May 17, 2005
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The Tigers will begin the final week of the regular season with back-to-back games in O'Fallon, Mo. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mizzou will take on Southern Illinois on Tuesday, before facing Illinois on Wednesday. Both games will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be played at T.R. Hughes Ballpark.
ON THE RECORD
With one more win in Big 12 play, Missouri would tie a mark for the most conference wins in the past seven seasons. The Tigers are currently 14-10 on the year with a three-game series this weekend at Baylor remaining on the schedule.
In 2003, MU was 15-11, which was the best record since the 1998 team went 17-12 in the second year of the Big 12 Conference. The 17 wins is the most Big 12 wins for the Tigers.
Missouri was 16-14 in 1997, the first year of the Big 12 Conference.
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 1.22 ERA and his 117 strikeouts is also a conference best. He is 8-2 on the season, including a combined no-hitter against Texas Tech on April 1. His 117 strikeouts this season already have moved him into third place in season strikeouts at Mizzou and is just 10 behind the all-time record of 127 set by John Dettmer in 1991.
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.
STAT TRACKS
Mizzou's pitching staff ranks third in the Big 12 Conference with a 2.75 ERA led by sophomore Max Scherzer, who leads the Big 12 with a 1.22 ERA on the year.
Scherzer also leads the Big 12 Conference with 117 strikeouts. His 11.9 K's per game average is more than one strikeout more per game ahead of second place. He also leads the league with an opponents' batting average of just .137.
Junior James Boone is 11th in the Big 12 with a .347 batting average and sophomore Hunter Mense ranks 12th with a .346 average.
Boone has 63 runs batted in, which is second in the Big 12, one spot ahead of Priday who has 55 RBI.
The Tigers lead the Big 12 in runs scored with 427 and have three players in the top 10 in runs scored led by sophomore's John McKee's 54, which is third best in the Big 12. Mense is seventh with 50 runs scored and junior Derek Chambers' 49 runs is eighth most in the conference.
McKee is second in walks (49) and is fifth in on base percentage (.477), one spot behind Boone who has a .487 on base percentage. Mense is sixth with a .454 on-base percentage.
AT THE POLLS
The Tigers are ranked No. 20 ranking in Baseball America for the second straight week and No. 22 by the National Baseball Writers' Association. Mizzou is also receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll.
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.
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.
Sophomore Gary Arndt hold the longest current streak at five games heading into the week.
TO THE MAX
Sophomore Max Scherzer added a complete game to his resume as he went the distance against Nebraska on May 6 in Lincoln, Neb. Scherzer struck out nine and allowed just one run on four hits in the victory over the Huskers.
Last week, he pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and striking out 10 to defeat Kansas and move to 8-2 on the season.
He not only leads the Big 12 Conference, but is sixth in the nation with a 1.22 ERA. Included in the eight victories is a combined no-hitter on April 1 against Texas Tech, in which he went seven innings and struck out a career-high 14 batters.
Scherzer leads the Big 12 with 117 strikeouts on the season. John Dettmer's 127 K's in 1991 is the school record at MU. Scherzer's 117 strikeouts .
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 among the National Players of the Week.