Feb. 8, 2005

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FIRST PITCH
Mizzou will open up the 2005 season with a trip to Phoenix, Ariz. to take part in the Oakland A's Spring Training Tournament. The Tigers will take on Northwestern, Portland and Oregon State in the tournament. MU begins its march to a third-straight NCAA Tournament this weekend after a 38-23-1 record last year and a trip to the NCAA Regionals. Missouri is one of just three teams in the Big 12 Conference that has made back-to-back trips to the NCAA Regionals. Texas and Texas A&M are the others. Tim Jamieson will begin his 11th season at MU, which is the third longest tenure of all current coaches at Missouri. Jamieson became the third coach in Tiger Baseball history to record 300 career wins last season, joining John "Hi" Simmons and Gene McArtor, who are both members of the Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame. Mizzou will return 11 pitchers and four position starters from last season. Leading the returners on the mound are Nathan Culp (So), Max Scherzer (So.), Nick Admire (Jr.), Dustin Braud (Sr.), Taylor Parker (Jr.) and Erik Dessau (Sr.). Among the position players returning are James Boone (Jr.), Zane Taylor (Jr.), Trevor Helms (Jr.), Tyler Williams (Jr.) and Gary Arndt (So.). As in past years, the winter weather of Missouri will send the Tigers on the road for the first three weeks of the season. Following this weekend's tournament in Phoenix, Mizzou will travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to take part in the Griffin/Pontiac Challenge on Feb. 17-20, before taking part in the Easton/USA Challenge in Millington, Tenn. Feb. 25-27. The first home action for Mizzou will be a three-game series with Eastern Michigan on March 4-6, which will open a 10-game homestand for the Tigers.

A LOOK BACK
A runner-up finish at the Big 12 Conference Tournament and a second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament highlighted the 2004 season. The Tigers won their first six games of the year and were 19-4-1 heading into Big 12 Conference play. After a slow start to the conference season, Mizzou picked it up and recorded series wins over Nebraska, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. MU entered the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Arlington, Texas as the seventh seed. Playing its best baseball of the season, Mizzou recorded a win over Oklahoma and two victories over Baylor to reach the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament. The Tigers and Oklahoma State played in arguably the best championship game in Big 12 Tournament history, with OSU defeating Mizzou 10-9 in 13 innings, the longest championship game ever in the Big 12. Missouri was selected to the 16th NCAA Regional in school history, where it went 1-2, defeating LeMoyne, but falling to Wichita State and Arkansas to end the season for the Tigers. At 38-23-1, MU had the most wins in school history since the 1991 season.

WHAT'S RETURNING...
Despite losing its top two starting pitchers from last year in Garrett Broshuis and Danny Hill, the Tigers return a young, but experienced group of pitchers. Sophomores Nathan Culp and Max Scherzer, senior Erik Dessau and junior Nick Admire all made starts and also came out of the bullpen for Mizzou last season. Junior Taylor Parker and senior Dustin Braud were second and third respectively in appearances last year out of the bullpen and will return for MU, as will sophomore Michael Cole. Also returning is junior Travis Wendte, who missed the 2004 season while recovering from surgery. Junior Abel Newton will start his second stint at Missouri this season. After playing with the Tigers in 2002, Newton played at Arkansas-Fort Smith before transferring back to MU for the 2005 season. Juniors James Boone, Zane Taylor, Trevor Helms and Tyler Williams and sophomore Gary Arndt were regulars in the lineup last season and return for MU in 2005. Senior Cosme Caballero split time between catcher and third base and will begin his second season with Mizzou. Also returning are sophomores Hunter Mense and John McKee, who both saw significant time on the field as freshmen in 2004.

FOR OPENERS
The Tigers carry a two-game winning streak in season openers into Thursday's opener against Portland. Mizzou defeated Nevada 8-7 last year in its first game of the season after defeating UNC-Wilmington to open up the previous season. MU Head Coach Tim Jamieson is 6-3-1 at Missouri in season openers.

ON SCHEDULE
As is the case each year, the weather of Missouri will send the Tigers on the road for the first three weeks of the season. Mizzou will travel to Phoenix, Ariz. for its season-opening tournament, as it participates in the Oakland A's Spring Training Tournament. Northwestern, Portland and Oregon State will be on the schedule for the Tigers in Arizona. The following week, the Tigers will be in Rock Hill, S.C. for the Griffin/Pontiac Challenge hosted by Winthrop. Joining MU and Winthrop at the tournament will be Gardner-Webb and Akron. The final early-season tournament for MU will be the Easton/USA Challenge in Millington, Tenn., a tournament the Tigers won in 2004. Mizzou will face Navy, Indiana State and Memphis. Missouri will then open up play at Taylor Stadium with a 10-game homestand, starting with a three-game series with Eastern Michigan March 4-6. Youngstown State and North Dakota State will be in Columbia for three-game sets and the Tigers will face Illinois State twice, once at home and once on the road, before opening up Big 12 play. Mizzou will open up conference play with a trip to Manhattan, Kan. to face Kansas State March 25-27. The first home Big 12 series will be the following week, April 1-3, as Texas Tech will visit Taylor Stadium. Also visiting Columbia in 2005 will be Texas A&M (April 8-10), Oklahoma (April 22-24) and Kansas (May 13-15). The Tigers will be on the road against Oklahoma State (April 15-17), Texas (April 29-May 1), Nebraska (May 6-8) and Baylor (May 20-22). The Tigers also have home-and-home matchups with Southeast Missouri State and Southwest Missouri State. Missouri will play at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo. three times in 2005, highlighted by the annual "Wood Bat Classic" against Saint Louis on April 20. On May 17, MU will face Southern Illinois in O'Fallon before taking on Illinois the following night at T.R. Hughes. The Big 12 Conference Tournament returns to Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Okla. this season from May 25-29. Six teams (Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Youngstown State) on MU's schedule qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2004.