May 13, 2004

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After taking a Big 12 series win for the second straight weekend last week against Texas Tech, Mizzou will take on Kansas this weekend. Missouri will travel to Lawrence, Kan. to face the Jayhawks in its final Big 12 Conference road series of the season. The Tigers are 29-18-1 on the year and 8-12 in the Big 12, while Kansas is 26-30-1 overall and 2-18 in the conference. With two weekends left in the regular season, MU has moved close to clinching a spot in the Big 12 Tournament. Two MU wins or two Kansas State loses or a MU win and a Kansas State loss would guarantee Mizzou a spot in the tournament, which will start May 26 in Arlington, Texas.

Last Time Out
LUBBOCK, Texas-- The Tigers picked up its second straight Big 12 Conference series win, by taking two of their three games against Texas Tech last weekend in Lubbock. After dropping game one to the Red Raiders, Mizzou rebounded to take the final two games of the series. Missouri took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning in Friday's series opener before Texas Tech scored seven runs in the next three innings and eventually took the 7-5 win. On Saturday, the Tigers scored a run in the eighth and added a run in the ninth with a homer from Lee Laskowski to take a 5-3 win over the Red Raiders. Senior Mark Alexander pitched the final 2.1 innings out of the bullpen, striking out five of the nine batters he faced, including the final four Tech batters, and taking his second win of the season. In the series finale, Mizzou sophomore Trevor Helms' triple in the top of the ninth inning drove in a pair of Tiger runners to give the MU the 3-1 victory. Helms had a career day on Sunday, finishing 4-for-5 and extending his hitting streak to eight games. Alexander pitched the final inning to record his eighth save of the season.

The Jayhawks
Kansas is 26-30-1 on the year and 2-18 in the Big 12 Conference heading into the weekend series with Mizzou. After a 21-9-1 start to the season, the Jayhawks have struggled through conference play. They have lost their last five, eight of their last nine and 14 of their last 16. KU is second in the Big 12 Conference with a 3.17 team batting average. Ryan Baty and his brother, Matt Baty, lead KU with .363 and .352 batting averages, respectively. Seven Jayhawks have averages over .300. Ryan Baty leads the Conference in hits (84), runs scored (57), doubles (22) and stolen bases (26). Mizzou has won eight straight over the Jayhawks, including a sweep of last year's three-game sweep in Columbia.

Border War
The winner of the annual Border War between Mizzou and Kansas will be decided with this weekend's baseball series. The Border War features a scoring system that awards points to each school based on the results of head-to-head competition in 17 different sports. The school with the most points at the end of the school year is awarded the Border War Cup. Mizzou currently holds the Cup after winning last year's inaugural crown by a score of 32 to 8.5. Kansas has a 19.5-17.5 lead in this year's competition with this weekend's baseball series the final head-to-head showdown scheduled this season. A MU sweep would keep the Cup with Missouri, while KU needs just one victory this weekend to clinch the win.

Close Calls
Missouri has had its share of close games this season, as 14 of its 48 games have been one-run games and nine more have been decided by two runs. Mizzou is 8-6 in one-run games and has a 4-5 record in the two-run decisions.

Among the Nation's Best
In the latest NCAA statistics, released on Monday, the Mizzou pitching staff's ERA of 3.59 is the 20th best in the nation. Missouri is also ranked No. 31 in fielding percentage with a .970 mark. Mark Alexander is tied for 24th in the nation with eight saves on the year.

Now Appearing
Senior Mark Alexander was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday after he appeared in all three of Mizzou's games last weekend, taking a win in one and a save in another. Alexander leads the team with 25 appearances on the year and has recorded eight saves, which second the Big 12 Conference. In last weekend's series against Texas Tech, Alexander did not allow a hit and struck out six in 3.2 innings pitched in the three games. He took the win in relief on Saturday, pitching the final 2.1 innings, striking out five of the nine batters he faced, including the last four. He recorded his eighth save of the year on Sunday, pitching the ninth inning of the Tigers' 3-1 win. Alexander made an appearance in each of Missouri's two wins against Texas. On Friday, he retired all four batters he faced, three with strikeouts, for his seventh save of the year. He then struck out both batters he faced in Saturday's game, to preserve the 8-0 shutout. He has appeared in seven of MU's last 10 games, allowing no runs and recording three saves during that stretch. His eight saves this season have him in a tie for third for most saves in a season in MU history. One more save would move him into a tie for second. The record is 12 saves by Ryan Stegall in 2000.

Shutdown Complete
Mizzou picked up its fifth shutout of the season with an 8-0 win over Texas on May 1, passing the four shutouts it had last year. Junior Garrett Broshuis has been on the mound for two of the shutouts, including against the Longhorns when he allowed just four hits and struckout nine in 8.3 scoreless innings. Senior Mark Alexander struckout the only two batters he faced to preserve the shutout of top-ranked Texas. Mizzou shutout Saint Louis on April 28 in the annual "Wood Bat Classic" in O'Fallon by a score of 3-0. It was the second straight season MU has recorded a shutout of SLU in the wooden bat game. On March 28, Broshuis recorded the first complete game shutout of his career with a 12-0 seven-inning win over Kansas State. He 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 Erik Dessau started on the mound and 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
Mizzou will return home next week for its final four games of the regular season. Southeast Missouri State will be at Taylor Stadium on Tuesday and Oklahoma State visits Columbia next weekend for a three-game series beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Friday., which will start May 26 in Arlington, Texas.