Mizzou and Nebraska Meet in Big 12 Showdown
4/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 6, 2006
NEBRASKA AT MIZZOU
COLUMBIA, MO
APRIL 7-9, 2006
First Pitch: Friday- 6:30 p.m. / Saturday- 2 p.m. / Sunday- 1 p.m.
Stadium: Taylor Stadium (Capacity: 2,200)
Records: Mizzou: 16-11, 6-3 Big 12; Nebraska: 21-5, 4-2 Big 12
Series History: Missouri leads 136-101-1
Last Year: Nebraska took two-of-three in Lincoln, then took two wins over MU at the Big 12 Tournament.
Coaches: MU- Tim Jamieson (380-273-2/12th year at MU and overall)
NU- Mike Anderson (161-61/4th year at NU and overall)
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM, flagship;
Also on 900-AM in Fulton and 950-AM in Jefferson City
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: Gametrackeron mutigers.com
Live Video: Mizzou All-Access on mutigers.com
For more information: mutigers.com
On Tap: April 12 vs. SE Missouri State
First Pitch-- 6 p.m., at Taylor Stadium
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
LEADING OFF...
Mizzou and Nebraska enter this weekend's three-game series at Taylor Stadium in a tie for second place in the Big 12 Conference. Missouri is 6-3 in the Big 12, having played one more conference series than Nebraska, which is 4-2 in the league.
The series will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and continues with games at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. For tickets call 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Columbia) or visit mutigers.com. All games can be heard on KTGR 1580-AM in Columbia and on KTGR.com. Live video is also available through Mizzou All-Access on mutigers.com.
The Tigers are 16-11 on the season, while the Cornhuskers enter the weekend with a 21-5 record and a No. 6 ranking in Collegiate Baseball. Missouri and Nebraska trail Texas (6-2) in the conference standings.
Nebraska has won the last four meetings between the Tigers and Huskers, but Mizzou holds the lead in the all-time series, 136-101-1.
QUICK HITS
• Junior Nathan Culp was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday after pitching a complete game, three-hit shutout against Kansas last Friday.
• Culp's complete game against KU was the first by a Mizzou pitcher since Max Scherzer went the distance against Nebraska last May in Lincoln.
• Senior Taylor Parker has recorded four saves in Big 12 play to lead the conference. His five saves overall this season already places him in a tie for 11th in the Mizzou record books.
• Missouri's 3.07 ERA in conference games is the best in the Big 12 and it's 2.98 ERA in all games is second best in the conference.
• Senior Travis Wendte is second in the Big 12 Conference with an ERA of 0.90 in conference games. Wendte has 14 career saves, which is tied for third all-time at Missouri.
• Sophomore Evan Frey (.391) and senior Zane Taylor (.380) are ninth and 10th respectively in the Big 12 Conference in batting average on the year.
• With his 15 appearances this season, senior Taylor Parker has pitched in 89 games as a Tiger, which places him second in the Mizzou record books. Scott Black holds the record with 108 appearances on the mound.
• Sophomore Brock Bond carries a seven-game hitting streak into the weekend series against Nebraska. Sophomore Jacob Priday has a four-game streak in tact and senior Zane Taylor has had hits in the last three games.
• Mizzou's game against Missouri State on Wednesday was cancelled due to severe weather. The game has not been rescheduled.
• The Tigers have outscored their opponents 187-104 heading into the weekend.
• Sophomore Jacob Priday's next hit will be his 100th as a Tiger.
• Junior Max Scherzer, who set a school record with 131 strikeouts last season, needs 13 strikeouts to reach the 200 career Ks.
• Senior Zane Taylor is three hits away from 200 career hits in his four years at Missouri.
• With its sweep over Texas A&M, Mizzou has swept its Big 12 opening series in each of the past two seasons.
• MU Head Coach Tim Jamieson is 20 wins away from his 400th career-win, with a record of 380-273-2. The 380 wins are the third most in Missouri history.
MIZZOU'S PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: Nathan Culp (Jr., LHP): 6.2, 1.98 ERA, 54.2 IP, 37 K
Nathan Culp enters the weekend with a team-best six wins after recording a three-hit shutout over Kansas last Friday night. In that victory, he faced the minimum through 7.2 innings and earned the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week honors following the performance. Culp has pitched at least six innings in all but one start and, along with last week's complete game, had an 8.0 inning outing against Wake Forest on Feb. 25. Culp opened Big 12 Conference play with a win over Texas A&M, allowing just one unearned run and striking out a season-high eight batters in 7.2 innings pitched on March 17.
Saturday: Max Scherzer (Jr., RHP): 3-1, 2.79 ERA, 29.0 IP, 33 K
Max Scherzer returned to the rotation last weekend after missing two weeks due to tendinitis. He is 3-1 on the year, including a win over then-No. 1 Florida on Feb. 24. He was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after that win. Scherzer has struck out 33 batters in 29.1 innings pitched. He fanned a season-high nine batters against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on March 3 and has twice struck out eight batters in a game.
Sunday: TBA
SCOUTING THE HUSKERS
Nebraska is tied with Mizzou for second place in the Big 12 as it enters the weekend with a 4-2 conference record and a 21-5 overall mark, which is the fourth best 26-game start in school history.
The Huskers are ranked in the top 10 in all polls, with the highest being a No. 6 ranking in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30.
The Cornhuskers have opened Big 12 play by taking two-of-three from both Kansas and Kansas State.
Nebraska returns a pair of pitchers that won at least 10 games last year in Joba Chamberlin (Friday's scheduled starter) and Johnny Dorn (Sunday's scheduled starter).
Husker junior Luke Gorsett leads the Big 12 with 12 home runs already on the season. He is hitting .398 on the year, second on the team behind Ryan Wehrle's .424 average.
Five Cornhuskers are hitting over .350 on the season and Nebraska as a team is hitting .325 and has hit 33 homers, while the NU pitching staff has an ERA of 2.88. The 3.2 runs allowed by Nebraska pitchers is third best in the Big 12 Conference.
Mike Anderson is in his fourth season as the Nebraska head coach and has compiled a record of 161-61.
Nebraska won the Big 12 Tournament last season and advanced to the College World Series for the third time in five seasons.
MU-NU SERIES HISTORY
Missouri has a 136-101-1 lead in the series, but the Cornhuskers have won the last four meetings. Mizzou is 13-14 against NU since the start of the Big 12 Conference.
Last year, the Huskers took two games of the three-game series in Lincoln before recording two more wins over MU in the Big 12 Tournament.
The last time the series was held in Columbia (April 2005), Missouri took two-of-three games. That season, the Tigers won the first two games of the weekend set, before Nebraska took an 11-10 win in the series finale.
LAST SEASON VS. NEBRASKA
Mizzou opened last year's series in Lincoln with a 2-1 win in the series opener behind the pitching of Max Scherzer.
Scherzer pitched a complete-game four hitter, allowing just one run and striking out nine in the win. He struck out the final four batters of the game to seal the series opening win.
Missouri held a four-run lead after the third inning in game two of the series, but dropped the game by a score of 7-5. The Tigers out-hit Nebraska, but also committed four errors.
Sunday's series finale took 11 innings to decide, as NU's Jesse Boyer hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th to give the Huskers the 6-5 win.
The Tigers trailed 5-1 heading to the seventh inning, but scored four runs in the seventh to tie the game at five and eventually sending the game to extra innings, where Boyer hit the 11th inning home run.
Missouri was eliminated from the Big 12 Tournament after dropping a pair of games to Nebraska inn Oklahoma City. After a 5-4 Husker win in the first game, NU took a 17-9 win in the second matchup. The Huskers went on to with the Big 12 Tournament.
ON TAP
The Tigers will conclude their five-game homestand by taking on Southeast Missouri State at 6 p.m. next Wednesday at Taylor Stadium.
That game will be a rematch of the March 29 meeting in which SEMO defeated Mizzou 3-2 in Cape Girardeau.
Next weekend, MU will travel to Norman, Okla. for a Big 12 series against Oklahoma. That series will get underway at 7 p.m. on Friday.
LAST TIME OUT
Missouri's game against Missouri State last Wednesday was cancelled due to severe weather in the Columbia area.
The game was tied at one in the bottom of the second when the storms began and the game was delayed. After an 1:35 delay, the game was cancelled.
Last weekend's three-game series at Kansas began with a 3-0 Mizzou win on Friday behind the pitching of junior Nathan Culp.
Culp moved to 6-2 on the season, as he pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out five. He faced the minimum through the first 7.2 innings.
Senior Trevor Helms led the offensive charge for the Tigers with a two-run home run in the second inning, his first of the season.
Junior Max Scherzer made his return to the rotation on Saturday, pitching 4.0 innings and allowing just one run on five hits.
The Tigers, however, fell to KU on Saturday, as the Jayhawks Erik Morrison hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Kansas to a 3-2 win.
Mizzou dropped the series finale on Sunday by a 9-6 score, as the Jayhawks claimed the series win. Senior Derek Chambers had two hits and junior Gary Arndt drove in a pair of runs on Sunday, but it was not enough to overcome KU.
MIZZOU IN THE POLLS
Mizzou received its highest ever preseason ranking, when Baseball America picked the Tigers No. 10 in its poll. It marked only the second time MU had appeared in the preseason poll and the first since it was No. 19 in 1983. Missouri was No. 21 in the final Baseball America poll last year.
CULP SHUTS DOWN JAYHAWKS
Missouri junior lefty Nathan Culp was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday after he pitched a complete-game three-hit shutout against Kansas last Friday.
Culp faced the minimum through 7.2 innings, as the only two baserunners to reach up to that point were erased on double plays.
He struck out five and walked just one, picking up his team-leading sixth win of the season, which is second most in the Big 12.
Culp did record a seven-inning shutout over North Dakota State in 2005 in a game that was called after seven innings due to a run rule in effect.
This year, Culp has walked just four batters in 54.1 innings pitched and has 37 strikeouts. His next win will be the 20th of his career, as he currently stands 19-8 as a Tiger.
MAX TRAX
Injuries have forced All-American Max Scherzer to miss three starts this season, including starts in each of the first two weekend's of Big 12 action.
In his first appearance of the year under the Taylor Stadium lights, he struck out nine batters in five innings pitched and recorded the win, his third in as many starts.
Scherzer was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 28 after leading the Tigers to a victory over No. 1 Florida on Feb. 24.
In the win against Florida, he struck out eight in seven innings, allowing just one run on only three hits to record his second victory in a many starts. Scherzer, who was the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year and a second team All-American last year has already begun to receive honors this year.
Scherzer was named a first team preseason All-American by all major collegiate baseball publications.
He has also been named to the watch lists for the Roger Clemens Award, which is awarded to the nation's top pitcher. Scherzer was one of 10 semifinalists for the Clemens Awards in 2005.
Scherzer is also on the Wallace Award watch list, which recognizes the nation's top player and is another award he was a semifinalists for last season.
Last season, he led the Big 12 with 131 strikeouts and a 1.82 ERA. The 131 strikeouts is a new school record, passing John Dettmer's 127 K's in 1991.
He spent last summer with Team USA, where he had pitches clocked as high as 99 miles per hour.
TAYLOR MADE HITTING
Senior Zane Taylor stands tenth in the Big 12 Conference with a .380 batting average heading into the weekend.
Taylor has had a hit in all but four games for the Tigers this season. He had an 11-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-3 outing in the series finale against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
After opening the year with a 0-3 outing in the season opener against East Tennessee State, Taylor had a hit in each of the next 11 games, including eight games in which he has had multiple hits.
Taylor's career long hitting streak was a 13-game streak coming in 2004.
PLAYING THE HITS
Sophomore Evan Frey leads the Tigers with a .391 batting average, which is ninth best in the Big 12 Conference.
He had an 11-game hitting streak snapped, as he went 0-for-2 against SEMO on March 29. During the streak, Frey hit .463, drove in nine runs, had two triples and a double.
He had five multi-hit games during the streak, including four games in which he has three hits.
Frey has had at least one hit in all but two games he has had an at-bat in this season.
The 11-game hitting streak is a career best for Frey and ties the longest streak by a Tigers this season.
Currently the longest active streak for the Tigers is a seven-game hitting streak by sophomore Brock Bond.
TGI-PRIDAY
Sophomore Jacob Priday leads the Tigers with three home runs this year after a team-best nine homers last season.
On Friday, Feb. 24, sophomore Jacob Priday turned in a 5-for-6 performance to help lead Mizzou to a 14-5 win over then-No. 1 Florida. It was Priday's second career five-hit game.
Ironically, his second career five-hit game came nearly a year to the day after his first. He was 5-for-6 against Navy on Feb. 25, 2005, driving in four runs and scoring four times.
On Feb. 24, 2006, Priday was again 5-for-6, driving in three runs and scoring twice.
For the weekend at the Pepsi Baseball Classic, Priday was 7-for-12 (.583), with three doubles and four RBI, earning him a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
On March 14, Priday was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, after he hit .533 with two home runs and 11 RBI in the four games the previous week.
Priday was 3-for-4 and drove in a career-high six runs in the Tigers 22-2 win over Purdue in the second game of the three-game series.
MENSE NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS
Junior Hunter Mense was named to preseason All-American teams by Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association.
He also was named to the watch list for the Wallace Award, which is given to the nation's top college baseball player.
Last year, he was a second team All-Big 12 Conference selection after hitting .327 on the year, which was second best on the team.
Mense was also second on the squad in runs scored (62) and stolen bases (10) and was third in hits (67) and slugging percentage (.473).
TAKING DOWN NO. 1
Mizzou defeated No. 1 Florida on Feb. 24 in Gainesville, Fla. 14-5, knocking off a No. 1 team for the first time since it defeated then-No. 1 Texas, 8-0 on May 1, 2004.
The win over Texas was actually the second-straight victory over UT for the Tigers, who recorded a 4-1 win the night before.
In the win over the Gators, Missouri pounded out a season-high 22 hits, the most since it recorded 26 hits against Navy (2/25/05).
Sophomore Jacob Priday was 5-for-6 against UF, and the top two in the Tiger lineup (Trevor Helms and Zane Taylor) were a combined 8-for-11. Helms 4-for-6 and Taylor finished 4-for-5.
Junior Max Scherzer kept Florida in check all night, striking out eight in seven innings pitched. He allowed one run on just three hits to the top-ranked Gators.
Mizzou led 14-1 before UF scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth and added a pair of runs in the ninth inning.
TIGERS SELECTED THIRD IN THE BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
The Big 12 Conference Baseball Coaches selected Missouri to finish third in the conference this season, according to the preseason poll. The Tigers received 66 points, including one first-place vote.
Texas (56-16 in 2005), the defending National Champion, has been selected to win the conference crown, garnering 79 total points in voting with nine points for first place, eight for second, seven for third, etc. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
Nebraska (57-15) was No. 2 in the balloting with 70 points and one first place vote. Missouri (40-23), ranked in the top 15 in the pre-2006 national polls, was selected as the third team with 66 points and one first-place vote. Baylor (46-24) nailed down the fourth spot while Oklahoma (35-26) was fifth.
Oklahoma State (34-25) nabbed sixth position, and Texas A&M (30-25-1) pulled up in seventh. Kansas (36-28) and Texas Tech (34-25) tied for eighth while Kansas State (30-25) was 10th.
MIZZOU WELL REPRESENTED ON TEAM USA
Mizzou Head Coach Tim Jamieson was selected to serve as an assistant coach on the USA Baseball National Team last summer and was joined by two of his Tiger players.
Juniors Max Scherzer and Hunter Mense were also selected to the squad, marking the first Team USA selections for MU since 1991.
The National Team went 16-4 over the summer, playing games in Japan and Taiwan, along with hosting teams from around the world stateside.
Scherzer made four appearances, including two starts, and was 2-1 for Team USA with a 2.70 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 20 innings of work.
Mense made the team after a very impressive showing at the trials. He played in 17 games for Team USA, hitting .259 with a home run, two triples and two doubles.
KINSLER DEBUTS RANGERS
Former Missouri Tiger Ian Kinsler made his first major league appearance this week with the Texas Rangers.
Kinsler, who played at Missouri in 2003 and hit .325 for the Tigers, has been named the starting second baseman for the Rangers.
His first career major league hit came off Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox in Kinsler's first game with the Rangers on Monday.
Kinsler was a 17th round draft pick by Texas in 2003.
TIGERS ARE THREE FOR THREE
Mizzou is one of just two teams in the Big 12 Conference that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons.
Texas, the defending National Champions, is the only other team out of the powerful Big 12 Conference to reach the postseason in the last three years.
HE STOOD TALL
He Stood Tall is the story of former Mizzou coach John "Hi" Simmons as told by the men who knew him best.
Dozens of players from the 1930s to the 1960s share their stories about their former coach in the recently released book.
There are also chapters dedicated to Simmons' theories about the game, his colorful vocabulary and his enduring legacy at the University.
To order the book, visit mutigers.com or call 913-219-0338. The book can also be purchased at the Tiger Team Store.
All proceeds from the book sales will go the Tiger Bullpen, benefiting Mizzou Baseball.
ALL-ACCESS
Video webcast for all Mizzou Baseball home games in 2006 will be available at mutigers.com as part of the new All-Access.
New to mutigers.com this year, All-Access is the Tiger fans home to live and archived games for Mizzou Athletics, along with coaches' shows, press conferences and much more.
For more information, visit mutigers.com and click on the All-Access icon.
