March 18, 2005
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The Missouri baseball team will conclude its first homestand of the season with a series with North Dakota State this weekend at Taylor Stadium. The teams have added a game to the series and will play four games this weekend, with a doubleheader taking place on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Game one of the series is at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and the final game of the weekend will start at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
BOONE DOCKS
Junior James Boone was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday after hitting an astonishing .786 (11-for-14) in Mizzou's four games last week.
It is the second Big 12 Player of the Week honor for Boone in his career, as he earned the award almost a year to the day, March 16, 2004. He has a nine-game hitting streak in tact heading into the weekend.
Included in hits 11 hits last week were a home run, a triple and a double. He drove in 13 runs in the four games, bringing his season total to 36 RBI in just 17 games.
He has had two 5-RBI games this season and is on pace to finish with 119 RBI for the season. The record at Mizzou is 101 set by Aaron Jaworowski in 1996.
For the season, Boone is hitting .431 with seven doubles, two triples and three home runs.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Mizzou has outscored its opponents 193-56 this season and has recorded double digits in runs in 11 of its 17 games. It has scored at least 10 runs in its last five games and six of the last seven.
The Tigers are averaging over 11 runs a game, while holding it opponents to just over three runs per outing. Last weekend, MU outscored Youngstown State 42-2 as it swept the three-game series.
From Feb. 18-26, Missouri put together a string of five-straight games in which it scored in double figures. During that stretch, the Tigers outscored their opponents 68-15.
ZEROS ACROSS THE BOARD
A run scored by Navy in the eighth inning of the Feb. 25 game snapped a stretch of 23-scoreless innings pitched by the Missouri pitching staff dating back to the third inning of its game against Winthrop on Feb. 19.
The Tigers held Winthrop scoreless for the final 6.1 innings, pitched a shutout against Akron and went 7.2 innings against Navy before allowing a run.
Mizzou pitchers have shutout their opponents three times this season, including back-to-back shutouts last weekend against Youngstown State.
HITS KEEP ON COMING
Junior James Boone carries a nine-game hitting streak into the weekend series with North Dakota State. The streak is the longest for any Tiger this season. Boone also had a seven-game hitting streak to open the season.
Five players (Jacob Priday, John McKee, Hunter Mense, Derek Chambers and Zane Taylor) have two-game streaks on the line heading into the weekend.
T-G-I-PRIDAY
Freshman Jacob Priday leads the Tigers with four home runs on the season and is second with 20 RBI. He has had two four-RBI games this season.
His .378 batting average is fourth best on the team. He has a .778 slugging percentage and is 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts.
In the four games against Eastern Michigan, Priday homered three times, scored five times and drove in six runs.
THE HITTING CHAMBERS
Junior Derek Chambers has started 16 of MU's 17 games at first base and is hitting .344 in his first season at Mizzou. Chambers, a junior college transfer from Arkansas-Fort Smith, has had a hit in 13 of the Tigers' 17 games on the season.
He had held a five-game hitting streak twice this season. Chambers is second on the team with seven multi-hit games on the season (five 2-hit games and two 3-hit games).
FRIDAY THE 13TH
On March 4, sophomore Max Scherzer set a career-high with 13 strikeouts, becoming the first MU pitcher with a double-digit strikeout performance since Danny Hill had 11 against Chicago State last March.
Scherzer did not allow a run in six innings, getting strikeouts for 13 of the 18 outs he recorded. It was the second consecutive start in which he has not allowed a run as he moved to 2-1 on the season.
He has won each of his last three starts and is 3-1 on the year with a 1.54 ERA and 35 strikeouts.