TINGLER DRIVES THE TRAIN
Missouri's all-time hits leader, and now the co-record holder in walks, senior OF Jayce Tingler (Smithville, Mo.) continues to prove himself as the best pure leadoff hitter in the Big 12. 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 64 runs scored - which is not surprising from his position in the leadoff spot - he is also second on the team with 46 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 .390 batting average, and boasts an impressive .515 on-base percentage - which leads the Big 12 - thanks to his league-leading 44 walks.

TINGLER FEATURED IN BASEBALL AMERICA
Senior CF Jayce Tingler (Smithville, Mo.) is featured in the May 25 issue of Baseball America, which features Chicago Cubs pitching phenom Mark Prior on the cover.
? ? ? Tingler, an all-Big 12 candidate, has one Tiger career record and is nearing several others. He became Mizzou's all-time hit king in his first at-bat at the Big 12 Tournament. He now has 269 to move past Ryan Fry (1995-98). In addition, Tingler's 164 career walks have tied him with Matt Nivens (1994-97). Finally, Tingler needs to score two runs to pass Fry's 223 as Mizzou's career leader in that category.

EHLERS IS A-LIST ON HOMER CHART
Junior 1B Cody Ehlers (Stillwater, Okla.) has hit Mizzou's last three home runs, including an impressive three-run bomb against Baylor over the weekend at the Big 12 Tournament. Ehlers hit a shot appoaching 390 feet that cleared the 25-foot wall in right at SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
? ? ? He leads the Mizzou squad with nine homers, which equals his career high set last year.

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 .341 batting average, and in April hit homers against SMS and Baylor to give him a then-team-high-tying six this year. In addition, his guidance behind the plate is one of many reasons Mizzou's team ERA has dropped to 5.06 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.

TIGER TURNAROUND
It's safe to say (and Baseball America has in its midseason college report) that Missouri is one of college baseball's biggest surprises this season. Picked ninth by the league's coaches before the start of the season, the Tigers played well enough to secure a berth in the Big 12 Tournament with several weekends to spare, and made an upper-division finish in the league for the first time since 1998 with their Big 12 era-highest fourth-place finish this season.
? ? ? The Tigers have also made the list of the best turnaround jobs in school history.

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 starters, with another five (Garrett, Roberson, Williams, Johnson and Boone) seeing significant platoon or reserve roles. Three (Hill, Admire and Shipman) have cracked the mid-week pitching rotation, with another pair (Stallings, Parker) playing significant relief roles.

TIGERS IN THE NCAA STATS
The Tigers' 8.6 runs per game not only leads the Big 12 - it also ranks Mizzou 10th in the nation through last weekend's games. It is the only in-season category in which Mizzou is nationally ranked.

COACH SIMMONS HONORED WITH BRONZE BUST
On Friday, May 16, before the start of the Oklahoma series, a bronze bust of Hall of Fame Head Coach John "Hi" Simmons was unveiled on the concourse at the stadium that bears his name. Around 50 of his former players, as well as three of his sons, were in attendance. Among the speakers were ABCA Hall of Famer Gene McArtor, who followed Simmons as head coach following the legend's retirement in 1973, and former Tiger basketball coach Norm Stewart, who was a freshman pitcher on Simmons' 1954 NCAA Championship team.
? ? ? Simmons, who passed away in 1995, coached at Mizzou from 1937-73, finishing with a record of 481-294-3. In addition to the 1954 title, he had three other squads (1952, '58, '64) finish as the national runner-up, and in total brought six teams to the College World Series. He also skippered Mizzou to 11 conference championships.
? ? ? The Lancaster, Mo., native coached 19 All-Americans, including nine first-team choices. A former president of the American Baseball Coaches Association, Simmons was inducted in the State of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1977, and is also a member of the ABCA Hall of Fame.

BROSHUIS EARNS ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT PLAUDITS
Sophomore RHP Garrett Broshuis (Advance, Mo.) has been named to the 11-member Verizon? Academic All-District VII Baseball Team, as voted upon by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). As a member of the team, Broshuis' name was forwarded onto the national ballot for consideration as an Academic All-American.
? ? ? Broshuis holds a 3.92 cumulative grade-point average in psychology, and has posted a perfect 4.0 GPA last semester. He has twice been a member of both the Big 12 Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll and Student-Athlete Dean's List. A member of Mizzou's Student-Athlete Advisory Council, Broshuis attended the 2002 NCAA Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla.
? ? ? He is 5-3 with a 7.11 ERA as Mizzou's No. 2 starter. Broshuis and sophomore Travis Wendte (Moore, Okla.) also were named to the 2003 Baseball Academic All-Big 12 Team earlier this month.

KINSLER HAS STELLAR WEEK, SERIES IN OKLAHOMA
Three weeks ago, Tiger junior SS Ian Kinsler (Tucson, Ariz.) had an impressive weekend in Stillwater to cap a great week, as Kinsler went 10-for-12 (.833) against Oklahoma State, with four doubles, a triple, two homers, and eight RBI and runs apiece. He hit his first homer of the week during Mizzou's thrilling 11-10, bottom-of-the-ninth comeback win against Southeast Missouri State. He raised his average in Big 12 play to a team-leading .397, which ranks him sixth in the league. Overall, Kinsler is batting .337 with five homers and 43 RBI.