May 6, 2005

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For the second-straight weekend, Mizzou will be on the road against a top-10 team. This week, No. 17 MU takes on No. 5 Nebraska. The three-game series will get underway at 6:35 p.m. on Friday night in Lincoln, Neb.

MU-NU: LAST YEAR
Mizzou took two wins over Nebraska in last year's three-game series in Columbia. The Tigers won the series opener, 3-2, by scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Brad Flanders singled through the left side to drive in Tyler Williams with the game-winning run. The offense for both team shined in the second game of the series, as MU took a 2-0 lead in the three-game set with a 16-11 win as the two team combined for 35 hits in the game. Three Tigers (Lee Laskowski, Jeremy Hernandez and Kyle Johnson) each had three hits in the game and Hernandez and James Boone each drove in four runs on the day. Mizzou fell just short of claiming a sweep over the Huskers, falling by a score of 11-10 in Sunday's finale. The Tigers trailed 8-1 heading to the bottom of the sixth inning, but scored eight runs in their next three at-bats to claim the lead. However, Nebraska scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning and MU's one run in the bottom half of the ninth was not enough to catch the Huskers.

HONOR ROLL
With the final month of the regular season upon us, the watch lists for several postseason awards have begun to surface. Sophomore Max Scherzer has been named to the watch list for the Xanthus Dick Howser Award, the Golden Spikes Award, the Clemons Award and Wallace Award. Junior James Boone joined Scherzer on the Howser watch list. Scherzer and Boone are two of 64 on the Howser Watch List. The winner will be announced during the College World Series on June 17. Scherzer is among 40 named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch list. That award will be handed out in July and the Wallace Award will be handed out on June 16 in Omaha. The Clemons Award is also awarded in June.

SCHERZER INVITED TO NATIONAL TEAM TRIALS
Sophomore pitcher Max Scherzer has accepted an invitation from USA Baseball to attend the 2005 National Team Trials, which will be held June 27-30 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Scherzer is among the first 13 invitees to the team tryouts. The USA Baseball National Team will be selected from a pool of 36 players, of which 23 have yet to be determined. The official 20-man roster will be announced on July 1. Scherzer, a native of Chesterfield, Mo., leads the Big 12 Conference with a 1.36 ERA and his 98 strikeouts is also a conference best. He is 6-2 on the season, including a combined no-hitter against Texas Tech on April 1. His 98 strikeouts this season already have moved him into seventh place in season strikeouts at Mizzou. The 2005 USA Baseball National Team will participate in the 34th annual USA vs. Japan Collegiate Championship Series in Japan, July 8-2 and a Friendship Series vs. Taiwan in Chinese Taipei, July 15-19 prior to returning home to play six exhibition games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, July 22-24 and July 29-31. USA Baseball will announce a full National Team game schedule at a later date.

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. 21 and the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 has Missouri at No. 25. 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
Following last weekend, Missouri had the fourth best ERA in the nation and the seventh best runs per game average, according to stats released on Tuesday by the NCAA. The Tigers also ranked tied for 12th in the national statistics with 0.45 triples per game. Individually, junior James Boone is second in the nation with an average of 1.54 RBI per game, while freshman Jacob Priday is 20th with 1.27 RBI per game. Sophomore John McKee ranks fourth in hit by pitches per game and is seventh in walks per game. On the mound, sophomore Max Scherzer has a 1.36 ERA, which is the sixth best mar