leads in doubles with eight, followed by Joanne Loethen with six.

TOURNEY TIME
Missouri played in five tournaments to open the Big 12 Conference season. The Tigers were 13-11 in their five tournaments and reached the championship game at both the Auburn Invitational and the UCLA Tournament. Last season, MU participated in six tournaments, including three at home. The Tigers were 16-16 in tournament play in 2002 and won the Missouri Invitational.

HOME RUN DERBY
Mizzou's game against New Mexico State last month turned into a home run derby for MU. Five Tigers connected on homeruns in MU's 17-4 win. Rachael McGinnis got Mizzou on the board with a two-run homerun in the first inning. Then in the second inning, Kendra Power led off with a homer, and two batters later, Heather Kunkel hit a solo homerun of her own. In the fifth inning, Daisy Mettlach led of the inning with a homerun to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead. Then in the seventh inning Kristen Burke connected for a three-run homerun as the Tigers scored ten runs in the inning.