April 28, 2005
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The No. 14 Mizzou baseball team travels to Austin, Texas this weekend to face the top-ranked Texas Longhorns in a three-games sereis. The weekend set will get underway at 6:15 p.m. on Friday night with sophomore Max Scherzer on the mound for the Tigers.
MU-UT: LAST YEAR
Missouri took two of three from the Longhorns last year in the three-game series in Columbia, when UT was the top ranked team in the nation.
The Tigers got outstanding pitching performances in the first two games of the series, taking victories in both. Danny Hill allowed just one run on five hits in seven innings in the series opener, leading MU to a 4-1 win, The first Tiger victory over Texas in eight games.
Garrett Broshuis struck out nine UT batters in 8.1 innings of work in game two of the series, leading MU to an 8-0 win.
Texas was able to take a 16-0, seven-inning win in the final game of the series. The game ended after seven innings due to the conference run rule in effect on the final day of the series.
AT THE POLLS
The Tigers are ranked in all four national polls, with a No. 14 ranking in Baseball America being the highest. The National Baseball Writers' Association has MU at No. 17, Collegiate Baseball ranks the Tigers No. 16 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 fourth best ERA in the nation and its runs per game average is also fourth best in the country, according to stats released last Tuesday by the NCAA.
The Tigers also ranked tied for eight in the national statistics with 0.50 triples per game.
Individually, junior James Boone is fourth in the nation with an average of 1.58 RBI per game, while freshman Jacob Priday is 18th with 1.32 RBI per game.
Sophomore Hunter Mense it tied for 18th with an average of 1.32 runs per game scored, while sophomore John McKee ranks third in hit by pitches per game and is sixth in walks per game.
On the mound, sophomore Max Scherzer has a 1.20 ERA, which is tied for the best mark in the nation. His 13.0 strikeouts per game average is fifth best in the national standings.
STAT TRACKS, PART II
Mizzou's pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 Conference with a 2.58 ERA led by sophomore Max Scherzer, who leads the Big 12 with a 1.09 ERA on the year.
All three of MU's probable weekend starters are among the top 16 in the conference in ERA. Following Scherzer, junior Doug Mathis is 10th with a 2.73 ERA and sophomore Nathan Culp's 3.30 mark is 16th best in the league.
Scherzer also leads the Big 12 Conference with 95 strikeouts. His 12.95 K's per game average is more than two strikeouts per game ahead of second place. He also leads the league with an opponents' batting average of just .125.
Junior Taylor Parker is tied for fifth with his four saves on the season for the Tigers.
Sophomore Hunter Mense is tied for second in the conference with a batting average of .398. Junior James Boone is ninth (.360) and freshman Jacob Priday is 24th (.326).
Boone has 63 runs batted in, which is second in the Big 12, one spot ahead of Priday's 49 RBI.
The Tigers are second the Big 12 in runs scored with 385 and have four players in the top 10 in runs scored led by sophomore's John McKee's 50. Mense and junior Derek Chambers have each scored 45 runs, tied for fifth best and Boone is tied for eighth with 43 runs.
McKee is second in both walks (41) and on base percentage (.503).
HITS KEEP ON COMING
The longest hitting streak of the season for the Tigers was junior James Boone's 12-game streak in March. Junior Derek Chambers had a 10-game hitting streak earlier in the year.
Heading into the Texas series, junior J.C. Field's three-game hitting streak is the longest hitting streak in tact.
BOONE DOCKS
Junior James Boone leads the team with 63 RBI on the year. At his current rate, he would finish the season with 88 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.
TO THE MAX
Sophomore Max Scherzer not only leads the Big 12 Conference but is in the top 10 in the nation with a 1.09 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 95 strikeouts on the season. At his current pace, he would finish the regular season with 133 strikeouts.
That would set a new record, passing John Dettmer's 127 K's in 1991. Scherzer's 95 strikeouts already rank seventh best in school history.
Scherzer was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association National Pitcher of the Week after the no-hitter on April 1. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper also named Scherzer and Cole among the National Players of the Week. Last week, Scherzer was invited to tryout for the USA National Team this summer.
MENSE JUST MAKES SENSE
Missouri's leading hitter, sophomore Hunter Mense, is tied for second in the Big 12 Conference with a .398 batting average.
He has hit .444 in Big 12 Conference games and has had 20 hits, including four doubles in the 12 Big 12 games in which he has played. He missed the Oklahoma State series as he recovered from a knee injury.
In his first series back from the injury, Mense hit .455 in the three-game series against Oklahoma last weekend.
THE McKEE TO VICTORY
Mizzou sophomore John McKee leads the team with a .503 on-base percentage, which is also second best in the Big 12. He leads the team in both walks (41) and hit-by-pitches (19). He drew a walk in each of his first four at-bats against SLU last Wednesday.
His 19 hit-by-pitches is a new school record for HBPs in a season, passing John Hay who was hit by a pitch 18 times in 1993.
Once on base, he has been able to find his way to the plate, as he leads the team and the Big 12 Conference with 50 runs scored this season.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Missouri has outscored its opponents 385-138 this season and has recorded double-digits in runs in 20 of its 41 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 their 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.
ZEROS ACROSS THE BOARD
Along with a high scoring offense the Tigers have had this season, are many impressive pitching outings for Mizzou. MU has a 2.58 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 16 in the Big 12 Conference in ERA, led by sophomore Max Scherzer, with a Big 12 best 1.09 ERA.
Junior Doug Mathis has a 2.73 ERA, which is 10th best in the league and sophomore Nathan Culp is 16th in the Big 12 with a 3.30 ERA.
The Tigers have 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.
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-April 2 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.
During Mizzou's 15-game winning streak the Tigers outscored ts opponents 179-28. They had a .319 batting average, while holding their opponents to a .176 mark. MU had a slugging percentage of .451 and an on-base percentage of .489, compared to its opponents' .222 slugging percentage and .265 on-base percentage.
Missouri's ERA over the 15 games was just 1.62, while the opponents' ERA was 11.01 Opposing pitchers walked 123 batters, hit 42 and had 24 wild pitches. MU walked 41, hit 12 and had just two wild pitches during the streak.