April 14, 2004

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Mizzou will look to snap its six-game losing streak with a trip to Springfield, Mo. on Wednesday to face Southwest Missouri State. The Tigers enter the game with a 21-12-1 record, while SMS 16-14 on the season. The all-time series between Missouri and Southwest Missouri State is currently tied at 15 wins each. The Bears have won the last five, with the last MU win coming in 2001. Max Scherzer will get his first start of the season for MU on Wednesday. He has an 0-1 record and has two saves out of the bullpen this season. Next Tuesday, SMS will travel to Columbia for game two of the season series. Mizzou will return home this weekend for a three-game series with Nebraska at Taylor Stadium, beginning with game one at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Last Time Out
Missouri was swept last weekend by Oklahoma, the first sweep of MU since Texas took three from the Tigers in March of 2003. Oklahoma defeated MU by scores of 3-2, 8-5, 4-3 in Norman, Okla. Friday's opener was scoreless through six innings before the Sooners scored two in the bottom of the seventh. The Tigers responded with a run in the top of the eighth and then tied the game by putting a run across the plate in the ninth inning. However, in the bottom of the ninth, Oklahoma scored the game-winning run to take a 1-0 series lead. All five runs scored in the game were unearned. The Sooners scored runs in four of the first five innings on Saturday, including a four-run third inning. Mizzou attempted a comeback, scoring a run in the fifth and putting four on the board in the seventh, but could not catch Oklahoma. On Sunday, MU scored three runs in the first inning and held a 3-1 lead going into the ninth. As they did on Friday, OU rallied in its final at bat, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth to take the victory away from the Tigers.

The Southwest Missouri State Bears
Southwest Missouri State enters Wednesday's game with a 16-14 overall record and is 7-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bears have won three straight games and seven of their last eight games. SMS is coming off a 2003 season in which it reached the College World Series, the school's first-ever trip to Omaha. It lost 11 players from the 2003 squad, seven of those players were drafted in the Major League Baseball draft. The Tigers and Bears will be playing the new 8,000-seat Hammond Field, which opened earlier this month.

The Hits Keep on Coming
Five Tigers have had double-digit hitting streaks during the season. Sophomore RF James Boone had a 16-game streak snapped last weekend against Oklahoma. That streak matches the streak of senior DH Lee Laskowski, who had a 16-game hitting streak snapped on March 28 against Kansas State. The 16-game streaks are the longest of the year for MU. Senior 1B Cody Ehlers had a 15-game hitting streak at one point during the year and fellow senior Ryan Rallo had hits in 14 straight games earlier this season. Sophomore 2B Zane Taylor had a 13-game hitting streak snapped last weekend against Oklahoma and had an eight-game streak earlier in the season.

Pratte Returns to SMS
Mizzou Assistant Coach Evan Pratte will be making a return to where he played college baseball with Wednesday's visit to SMS. Pratte was a standout infielder from 1988-1991 for SMS, leading the Bears to three conference crowns. Pratte was a first-team all-conference pick in 1990 and 1991 and added all-region honors in 1991. He finished his career with a .335 batting average, 18 home runs and 152 RBI. When he ended his playing days at SMS, he owned the career record in games played, at bats, hits, singles, total bases, sacrifice hits, assists and double plays. Pratte still holds the record for most assists in a season with 184 in 1991.

Boone Already Earning Honors
Sophomore RF James Boone is second on the team with a .360 batting average and had a 16-game hitting streak snapped last weekend against Oklahoma. The 16-game streak is tied for the longest of the season for Missouri. Lee Laskowski had a 16-game streak snapped against Kansas State on March 28. During the streak, which started against Wake Forest on March 12, Boone had a batting average of .466 with 27 hits, 17 runs scored and six RBI. 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.

A Tough Road Ahead
Not that there is ever an easy portion of the Big 12 Conference schedule, but for Mizzou, the next three weekends are definitely not easy. The Tigers will face teams ranked in the top 15 in the nation in each of its next three conference series. This weekend, No. 13-ranked Nebraska will be in Columbia for a three-game set starting on Friday night. The following weekend, Mizzou will travel to College Station for a three-game series against Texas A&M, which is ranked as high as No. 13 in the latest polls. Following that, Texas, which is ranked No. 1 in all four polls, will be at Taylor Stadium for a series beginning on April 30.

Up Next
Mizzou will return home this weekend for a three-game series against Nebraska at Taylor Stadium. Game one against the Huskers will get underway at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The second game will start at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the final game of the weekend is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Tigers will then face Southwest Missouri State again in less than a week, as SMS visits Columbia next Tuesday at 7 p.m.