March 29, 2007

MIZZOU AT KANSAS

First Pitch:
Game 1: Fiiday, March 30, 6:30 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, March 31, 2 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, April 1, 1 p.m.
Series History: MU leads 206-119-2
Last Year: KU took 3-of-4

Stadium: Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field
Capacity: 2,200
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Video: All-Access at mutigers.com
Live Stats: Gametracker at mutigers.com

MISSOURI TIGERS
Overall Record: 20-7
Big 12 Conference Record: 2-1
Last 10/Last 5: 8-2/3-2
Streak: Lost 2
Head Coach: Tim Jamieson
Career Record: 419-297-2 (13th year)
Record at MU: 419-297-2 (13th year)
Website: mutigers.com

KANSAS JAYHAWKS
Overall Record: 15-15
Big 12 Conference Record: 2-4
Last 10/Last 5: 3-7/1-4
Streak: Lost 2
Head Coach: Ritch Price
Career Record: 377-355-2 (12th year)
Record at KU: 160-127-1 (5th year)
Website: kuathletics.com

MIZZOU BASEBALL GAMENOTES
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FIRST PITCH
No. 25 Mizzou will host Kansas in its first home Big 12 Conference series of 2007 this weekend at Taylor Stadium. The three-game set will get underway at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, with games to follow at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Border Showdown presented by the Midwest Ford Dealers will continue with this weekend's series. Kansas has a slim lead in this year's series, holding a 11.5-11.0 advantage. MU is 20-7 on the year and 2-1 in the Big 12 after taking two of three from Nebraska last week. Kansas is 15-15 overall and 2-4 in league play heading into this weekend.

QUICK HITS
- Missouri is ranked No. 25 in this week's Collegiate Baseball's Top 30 and are No. 28 in the NCBWA Top 30. The Tigers are the also receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll. The ranking is the first since MU finished the 2006 season ranked No. 16.
- Mizzou had its 14-game winning streak snapped last Sunday at Nebraska. The streak was the longest for the Tigers since a 15-game streak in 2005. In 2006, the longest winning streak was six games.
- The Tigers won their Big 12 Conference opener for the third-straight year with a 5-1 win in 11 innings over Nebraska last Friday.
- Mizzou won its 20th game of the season last Saturday. In 2006, the 20th win came on April 28.
- The Tigers have won all four of their three-game series this season, including sweeps in the first three series.
- Missouri continues to lead the Big 12 Conference with a 3.06 ERA. - Sophomore Aaron Crow's 2.15 ERA in fourth best in the Big 12, while freshman Kyle Gibson is fifth with a 2.16 ERA.
- Freshman Kyle Gibson picked up two saves and a win in MU's five-game from March 14-18. Gibson has five saves on the year, fourth most in the Big 12. His next save will put him into the top 10 for saves in a season at MU.
- Junior Evan Frey ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference with 34 runs scored on the year. Frey is also tied for third in the league with four triples and is third with 21 walks.

SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS
Kansas opened the 2007 season by winning its first five games and seven of its first eight. The Jayhawks have dropped series to Texas A&M and Oklahoma State to open conference play. KU has won one game in each of its first two Big 12 series. Kansas is hitting .289 as a team, while the pitching staff has a 4.60 ERA. John Allman leads the Jayhawks with a .396 batting average, which ranks sixth in the Big 12. Allman is second on the team with 24 RBI, trailing Erik Morrison's 26 RBI.

SERIES HISTORY
Missouri leads the all-time series with Kansas 206-119-2, however, the Jayhawks have won four of the last five contests. Last year, MU won game one of the three-game series in Lawrence before dropping the final two games of the series. The two teams also met at the Big 12 Tournament, with Kansas taking a 4-3 win to advance to the championship game.

BORDER SHOWDOWN
The Border Showdown presented by the Midwest Ford Dealers, the annual year-long all-sport competition will continue with this weekend's series. Kansas leads this year's Showdown by just .5 points (11.5-11.0) heading into this weekend's series. The Border Showdown is in its fifth year, with each school having won the cup twice.

MU-KU WILL MEET AGAIN APRIL 25 AT KAUFFMAN
Mizzou and Kansas will meet again on April 25 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The game will not count as a conference game. Tickets for the game are $10 and are available through Tickets.com or can be purchased at the stadium on gameday. Gametime is set for 7 p.m. with gates opening at 5:30 p.m. There will be no charge for parking.

LAST WEEK
Missouri opened up Big 12 Conference play with a series win last weekend at Nebraska. The Tigers defeated the Huskers in the first two games of the weekend set before dropping the series finale. Mizzou won game one of the series, scoring four runs in the 11th inning to take the win. The Tigers did all their damage in the 11th with two outs, getting RBI singles from Trevor Coleman, Jacob Priday and Aaron Senne. Rick Zagone recorded his second career complete game on Saturday as the Tigers picked up a come-from-behind 4-3 win. Zagone faced just three over the minimum over the final five innings and improved to 4-0. Mizzou's 14-game winning streak was snapped as Nebraska took a 16-1 win in the finale. The game ended after seven innings due to the 10-run rule. The Huskers scored 12 times in the fifth inning, which included three home runs. On Tuesday, Creighton handed Missouri its second-straight loss, taking a 4-3 win in Omaha. The Bluejays got an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning from Chad Ogden to drive in the game-winning run.

DRIVING `EM IN
Sophomore Ryan Lollis leads the team with 31 RBI on the year. That ranks eighth 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 seven multi-RBI games including six games in which he has driven in at least three runs.

CLOSING THE DOOR
Freshman Kyle Gibson has record five saves this season and has saves in five of his last eight appearances. In addition to the five saves, he recorded wins, against Cleveland State and Nebraska. 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
Junior Evan Frey had the longest hitting streak of the season, recording a hit in eight-straight games from March 2-15. Sophomore Ryan Lollis, sophomore Kyle Mach and freshman Trevor Coleman have each had seven-game hitting streaks this year. The longest current streaks heading into the series with KU, are three-game streaks held by Frey and Mach.

TAKING A HIT
Through the first 26 games, junior Brock Bond has been hit by a pitch 11 times and senior John McKee has been hit 10 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 .375 and has raised his season average to .333, second best on the team. He had the first four-hit game of the season for the Tigers, 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 2.14 ERA is the fifth best mark in the Big 12 Conference. He has five saves on the year and has struck out 35 batters in 33.2 innings on the mound. Another freshman, Greg Folgia, is third on the squad with 11 appearances on the mound. Included among the 11 appearances is three starts including one against Louisiana-Monroe in which he was perfect through the first four innings of play. Freshman Ryan Allen has appeared in seven games and has nine strikeouts in 10.1 innings. Trevor Coleman and Aaron Senne are two freshmen that have found their way into the Tigers' lineup. Coleman is fourth on the team with a .317 batting average. He has started 17 games for the Tigers, splitting time at catcher with junior Dan Pietroburgo. Senne has started 22 of Mizzou's 26 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 26 games of the 2007 season, Mizzou has a 3.06 ERA, which leads the Big 12 Conference. Opponents are hitting .241 off the Tigers, which is second best in the league and MU's 2.09 walks per nine innings average leads 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 419-297-2 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.

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.

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

UP NEXT
On Tuesday, the Tigers will take on Southern Illinois at GCS Stadium in Sauget, Ill. at 6:30 p.m. Next weekend, Missouri travels to Kansas State for a three-game series which will be played Thursday-Saturday.