April 13, 2005
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A week after Southeast Missouri State defeated Mizzou 8-5 on a three-run home run in the tenth inning in Cape Girardeau, Mo., the two teams will meet again at Taylor Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m on Wednesday.
BIG START TO THE BIG 12
Mizzou's 8-1 start to the Big 12 Conference season is its best conference start since the 1981 team opened Big Eight play 8-1.
In 1980, MU opened the Big Eight portion of the schedule with a 9-1 record. That season, the Tigers won the conference title.
MU won its first five Big 12 games this year, which is the best start to its conference season since the Big 12 was started in 1997.
AT THE POLLS
The Tigers continue to climb in the national polls, coming in as high as No. 13 this week.
Both the Baseball America poll and the Collegiate Baseball poll have Missouri ranked 13th. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has MU ranked at No. 16 and the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches' Poll ranks the Tigers No. 21.
STREAKING
Missouri's loss to Texas Tech on April 3 was its first defeat since Eastern Michigan knocked off the Tigers 7-6 on March 5. The 15-game winning streak from March 6-March 30 was the longest for Mizzou since it won 16 straight in 1985. The longest winning streak in school history was 18 games set by the 1964 team.
Mizzou has won 18 of their last 20 games heading into the matchup with SEMO, who is one of the team the Tigers have lost to during the 20-game stretch.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Missouri has outscored its opponents 333-98 this season and has recorded double-digits in runs in 17 of its 32 games. That includes a stretch of nine straight games with at least 10 runs from March 6-March 20. The Tigers are averaging over 10 runs a game, while holding its opponents to just over three runs per outing.
Mizzou has scored 25 runs twice this season, recording a 25-2 win over Navy on Feb. 25 and a 25-0 win over Texas Tech on April 1.
Earlier this year, MU outscored North Dakota State 55-4 in a four-game series and the previous week, it swept a three-games series from Youngstown State by a combined score of 42-2.
If MU was to maintain its current scoring pace, it would finish the regular season with 582 runs. The school record for runs in a season is 573, set in 1998.
ZEROS ACROSS THE BOARD
Hidden behind the high scoring offense the Tigers have had this season, is some impressive pitching outings for Mizzou. MU has a 2.30 ERA heading into this the week, which is leads the Big 12 Conference.
All three of Mizzou's probable starters for the weekend are in the top 10 in the Big 12 Conference in ERA, led by sophomore Max Scherzer, with a Big 12 best 1.03 ERA.
Junior Doug Mathis has a 2.11 ERA, which is fourth best in the league and sophomore Nathan Culp is ninth in the Big 12 with a 2.38 ERA.
The Tigers have already recorded six shutouts this season. They had five all of last year. Among the six shutouts was the first no-hitter at MU since 1981, when Scherzer and sophomore Michael Cole combined to no-hit Texas Tech on April 1.
MU had stretch of 26 innings of shutout ball from March 14 (vs. Youngstown State) to March 19 (vs. North Dakota State). Earlier this season the Tigers put together 23-innings of not allowing a run.