March 3, 2005
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Mizzou will open the home portion of its 2005 schedule with a four-game series against Eastern Michigan this weekend at Taylor Stadium. The series will open at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. On Satuday the teams will play a doubleheader, with game one beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday's series finale will get underway at Noon.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Mizzou is 7-3 under Head Coach Tim Jamieson in home openers. Friday will be the first outing of the season for the Tigers at Taylor Stadium. Last season, MU fell to Youngstown State, 3-2 in the first home game of the season. Prior to that, it had won three straight home openers.
HITS KEEP ON COMING
Junior Bryson LeBlanc holds the longest hitting streak for MU heading into this weekend's series with Eastern Michigan, having reached safely in the last four games he has played in.
Freshman Jacob Priday carries a three-game hitting streak into the weekend and sophomore John McKee has had a hit in each of the last two games.
Junior James Boone had the Tigers' longest hitting streak of the season, reaching safely in Mizzou's first seven games of the year.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
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.
After defeating Gardner-Webb 12-9, Winthrop 10-3 and Akron 11-0, MU rolled over Navy by a score of 25-2 and followed that with a 10-1 win over Indiana State.
RECORD SETTING DAY AGAINST NAVY
The Tigers opened up the Service Academy Classic with a blowout victory over Navy, 25-2. The 25 runs were the most scored by Missouri since a 30-0 win against Truman State in 2003.
MU also set a new record in the 17 years of the Service Academy Spring Classic with its run total, easily passing the old record of 15 set by Ole' Miss in 1998.
Mizzou set a new school record with 26 hits vs. Navy. Eleven Tigers had a hit in the game and nine had at least two hits.
Freshman Jacob Priday became the first MU player since 2002 to have five hits in the game, going 5-for-6 with a home run, four RBI and four runs scored. The hits were the first of Priday's career, as he entered the game 0-for-5 on the season.
ZEROS ACROSS THE BOARD
A run scored by Navy in the eighth inning of last Friday's 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.
SIMMONS FIELD GETS NEW SURFACE
As the Tigers open this season's home schedule this weekend, they will do so with a new outfield surface to play on. Over the winter, the old grass was removed, a new drainage system was installed, the terrain was regraded and new sod was laid. Along with the new grass, the old outfield wall was removed and replaced with a new fence.
BOONE DRIVES `EM IN
Just nine games into the season, junior James Boone has already totaled 16 RBI. He had five RBI against Navy on Feb. 25. The last Tiger to have a 5-RBI game was Boone in last season's Big 12 Championship game against Oklahoma State.
Last season, Boone was third on the team with 68 RBI. At his current rate, he is on pace to drive in exactly 100 runs. The record at Mizzou is 101 set by Aaron Jaworowski in 1996.
MILLINGTON: MU'S TITLETOWN
For the second time in two seasons, the Mizzou baseball team traveled to Millington, Tenn. and took home a tournament title.
Last weekend, Mizzou was 2-1 at the Service Academy Spring Classic at USA Stadium in Millington and claimed championship honors.
After defeating Navy 25-2 and Indiana State 10-1, MU fell to Memphis by a score of 7-6. Despite the loss to Memphis, Missouri held the tiebreakers and was named the champion.
Last season, the Tigers were 4-0 and took home the championship of the Easton USA Challenge, also held at USA Stadium.
The Tigers had wins over Wake Forest, Indiana State, Tennessee-Martin and Memphis to claim the 2004 Easton USA Challenge title.
JAMIESON JOINS MU COACHING LEGENDS
Tim Jamieson is in his 11th season as the head coach of the Tigers, having compiled a record of 330-225-2 while at MU.
Last season he became just the third coach in Mizzou history to reach 300 wins, joining John "Hi" Simmons and Gene McArtor, who both have their numbers retired and are members of the MU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Jamieson has the third longest tenure of any coach currently at Missouri. Track and field coach Rick McGuire is in his 22nd year at MU and swimming and diving coach Brian Hoffer has been at Mizzou for 13 seasons.
TIGERS WIN TOURNAMENT AT THE ROCK
The Tigers won the Griffin Pontiac Challenge in Rock Hill, S.C. by going 3-0 in the tournament. Mizzou's game against Winthrop on Thursday, in which the Tigers lost 7-4, was not part of the weekend's tournament.
MU defeated Gardner-Webb on Friday in the first day of the tournament. On Saturday, the Tigers won the rematch with Winthrop before closing out the weekend by defeating Akron.
It was Mizzou's first tournament title since it won the Easton/USA Challenge last March.
NEWCOMERS MAKE IMPACT
Just nine games into the season, several newcomers have already made an impact for Mizzou. Seven Tigers who joined the team just this season have already played in at least five games, including junior transfer Derek Chambers who has started all nine games and has a .324 batting average, third best on the team.
Junior Greg O'Neill has played in all nine games, starting seven. Junior Bryson LeBlanc has seen action in seven games, while junior J.C. Field and freshman Jacob Priday have played in six games. Junior Jeff Zelenovich and freshman Evan Frey have played in five games.
Juniors Doug Mathis, Andrew Johnston and Abel Newton have joined the Tigers' bullpen and all have seen time on the mound this season. Johnston has a 1.17 ERA in 7.2 innings and Mathis is third on the team with 12 strikeouts in just 8.2 innings pitched. Newton has made two appearances and earned the save by pitching the final three innings of MU's win over Indiana State last Saturday.
FOR OPENERS
With the 8-3 win over Portland on Feb. 10, MU extended its winning streak in season openers to three. MU Head Coach Tim Jamieson is 6-3-1 at Missouri in season openers.