April 1, 2004

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Missouri continues Big 12 Conference play this weekend as Baylor visits Taylor Stadium for a three-game set beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The Tigers (20-6-1, 1-2) have not played since opening the conference season last weekend against Kansas State. Their midweek matchup against Illinois State was cancelled due to the weather. In the Kansas State series, the Wildcats managed to take two-of-three form MU. Baylor enters the weekend with a 10-17 record and is 2-4 in the Big 12. The Bears hold a 20-10 lead over Missouri in the all-time series. Last season, the two met a total of five times, including twice at the Big 12 Tournament. MU won the regular season series, taking two-of-three in Waco, but dropped both meetings at the Big 12 Tournament.

Last Time Out
Mizzou opened the Big 12 Conference season last weekend as Kansas State visited Taylor Stadium. The Wildcats managed to take two of three from MU and win the series. KSU took game one by a score of 5-3 and then won the second game 6-4 in 11 innings. Mizzou rebounded strongly, taking the final game of the series 12-0 in seven innings. Game three was stopped after seven innings due to the conference's run rule. Junior RHP Garrett Broshuis recorded his first career complete-game shutout on Sunday. It was MU's first shutout over a Big 12 opponent since defeating Kansas 1-0 in 2001. Senior 1B Cody Ehlers had two home runs on Sunday after hitting one on Saturday. He was 3-for-5 with four RBI and four runs scored on in the final game of the weekend and leads the team with nine home runs on the year. He extended his hitting streak to 14 games by recording at least one hit in each of the three games against Kansas State.

Tigers Reach 20-win Mark Against KSU
With its 12-0 win over Kansas State last Sunday, Missouri notched its 20th win of the year in its 27th game of 2004. It is the quickest that the Tigers have reached the 20-win mark since the 1998 team won 20 of its first 26 games.

No Runs For You
Entering this weekend, the Missouri pitching staff has a 2.90 ERA, which is second best in the Big 12 Conference behind only Texas (2.51). Last year, MU ended the year with a 5.07 ERA. Sophomore RHP Nick Admire leads MU with a 0.69 ERA, followed by junior RHP Erik Dessau (1.69) and junior RHP Garrett Broshuis (1.84). Sophomore LHP Taylor Parker (1.86), junior RHP Dustin Braud (2.16) and senior RHP Mark Alexander (2.18) also have an ERA below three. The last season in which Mizzou ended with an ERA below three was in 1980 when it finished with a 2.83 mark. The best ever season-ending mark came in 1964 when the Tigers pitching staff finished with a 0.65 ERA.

The Hits Keep on Coming
Five Tigers enter the weekend with multi-game hitting streaks in tact led by senior 1B Cody Ehlers' 14-game streak. The streak is the longest of the year for Ehlers who also had a six-game streak to open the season. Sophomore RF James Boone carries a 12-game hitting streak into the Baylor series. Senior C Brad Flanders and sophomore 2B Zane Taylor each have seven-game streaks in tact. Senior DH Lee Laskowski had a 16-game hitting streak snapped last Sunday against Kansas State. The 16-game streak is the longest of the year for MU this year. Senior LF Ryan Rallo had a 14-game streak earlier in the year, joining Laskowski, Ehlers and Boone as Tigers with double-digit hit streaks this season.

An A for Ehlers
Mizzou senior 1B Cody Ehlers leads the Tigers in nearly every offensive category and carries a 14-game hitting streak into the weekend. He has started all but one game at first base for the Tigers this season and is hitting .377 on the year. He leads the team in home runs (9), RBI (35), runs scored (27), hits (40) doubles (12) and total bases (81). Ehlers opened the year by recording at least one hit in each of the first six games of the season. He has had more than one hit in 11 of MU's 27 games this year and has had mutli-hit games in nine of the last 14 games. The senior also has had at least four hits in two games this year.

Hello Rallo
Mizzou senior Ryan Rallo has six home runs on the year, second best on the team, and has a .326 batting average, while driving in 27 runs. He had a 14-game hitting streak snapped at the Easton/USA Challenge in Millington, Tenn. against Memphis. During the streak, Rallo had a .353 batting average, five home runs, four doubles and 18 RBI. The streak was snapped as Rallo was 0-for-1, with four walks, against Memphis. Rallo had a nine-game hitting streak at one point during the 2003 season and opened the 2002 season with hits in the first five games of the year.

Broshuis Brushes Opponenets Away
Junior RHP Garrett Broshuis recorded his first career complete game shutout last Sunday (albeit a seven-inning game) in MU's 12-0 win over Kansas State. He allowed just two hits and struck out seven to move to 6-0 on the year. The seven-inning outing matches his longest of the year. He has gone six innings in each of his five other starts. He took the win in the first three starts and was the starter in the game with Washington on March 7 which ended in a tie, a game in which the Tigers' led when Broshuis left the game. He broke the string of six-inning outings by going seven innings against Tennessee-Martin on March 14 in his fifth start. He allowed only one run on four hits and did not give up a hit until the fifth inning. Broshuis is second on the team with 42 strikeouts and has had a season-high eight K's twice this year (vs. Portland and vs. Coastal Carolina). He has an ERA of 1.84 and has allowed just one run in four of his seven starts to go along with Sunday's shutout.

Dessau Sits 'em Down
A transfer from Forest Park Community College, junior RHP Erik Dessau has assumed the duties as the Tigers regular Saturday starter. Dessau is 5-1 on the year with a 1.69 ERA. He has started two of Missouri's three shutouts this year and has not allowed more than two run in any of his seven starts. His lone loss came at Washington on March 6. He has won five of the other six starts and held the lead when he left the game last Saturday against Kansas State. Dessau has turned in seven inning outing in four starts this season, including a season-long 7.1 innings of work against Kansas State. He had a season-high eight strikeouts against Youngstown State on Feb. 28.

Lee Leads the Way
Senior OF Lee Laskowski had a 16-game hitting streak snapped last Sunday against Kansas State. The 16-game streak was the longest of the season for any Tiger this season and is the longest of Laskowski's career. During the 16-games streak, he hit .391, with five doubles, two triples and five home runs. He drove in 19 runs and scored 10 times. Laskowski has had seven multi-hit games and is third on the team with a .333 batting average. He was hampered by injuries and finished with just two home runs last year, but has already past that mark in 2004. Actually, he matched that total in one weekend as he homered in back-to-back games against Youngstown State.

Boone Earns Big 12 Player of the Week
Sophomore RF James Boone was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on March 16, after going 10-for-15, good for a .667 batting average, in the four games at the Easton/USA Challenge leading MU to the tournament title. He had two doubles, two RBI, two stolen bases, three runs scored, a slugging percentage of .800 and an on base percentage of .722 for the weekend. He opened the tournament with a 4-for-5 performance against Wake Forest. He followed that with two hits in each of the next three games. He was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and a run scored against Indiana State. He then went 2-for-3 against Memphis and was 2-for-4 with a run scored against Tennessee-Martin. Boone has a team-leading .391 batting average and has a 12-game hitting streak.

Joining the 300 Club
With Mizzou's 3-2 win over Memphis on March 13, Head Coach Tim Jamieson picked up his 300th career victory. He currently has a record of 306-222-2 in his 10 season with MU. Jamieson's first win came on Feb. 27, 1995 with a 12-2 MU victory over Lincoln University. He recorded his 100th win on March 14, 1998 by defeating Eastern Michigan 3-0, and his 200th win came against Wichita State, a 9-8 victory on March 7, 2001. He is the third coach in Missouri history to record 300 wins, joining John "Hi" Simmons (481 wins) and Gene McArtor (733 wins).

Now Appearing
Junior RHP Dustin Braud (pronounced 'Bro') and senior RHP Mark Alexander are tied for the team lead with 12 appearances on the year. Braud has compiled a 3-1 record and a 2.16 ERA on the year, while Alexander leads the team with five saves on the season, which leads the Big 12 Conference. Opposing batters are hitting just .158 off Braud and .231 off Alexander. The Tiger have recorded three shutouts this season and Alexander has picked up the save in two of those (vs. Portland and Coastal Carolina). Sophomore LHP Taylor Parker has 11 appearances on the year. He sports a 1.86 ERA and has allowed just one walk, while striking out 27 in 19.1 innings of work. Opposing batters are hitting .181 off of Parker, who also has recorded two saves.

Bo Knows Triples
Junior Bo Davis had pinch hit for the Tigers in 10 games prior to getting his first start of the season on March 21, at first base. Davis took advantage of the spot in the lineup, going 4-for-6 with two triples, three RBI and a three runs scored. Davis led off the game by getting hit by a pitch and had singles in the second and fifth innings. With two outs in the sixth inning, he tripled down the right field line, driving in a run. He would then score on a wild pitch. In the eighth inning, Davis would again triple to right, driving in another run. He would later score on an error by the third baseman. Davis is the first Tiger to have two triples in a game since Kyle Johnson did it against Northern Iowa in 2002.

A Magic Number
Mizzou has scored 21 runs in two games this season and both have taken place on the 21st of the month. On Feb. 21, the Tigers defeated Coastal Carolina 21-4 at the Beach Blast in Myrtle Beach. It was the most runs the Tigers have scored since putting 23 on the board against Baylor last April in a 23-18 win. Against Coastal, Mizzou banged out 18 hits, six home runs, six doubles and one triple. A month later, on March 21, Mizzou picked up a 21-1 win in the last game of the three-game series with Chicago State. That came two days after the Tigers scored 19 on, yes, the 19th of the March. Looking ahead, MU does not have a game scheduled for April 21, but will host Oklahoma State on May 21.

All Tied Up
For just the 20th time in 3,069 games, Mizzou had a game end in a tie on March 7 against Washington. After the two teams split the first two games of the series, game three was to be the rubber game of the series. Due to Missouri's travel arrangements, a curfew was placed on the game and was called after 10 innings in order for the Tigers to catch their flight our of Seattle. The tie was the first time since the first game of the 2001 season against San Jose State. That game was called after the sixth inning due to rain with the score tied at zero. The Tigers have had back-to-back ties once before, in 1914 when MU and Kansas State tied 9-9 and 2-2 in consecutive games.

Shut Down Complete
Mizzou has recorded three shutouts this season, just one short of its total from 2003. Last Sunday, junior RHP Garrett Broshuis recorded the first complete game shutout of his career with a 12-0 seven-inning win over Kansas State. Broshuis gave up just two hits and struck out seven to get his sixth win of the year. In each of the first two shutouts this season, junior RHP Erik Dessau started on the mound and senior RHP Mark Alexander relieved Dessau and preserved the shutout. Mizzou's shutout of Portland (13-0) on Feb. 14 in Phoenix, Ariz. was the first shutout by a MU team since April 29, 2003 when the Tigers defeated St. Louis in the "Wood Bat Classic" by a score of 9-0. Dessau started and pitched six innings, allowing seven hits to record the win. Alexander came on in relief, giving up just one hit and striking out five in three innings of work to record the save. On Feb. 28 against Indiana State, Dessau pitched seven innings of shutout work, giving up just three hits and striking out eight. Alexander came on for the final two innings and allowed just one hit in the 7-0 MU victory.

Up Next
Missouri will welcome Saint Louis to Taylor Stadium on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. before taking the road for a three-game series against Oklahoma next weekend.