April 22, 2005
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After a four games on the road, Mizzou will return to Taylor Stadium to face Oklahoma in a three-game series with the first game starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The Tigers are tied for second in the Big 12 Conference with an 8-4 record heading into the weekend.
BIG START TO THE BIG 12
Mizzou won eight of its first nine Big 12 Conference games this year, 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.
AT THE POLLS
The Tigers are ranked in all four national polls, with a No. 17 ranking in Baseball America being the highest. The National Baseball Writers' Association has MU at No. 18, Collegiate Baseball ranks the Tigers No. 19 and the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 has Missouri at No. 24.
MU has been ranked as high as No. 13 in both the Baseball America poll and the Collegiate Baseball poll, its highest ranking since it reach the 13th spot in 1981.
STAT TRACKS, PART I
Missouri has the fifth best ERA in the nation at 2.56 and its runs per game average of 9.92 is also fifth best in the country.
The Tigers also ranked sixth in the national statistics with 0.54 triples per game.
Individually, junior James Boone is third in the nation with an average of 1.69 RBI per game, while freshman Jacob Priday is 16th with 1.33 RBI per game.
Sophomore Hunter Mense is 14th with an average of 1.39 runs scored per game.
Sophomore John McKee ranks seventh in hit by pitches per game (0.44) and is 15th in walks per game (1.03).
On the mound, sophomore Max Scherzer has a 1.20 ERA, which is ninth best in the country. His 12.9 strikeouts per game average is seventh best in the national standings.
STAT TRACKS, PART II
In the Big 12 Conference statistics, Mizzou ranks second in ERA, as MU pitchers have a combined 2.56 ERA.
The Tigers have the league leader in ERA (sophomore Max Scherzer with a 1.20 ERA) and two of the top six top hitters in the league (sophomore Hunter Mense with a .394 is second and junior James Boone with a .371 batting average is seventh).
Joining Scherzer are junior Doug Mathis, whose 2.70 ERA is 13th best, and sophomore Nathan Culp, who has a 2.75 ERA, which ranks 14th in the Big 12.
Scherzer also leads the conference in strikeouts with 86 and opponents' batting average, as foes are hitting just .131 off of him, also a conference best.
The Tigers are second in runs scored on the year and have four players in the top 10 in the conference standings in runs scored led by sophomore John McKee who is tied for second with 37. Junior Derek Chambers is fifth (44), Mense is seventh (43) and junior James Boone is tied for eighth (42).
Boone is second in the Big 12 with 62 RBI and freshman Jacob Priday is tied for third with 45 runs batted in.
TO THE MAX
Sophomore Max Scherzer not only leads the Big 12 Conference but is ninth in the nation with a 1.20 ERA. He is 6-1 on the season with one of the victories being a combined no-hitter with Michael Cole on April 1 against Texas Tech.
Scherzer also leads the Big 12 with 86 strikeouts on the season. At his current pace, he would finish the regular season with 134 strikeouts. That would set a MU new record, passing John Dettmer's 127 K's in 1991.
Five more strikeouts would already move him in the top 10, tying Garrett Broshuis who had 91 last season and is currently in 10th place in the MU record books.
BOONE DOCKS
Junior James Boone leads the team with 62 RBI on the year. At his current rate, he would finish the season with 95 RBI, which would be the second most in a season in MU history, behind just Aaron Jaworowski's 101 RBI in 1996.
Boone had six RBI in Mizzou's win over Texas Tech on April 1 and has twice had five RBI in a game this year.
He was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on March 15 after hitting an astonishing .786 (11-for-14) in Mizzou's four games the previous week.
It was the second Big 12 Player of the Week honor for Boone in his career, as he earned the award almost a year ago to the day, March 16, 2004.
Included in his 11 hits during that week were a home run, a triple and a double. He drove in 13 runs in the four games.
THE McKEE TO VICTORY
Mizzou sophomore John McKee leads the team with a .520 on-base percentage. He is fourth on the team with 39 hits and leads the team in both walks (38) and hit-by-pitches (16). He drew a walk in each of his first four at-bats against SLU last Wednesday.
Once on base, he has been able to find his way to the plate, as he leads the team and is tied for second in the Big 12 Conference with 47 runs scored this season.
Being hit by a pitch 16 times is fifth most in the nation and is just two away from a school record. John Hay was hit by a pitch 18 times in 1993.
MENSE JUST MAKES SENCE
Missouri's leading hitter, sophomore Hunter Mense, is also second in the Big 12 Conference with a .394 batting average.
He has hit .441 in Big 12 Conference games and has had 15 hits, including four doubles in the nine Big 12 games in which he has played. He missed the Oklahoma State series as he recovered from a knee injury.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Missouri has outscored its opponents 367-124 this season and has recorded double-digits in runs in 19 of its 37 games. That includes a stretch of nine straight games with at least 10 runs from March 6-March 20. The Tigers are averaging just under 10 runs a game, while holding its opponents to under four 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 551 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 2.56 ERA heading into this the weekend, which ranks second in the Big 12 Conference.
All three of Mizzou's probable weekend starters are in the top 10 in the Big 12 Conference in ERA, led by sophomore Max Scherzer, with a Big 12 best 1.20 ERA.
Junior Doug Mathis has a 2.70 ERA, which is 13th best in the league and sophomore Nathan Culp is 14th in the Big 12 with a 2.75 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 a 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.
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.
BEHIND THE STREAK
During Mizzou's 15-game winning streak from March 6-March 30, the Tigers outscored their opponents 157-25. They had a .316 batting average, while holding their opponents to a .176 mark. MU had a slugging percentage of .442 and an on-base percentage of .481, compared to its opponents' .226 slugging percentage and .264 on-base percentage.
Missouri's ERA over the 15 games was just 1.65, while the opponents' ERA was 10.73. Opposing pitchers walked 143 batters, hit 43 and had 24 wild pitches. MU walked 42, hit 14 and had just two wild pitches during the streak.
HITS KEEP ON COMING
The longest hitting streak of the season for the Tigers was junior James Boone's 12-game streak last month. Junior Derek Chambers had a 10-game hitting streak earlier in the year.
Entering the weekend, Boone holds the longest current streak at five games.