April 12, 2007

MIZZOU vs. TEXAS A&M
First Pitch:
Game 1: Friday, April 13, 6:30 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, April 14, 2 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, April 15, 1 p.m.
Series History: A&M leads 29-24
Last Year: MU swept series in College Station
Stadium: Taylor Stadium
Capacity: 2,200
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: Gametracker on mutigers.com
Live Audio: All-Access on mutigers.com

MISSOURI TIGERS
Overall Record: 24-9
Big 12 Conference Record: 6-3
Last 10/Last 5: 6-4/4-1
Streak: Won 2
Head Coach: Tim Jamieson
Career Record: 423-299-2 (13th year)
Record at MU: 423-299-2 (13th year)
Website: mutigers.com

TEXAS A&M
Overall Record: 28-7
Big 12 Conference Record: 6-5
Last 10/Last 5: 6-4/4-1
Streak: Won 1
Head Coach: Rob Childress
Career Record: 53-37-1 (2nd year)
Record at TAMU: 53-37-1 (2nd year)
Website: aggieathleticscom

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FIRST PITCH
A pair of ranked teams will face off at Taylor Stadium this weekend as No. 25 Mizzou host No. 16 Texas A&M in a three-game series. The Tigers are tied for second place in the Big 12 Conference with a 6-3 conference record, while Texas A&M is fourth at 6-5 in the league. The series will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday and continue at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m Sunday.

QUICK HITS
- Missouri has climbed to No. 25 in this week's Baseball America Top 25 and remains at No. 29 in the Collegiate Baseball's Top 30. The Tigers are the also receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll and the NCBWA Poll.
- The Tigers have won all six of their three-game series this season, including sweeps in the first three series.
- Sophomore Rick Zagone was named Co-National Pitcher of the Week and Co-Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday after recording a one-hit shutout last Saturday at Kansas State to improve to 6-0 on the season. His six wins ranks fifth in the conference.
- Zagone's shutout was the first in a Big 12 game this season. There have been five complete games in Big 12 games, with two recorded by Zagone.
- Missouri's team ERA of 3.69 ranks third in the Big 12 Conference. - Sophomore Aaron Crow's 2.95 ERA in eighth best in the Big 12, while freshman Kyle Gibson is 12th with a 3.29 ERA and freshman Greg Folgia has a 3.67 mark, which is 18th in the conference.
- Freshman Kyle Gibson has five saves on the year, fifth most in the Big 12. His next save will put him into the top 10 for saves in a season at MU.
- Opponents are hitting just .208 off of Gibson, which ranks fifth in the Big 12.
- In MU's four games during the week of March 26-April 1, junior Evan Frey hit .550 with two home runs and nine RBI. The two homers were the first of his career.
- Frey is tied for fifth in the Big 12 Conference with 39 runs scored on the year.
- Mizzou is 18-4 in its last 22 games. Included in that stretch is a 14-game winning streak from March 2-23, which was the longest for the Tigers since a 15-game streak in 2005. In 2006, the longest winning streak was six games.

SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Texas A&M is 28-7 on the season and 6-5 in the Big 12 Conference. The Aggies are in fourth place in the league after splitting two games with Texas Tech last weekend. The final game of their series with TTU was cancelled. The Aggies are averaging 7.6 runs per game and have had at least 10 hits in 12 of their last 14 games. Brandon Hicks has a 17-game hitting streak in tact heading into the weekend series with Mizzou and his hitting .370, which is third on the team behind Parker Dalton (.422) and Blake Stouffer (.407). Dalton and Stouffer rank third and fourth respectively in the Big 12. Kyle Nicholson, who is slated to start Friday's game, leads the conference with a 1.30 ERA and is 7-1 on the year. Rob Childress is in his second season as the A&M head coach, holding a record of 53-37-1 at the helm of the Aggies.

SERIES HISTORY
Missouri swept Texas A&M last season in College Station and has won the last six, picking up a sweep in 2005 also. A&M still leads the overall series, holding a 29-24 advantage all-time. Last year, the Tigers opened the series in College Station with a 3-1 win behind an eight-strikeout performance by Nathan Culp. Culp allowed just one unearned run on four hits in 7.2 innings on the mound. In game two, Missouri scored a run on a wild pitch in the top of the 12th inning to take a 6-5 win. MU had come-from-behind to take the lead in the top of the ninth, before the Aggies tied it in the bottom half of the inning to force extra innings. Mizzou completed the sweep with a 3-0 win in game three, as Rick Zagone recorded the victory in his first career start. He allowed just two hits in 5.1 scoreless innings to get the win.

LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers won their sixth series of the season by taking two-of-three from Kansas State last weekend in Manhattan. MU dropped game one of the weekend, falling 12-0 to KSU. It was the first time the Tigers had been shutout in nearly a year. Mizzou responded by winning the next two games of the series. Sophomore Rick Zagone struck out a career-high 11 batters and earned a complete game shutout in a 3-0 win. Zagone had a no-hitter in to the ninth inning. A single in the bottom of the ninth would be the only hit allowed by Zagone. The Tigers took the series by picking up a 7-6 win in 12 innings on Sunday. Freshman Trevor Coleman led off the top of the 12th inning with his fourth home run of the season, which gave Missouri the win and with it, the series victory. Mizzou's game at Saint Louis, which was scheduled for Tuesday, was rained out. No plans have been made to reschedule.

ZAGONE EARNS NATIONAL AND CONFERENCE HONORS
Sophomore Rick Zagone earned multiple honors this week, as he was named the NCBWA Co-National Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday, one day after he earned Co-Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week. Last Saturday, Zagone recorded his second complete game in three Big 12 starts this season, as he picked up the win in the Tigers' 3-0 win over Kansas State. Zagone carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning, as a base hit with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning was all that stood between Zagone and a no-hitter. He struck out a career-high 11 batters and remained unbeaten as he improved to 6-0 on the season. The complete game shutout was the first by a Big 12 pitcher in a conference game this season. There have been just five complete games in Big 12 games this season, with Zagone claiming two of the five. The complete game was the second in the last three starts for Zagone who recorded the complete game win against Nebraska on March 24. Zagone now has three career complete games, all three coming away from home. Zagone's 2.88 ERA in conference games is sixth in the Big 12, while his three wins in Big 12 play ranks second and the .196 average for opposing hitters is fourth best in the league.

DEEP FREY'D
Junior Evan Frey capped off a week from March 26-April 1, in which he hit .550 over four games with a walk-off home run on April 1 to give the Tigers a 10-9 win in the series finale against Kansas. In MU's four games of that week, Frey went 11-of-20, with two home runs and nine RBI. Against Creighton, Frey was 4-for-4, recording the Tigers' second 4-hit game of the season. He opened the series against Kansas with two hits, including a double and two RBI. Frey then drove in five runs in game two against the Jayhawks, going 3-for-6 with a home run. He finished the week by going 2-for-5, with the second hit of the day being the walk-off homer coming with the Tigers trailing by a run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Frey leads the team with a .342 batting average on the season.

DRIVING `EM IN
Sophomore Ryan Lollis leads the team with 31 RBI on the year. That ranks 12th 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
In addition to the five saves that freshman Kyle Gibson has recorded this season, he also has wins, against Youngstown State, Cleveland State, Nebraska and Kansas. 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. Freshman Trevor Coleman and sophomore Kyle Mach and Ryan Lollis have each had seven-game streaks this season. Junior Brock Bond's four-game streak is the longest current streak.

TAKING A HIT
Through the first 33 games, junior Brock Bond has been hit by a pitch 14 times and senior John McKee has been hit 13 times. As a sophomore in 2005, McKee set a school record with 23 hit-by-pitches.

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 .360 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 3.29 ERA is the 12th best mark in the Big 12 Conference. He has five saves on the year and is tied for the team lead in appearances with 15. Another freshman, Greg Folgia, is third on the squad with 13 appearances on the mound. Included among the 13 appearances are four starts including one against Louisiana-Monroe in which he was perfect through the first four innings of play. Freshman Ryan Allen has appeared in nine games and has 14 strikeouts in 13.0 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 .296 batting average. He has started 23 games for the Tigers, splitting time at catcher with junior Dan Pietroburgo. Senne has started 28 of Mizzou's 33 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 33 games of the 2007 season, Mizzou has a 3.69 ERA, which is third best in the Big 12 Conference. Opponents are hitting .246 off the Tigers, which is third best in the league and MU's 2.67 walks per nine innings average ranks third in the Big 12. The Tigers have already recorded four shutouts on the season, including a 3-0 win over Kansas State last Saturday, as sophomore Rick Zagone one-hit the Wildcats, allowing KSU's lone hit in the bottom of the ninth. MU recorded 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 423-299-2 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.

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. For updated stats on former Tigers in professional baseball, visit mutigers.com.

UP NEXT
Mizzou will travel to Springfield, Mo. next Tuesday to face Missouri State at 7 p.m. Next weekend, the Tigers will take on Baylor in Waco, Texas with games at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 1 p.m. on Sunday.