March 22, 2007

MIZZOU AT NEBRASKA

First Pitch:
Game 1: Friday, March 23, 1:30 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, March 24, 1 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, March 25, 1 p.m.
Series History: MU leads 136-104-1
Last Year: NU swept series in Columbia
Stadium: Hawks Field at Haymarket Park
Capacity: 8,486
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Video: All-Access at mutigers.com
Live Stats: huskers.com

MISSOURI TIGERS
Overall Record: 18-5
Big 12 Conference Record: 0-0
Last 10/Last 5: 10-0/5-0
Streak: Won 12
Head Coach: Tim Jamieson
Career Record: 417-295-2 (13th year)
Record at MU: 417-295-2 (13th year)
Website: mutigers.com

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
Overall Record: 12-7
Big 12 Conference Record: 1-2
Last 10/Last 5: 7-3/3-2
Streak: Won 2
Head Coach: Mike Anderson
Career Record: 194-80 (5th years)
Record at NU: 194-80 (5th years)
Website: huskers.com

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

FIRST PITCH
Missouri will open up Big 12 Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Nebraska. The three-game set will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and will continue at 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers carry a 12-game winning streak into the weekend and have won 13 of their last 14 games. Nebraska is 12-7 on the year and are 1-2 in the Big 12 after opening conference play by dropping two of three last weekend at Texas Tech.

QUICK HITS
- Missouri received votes in this weeks' NCBWA and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls.
- Mizzou enters this weekend's series on a season-best 12-game winning streak and has won 13 of its last 14 games.
- The 12-game winning streak is the longest for the Tigers since a 15-game streak in 2005. In 2006, the longest winning streak was six games.
- The Tigers have swept all three of its three-game series this season. They opened the year with a sweep over Florida International and took three wins over Youngstown State on March 2-4 before sweeping Cleveland State last week.
- Missouri leads the Big 12 Conference with a 2.57 ERA heading into this weekend.
- Sophomore Aaron Crow's 2.37 ERA in seventh best in the Big 12, while freshman Kyle Gibson is 10th with a 2.54 ERA and freshman Greg Folgia is 14th with a 3.00 mark.
- Freshman Kyle Gibson picked up two saves and a win in MU's five-game homestand last week. Gibson has five saves on the year, fourth most in the Big 12. Opponents are hitting just .173 off of Gibson, which ranks second in the conference.
- Junior Evan Frey ranks third in the Big 12 Conference with 32 runs scored on the year. Frey is also tied for third in the league with four triples and is third with 21 walks. His on-base-percentage of .479 is eighth best in the Big 12.
- Sophomore Ryan Lollis has a 12-game hitting streak in tact heading into the weekend. He leads the team with a .368 batting average.
- Mizzou picked up back-to-back 11-0 shutouts against Youngstown State on March 4 and has three shutouts on the season.
- The two wins over YSU on March 4 marked the first doubleheader sweep for MU since Feb. 17, 2006 against Louisiana-Monroe.

SCOUTING THE HUSKERS
Nebraska enters the weekend series with a 12-7 record after recording two midweek wins against Western Illinois. Last weekend, the Cornhuskers opened Big 12 Conference play, dropping a series at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders took two-of-three from Nebraska, with the Huskers taking the middle game of the weekend series. The Huskers were picked third in the Big 12 Coaches' Preseason poll. They are currently ranked No. 24 in the NCBWA Top 30, but have fallen out of the other major college baseball polls.

SERIES HISTORY
Mizzou holds a 136-104-1 lead in the all-time series with the Cornhuskers, however NU has won the last seven meetings between the two teams. Last year, the Huskers took a three-game sweep over MU in Columbia, including a 5-2 win in 13 innings on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
Mizzou recorded its third three-game series sweep of the season by taking three wins over Cleveland State last weekend at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers opened the weekend set with a 6-3 win behind a career-high nine strikeouts from sophomore Aaron Crow, who improved to 4-0 on the year. Sophomore Ryan Lollis was 3-for-4 and freshman Kyle Gibson picked up his fifth save on the year in the series opening victory. Lollis recorded three hits again on Saturday, his third-straight multi-hit game, as MU defeated the Vikings 9-2. The Tigers scored runs in each of the first three innings and were aided by six CSU errors in the game. Mizzou completed the sweep with a 6-4 win, having to come from behind to earn the victory on Sunday. Sophomore Aaron Senne's double in the bottom of the eighth inning drove in a pair of runs to break a 4-4 tie and lead the Tigers to the win.

DRIVING `EM IN
Sophomore Ryan Lollis, who carries a seven-game hitting streak into the series with Nebraska, leads the team with 28 RBI on the year. That ranks seventh in the Big 12 Conference. Lollis drove in six runs in the Tigers second game of the season, a win at Florida International. He has had six multi-RBI games including four games in which he has driven in three runs. He leads the Tigers with a .368 average.

CLOSING THE DOOR
Freshman Kyle Gibson has record five saves this season and has saves in five of his last six appearances. The only game during that stretch in which he did not record a save was against Cleveland State on March 16, when he entered with the score tied and ended up taking the victory. His next save would move him into the top 10 in saves in a season at MU, putting him in a tie for ninth all-time with Ryan Stegall (2001) and Justin Stine (1996).

STREAK FREAKS
Sophomore Ryan Lollis holds the longest current hitting steak for MU, taking a seven-game streak into the Nebraska series. It is his second seven-game hitting streak of the year. Junior Evan Frey had the longest streak of the season, recording a hit in eight-straight games from March 2-15. Sophomore Kyle Mach and freshman Trevor Coleman have each had seven-game hitting streaks this year.

TAKING A HIT
Through the first 23 games, junior Brock Bond has been hit by a pitch 10 times and senior John McKee has been hit eight times. As a sophomore in 2005, McKee set a school record with 23 hit-by-pitches.

TIGERS PILE UP THE RUNS
The Tigers scored a season-high 19 runs against Saint Louis on March 14, marking the highest run production since recording 19 runs in back-to-back games against Mississippi Valley State on May 6-7, 2006. Missouri had three-straight games in which it recorded double-digit runs from March 10-14, starting with two wins on March 10 (14-4 over Texas State and 11-7 over Dallas State) and then the 19-1 win over SLU.

TURNING THE CORNER
In the first 13 games of the season, sophomore Kyle Mach had just two hits and was hitting .154. On March 4, in game number 14, Mach was 3-for-4 against Youngstown State, starting what would be a seven-game hitting streak. Since that game, Mach is hitting .390 and has raised his season average to .333, second best on the team. He had the only four-hit game for the Tigers this season, going 4-for-5 against Texas State on March 10.

FRESHMEN MAKE IMPACT
The 2007 freshman class has quickly made an impact on the Tigers. On the mound, freshman Kyle Gibson's 2.51 ERA is the 10th best mark in the Big 12 Conference. He has five saves on the year and has struck out 30 batters in 28.2 innings on the mound. Another freshman, Greg Folgia, is second on the squad with 10 appearances on the mound. Included among the 10 appearances is a start against Louisiana-Monroe in which he was perfect through the first four innings of play. Freshman Ryan Allen has not allowed an earned run in nine innings of work this season. He has stuck out eight in his five appearances. Trevor Coleman and Aaron Senne are two freshmen that have found their way into the Tigers' lineup. Coleman is third on the team with a .326 batting average. He has started 13 games for the Tigers, splitting time at catcher with junior Dan Pietroburgo. Senne has started 19 of Mizzou's 23 games this season in the outfield. He hit his first home run of his Tiger career in the series opener against Youngstown State on March 2.

TIGER PITCHING SHUTS DOWN OPPONENTS
Through its first 23 games of the 2007 season, Mizzou has a 2.57 ERA, which leads the Big 12 Conference. Opponents are hitting .232 off the Tigers, which is fourth best in the league and MU's 2.18 walks per nine innings average is the second best in the Big 12. The Tigers have already recorded three shutouts on the season, including a pair of 11-0 wins in a doubleheader sweep of Youngstown State on March 4. In the second game of the doubleheader, YSU managed just one hit off of Mizzou pitchers. The season's first shutout was a 5-0 win over Navy on Feb. 25, when senior Stephan Holst, sophomore Ryan Gargano and freshman Ryan Allen each pitched three scoreless innings and did not allow a hit until two outs into the eighth inning.

JAMIESON JOINS THE 400-WIN CLUB
Missouri's win in the season opener marked the 400th career victory for MU Head Coach Tim Jamieson. He enters the weekend with a 417-295-2 record in his 13th season at the helm. Jamieson joins legendary Mizzou coaches Gene McArtor (733 wins) and John "Hi" Simmons (481 wins) as the only coaches in MU history to reach the 400-win mark. McArtor and Simmons both have their numbers retired at MU and are members of the Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame. Jamieson took over as head coach of the Tigers in 1995. During his tenure, Missouri has recorded at least 30 wins 10 times and has made five trips to the NCAA Tournament, including the last four. Last year he took the Tigers to the first Super Regional in school history.

MIZZOU-TTU SERIES FINALE TO BE TELEVISED
The third game of the Missouri and Texas Tech series on April 29 will be broadcast on Metro Sports and Fox Sports Midwest.

TIGERS EIGHTH IN BIG 12 POLL
Missouri was picked eighth in the Big 12 Coaches' Preseason Poll. Texas was the pick to win the conference, garnering seven of the 10 first place votes and 79 total points. Oklahoma State was second with 70 points and two first-place votes. Two seasons ago, Mizzou was picked eighth in the preseason poll and finished the year fourth.

ALL-ACCESS
Video webcast for all Mizzou Baseball home games in 2007 will be available at mutigers.com as part of the new All-Access. 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.

ON THE AIR
Once again, KTGR 1580-AM will be the radio home of the Tigers. All of Mizzou's regular season and postseason games will air on KTGR 1580-AM in Columbia. The games can also be heard online at KTGR.com. Tex Little returns for his 17th season of calling Tiger Baseball and is joined in the booth by former Tiger catcher J.C. Field

EX-TIGERS EARN ACCOLADES IN THE MINOR LEAGUES
Former Mizzou standouts Mark Alexander and Cody Ehlers each earned postseason honors for their performances last year in Minor League Baseball. Alexander was named the Los Angeles Dodgers' Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year, after compiling 27 saves to lead all Dodger Minor Leaguers for a second-straight season. Alexander was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection in 2004, as he recorded 10 saves, which is second most in a season in Mizzou history. Ehlers, a member of the Tampa Yankees, was voted the Florida State League's Most Valuable Player. He led the FSL in RBI (103) and doubles (35) and was fourth in hits (142). He hit .298 with 18 home runs. As a senior at MU in 2004, Ehlers led the Tigers in nearly every offensive category and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 Tournament.

UP NEXT
Following the weekend series at Nebraska, the Tigers will take the short drive to Omaha, Neb., where they will face Creighton at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Missouri returns to Taylor Stadium March 30-April 1 for a three-game series with Kansas. The series will get underway at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and continues with games at 2 p.m Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.