April 17, 2003

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SATURDAY FSN GAME HIGHLIGHTS TIGER TRIP TO WACO
The latest in a line of critical Big 12 Conference series comes this weekend, when the fifth-place Missouri baseball team travels to Waco to face sixth-place Baylor. The Tigers, who are ranked in three of the four major national polls and are receiving votes in the fourth, are 1-1/2 games ahead of the Bears in the Big 12 standings; just one Mizzou win will keep the Tigers in front of Baylor through next week.
? ? ? The series starts Friday with MU's Justin James facing the Bears' Steven White, yet it is Saturday's 3 p.m. game that will take the spotlight as FOX Sports Net will televise the middle game of the series to a regional cable audience.
? ? ? The last time the a Tigers were televised by FOX Sports Net was an April 21, 2001, contest at Kansas State.

BAYLOR SERIES INFORMATION
In a series that goes back to 1905, the Bears lead by a 17-8 margin, including 11-7 since the formation of the Big 12 in 1997. Missouri took its first conference series last year in Columbia by taking the first two of three games from top-10 Baylor in the third series of the league season.
? ? ? In the previous five Big 12 meetings - including all three in Waco to date - the Bears have won each series by a 2-1 margin.
? ? ? Prior to the start of the Big 12 era, the last previous meeting between the two schools came in 1964, the year of Mizzou's last appearance in the College World Series.

RANK-AND-FILE
For the first time since the 1997 preseason, the Tigers have cracked the nation's top 25. Mizzou is ranked No. 23 in Collegiate Baseball for the first time since the final 1996 poll; No. 25 by the National College Baseball Writers Association; and No. 25 by the editors at Baseball America, who last ranked the Tigers in their 1997 preseason poll.

MIZZOU LOOKING FOR 10TH LEAGUE WIN
The Tigers have moved just past the halfway point of the 2003 Big 12 schedule, and have already equalled their league victory total of nine from a year ago (9-5).
? ? ? At 9-5, Mizzou is off to its best-ever start in the seven years of the Big 12. The Tigers' best Big 12 season came in the second year of the league, when the 1998 squad compiled a 17-12 record for fifth place.

BIG 12 COACHES PICK MIZZOU NINTH
Defending NCAA champion Texas was the overwhelming favorite to capture the 2003 Big 12 baseball title in a preseason vote by the conference's 10 head diamond coaches, while Missouri was picked to finish ninth.
? ? ? The Longhorns received nine of the 10 first place votes (coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams) while Oklahoma captured the other top spot prediction. The Sooners nailed down third place among the prognosticators with 61 total points behind Baylor with 62. Texas registered a "perfect" score of 81 points among the baseball mentors.
? ? ? The predicted 2003 order was not greatly different from 2002's final standings when the Longhorns notched first, NU and Tech tied for second, Oklahoma finished fourth, Baylor, Kansas State and Oklahoma State tied for fifth, and Texas A&M was eighth, and Kansas 10th. The Tigers, who finished ninth last year with a 24-29 record overall, were 9-16 in the league.

TINGLER DRIVES THE TRAIN
Senior OF Jayce Tingler (Smithville, Mo.) continues to prove himself as one of the Big 12's best leadoff hitters, yet he is also helping the Tigers in a way that would be expected of someone hitting lower in the order. In addition to leading the Tigers with 39 runs scored - which is not surprising from the leadoff spot - he also leads the team with 37 RBI.
? ? ? Tingler, who led the prestigious Cape Cod League in on-base percentage last summer, also hit his first career homer, at Southeast Missouri on March 11. He leads the squad with a .382 batting average, and boasts an impressive .515 on-base percentage - which leads the Big 12 - thanks to his 32 walks (0.88 BB/gm.), which also lead the league.

FLANDERS IS MOST VALUABLE
Another reason for the success of the Tigers has been the production of junior C Brad Flanders (Smithville, Mo.), who was a teammate of Tingler's at Smithville High School north of Kansas City.
? ? ? Originally signed by Mizzou to help manage a young pitching staff, Flanders has also provided plenty of pop in his bat. He currently is second on the team with his .381 batting average, and on Tuesday vs. SMS hit his team-high-tying fifth homer of the season. In addition, his guidance behind the plate is one of many reasons Mizzou's team ERA has dropped to 4.10 from 7.09 a year ago.
? ? ? Flanders was named the Most Valuable Player of the ULM Holiday Inn/Citgo Classic the weekend of Feb. 22-23. Flanders batted .615 (8-for-13) in Mizzou's three games with a pair of homers, four doubles, five RBI and five runs scored.

NUMBER 1 IN YOUR SCORECARD...
While it's obvious that this year's team is not the same as last year's, it is still literally true. A total of 19 players are seeing their first game action as Tigers: nine are true freshmen, three are redshirt freshmen, and seven are transfers from two- or four-year colleges.
? ? ? Of those 19, four (Flanders, Kinsler, Taylor and Hernandez) are position starers, with another five (Garrett, Roberson, Williams, Johnson and Boone) seeing significant platoon or reserve roles. Two (Shipman and Hill) have cracked the mid-week pitching rotation, with three others (Admire, Stallings, Parker) playing significant relief roles.

TIGERS IN THE NCAA STATS
The Tigers' 9.0 runs per game not only leads the Big 12 - it also ranks Mizzou ninth in the nation through last weekend's games. In addition, Missouri is ranked in the national stats in team batting average (.320, 26th).
? ? ? Individually, sophomore Travis Wendte (Moore, Okla.) has seven saves, tying him for 13th in the country. Auburn sophomore Steven Register leads with 12 saves.

HOW SWEEP IT IS
The Tigers recently completed a 13-game winning streak, which is the team's longest since the 1988 Mizzou squad also won 13 in a row. Included in that string are sweeps of Big 12 rivals Kansas, Kansas State and Texas Tech (two games). Some notes: