April 24, 2007

MIZZOU vs. KANSAS
First Pitch: Wednesday, April 25, 7 p.m.
Series History: Mizzou leads 208-120-2
Last Meeting: MU took 2-of-3 in series in Columbia March 30-April 1
Stadium: Kauffman Stadium
Capacity: 40,625
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: Gametracker on mutigers.com

MISSOURI TIGERS
Overall Record: 28-12
Big 12 Conference Record: 9-6
Last 10/Last 5: 6-4/3-2
Streak: Lost 1
Head Coach: Tim Jamieson
Career Record: 427-302-2 (13th year)
Record at MU: 427-302-2 (13th year)
Website: mutigers.com

KANSAS JAYHAWKS
Overall Record: 20-25
Big 12 Conference Record: 6-12
Last 10/Last 5: 3-7/1-4
Streak: Won 1
Head Coach: Ritch Price
Career Record: 382-365-2 (13th year)
Record at KU: 165-137 (5th year)
Website: kuathletics.com

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FIRST PITCH
Just over three weeks after taking two-of-three from Kansas in Columbia, Mizzou will face the Jayhawks again on Wednesday. This week's game, which will not count as a conference matchup, will be played at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. The Tigers are in third place in the Big 12 Conference with a 9-6 league record and are 28-12 overall. Kansas enters Wednesday's game with a 20-25 overall mark and a 6-12 Big 12 record.

QUICK HITS
- Mizzou won a series for the seventh time in eight tries this year, taking two-of-three against Baylor last weekend. The Tigers have won four of their five Big 12 series.
- MU pounded out 18 hits in Friday's series opener at Baylor, as each player in the lineup had a hit and five recorded at least two hits. The 18 hits were the second most hits for the Tigers this season, trailing only the 20-hit performance against Saint Louis on March 14.
- On Saturday, Missouri put up its highest run total against a Big 12 Conference opponent in over two years, defeating Baylor 14-11. The 14 runs are the most scored by Mizzou since putting up 19 against Mississippi Valley State on May 6, 2006. It is the most runs scored against a Big 12 opponent since a 25-0 win over Texas Tech on April 1, 2005.
- Junior Evan Frey was 5-for-5 on Sunday, recording MU's first five-hit game of the year. The last Tiger to record five hits in a game was Jacob Priday against Florida on Feb. 24, 2006.
- Frey leads the team with a .354 batting average, which is 13th best in the Big 12 Conference. He is hitting .358 in Big 12 games, which ranks sixth.
- Sophomore Aaron Crow's 2.54 ERA is tied for second best in the Big 12 Conference.
- Missouri's team ERA of 3.83 ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference. - Freshman Kyle Gibson picked up his seventh save of the season on Saturday against Baylor, fourth most in the Big 12. The seven saves puts him in a tie for seventh for saves in a season at MU.
- Sophomore Rick Zagone was named the Big 12 and National Pitcher of the Week after he recorded a one-hit shutout over Kansas State on April 7. He also had a complete game against Nebraska on March 24 and is one of just two pitchers in the Big 12 to have two complete games in conference play this season.

SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS
Kansas is 20-25 on the season and 6-12 in the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks are coming off a series at Texas Tech, in which it defeated TTU in the series finale after dropping the first two games of the weekend. Kansas had lost four-straight games before defeating Texas Tech on Sunday. The Jayhawks have three Big 12 Conference series left on its schedule starting with a trip to Oklahoma this weekend. They will face Kansas State in a split series and then host Nebraska in the last weekend of the season.

SERIES HISTORY
Missouri leads the all-time series with Kansas 208-120-2 after taking two of three in the series in Columbia earlier this season. Last season, MU took game one of the three-game series before dropping the next two games. Kansas then defeated the Tigers in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Earlier this season, Mizzou dropped game one of a three-game series in Columbia to KU, before taking the next two games.

EARLIER THIS YEAR
Mizzou and Kansas staged an exciting three-game series earlier this year in Columbia, with the Tigers taking the series by winning two-of-three. Kansas took the opening game, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-5 victory. The Tigers broke a 4-4 tie with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning and had the Jayhawks down to the final strike before back-to-back home runs gave Kansas the lead and the eventual win. Missouri evened the series by holding on for an 8-7 win in game two of the series. Junior Evan Frey hit his first career home run in the bottom of the fifth inning, a three-run shot that put Mizzou up 5-4. The Tigers led by three heading to the ninth and after Kansas scored twice, MU was able to stop the Jayhawk rally. In the series finale, Mizzou trailed by a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Frey gave Mizzou the series win in walk-off fashion. Frey connected for his second home run in as many days and just his second career homer. The two-run shot gave the Tigers the 10-9 win and the series victory. Missouri had an 8-0 lead after four innings, but lost the lead and fell behind when KU scored twice in the top of the ninth.

MIZZOU WINS BORDER SHOWDOWN
Mizzou has clinched the 2006-07 Border Showdown after the Tiger softball team swept a doubleheader with KU last week. MU currently leads 22-12 with a maximum of 6.5 points still available. Wednesday's game will not count as part of the Border Showdown. Missouri has won the Border Showdown three of the five years the competition has been in place, winning in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

LAST TIME OUT
Mizzou won is fourth Big 12 Conference series last weekend by taking two of three against Baylor in Waco, Texas. The Tigers opened with an 11-4 win on Friday night. Sophomore Aaron Crow retired the first 13 batters of the game and struck out six in seven innings to pick up his fifth win of the season. Sophomore Kyle Mach recorded his second four-hit game of the season as he led the Tigers to an 18-hit performance on Friday. Mizzou took a 14-11 win in the second game of the weekend, which included a nine-run fourth inning for MU. A pair of freshmen, Trevor Coleman and Aaron Senne, each homered in the game and Senne drove in a career-best four runs. Baylor avoided the sweep by taking an 8-3 win in Sunday's finale. Junior Evan Frey was 5-for-5, becoming the first Tigers since Jacob Priday in February of 2006 to record a five-hit game.

CLOSING THE DOOR
Freshman Kyle Gibson recorded his seventh save of the season on Saturday against Baylor. The seven saves move him into a tie for seventh place for saves in a season at MU. The record is 12, set by Ryan Stegall in 2000. In addition to the seven saves that Gibson has recorded this season, he also has wins, against Youngstown State, Cleveland State, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas A&M.

DEEP FREY'D
Junior Evan Frey capped off MU's series with Kansas earlier this year with a walk-off home run to give the Tigers a 10-9 win in the series finale. In MU's four games of that week, Frey went 11-of-20 (.550), with two home runs and nine RBI. Against Creighton, Frey was 4-for-4, recording the Tigers' second four-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. Last Sunday, Frey had a career-high five hits, finishing 5-for-5 in the series finale at Baylor. It was the first time a Tiger has had five hits since Jacob Priday did it against Florida on Feb. 24, 2006. Frey leads the Tigers with a .354 average, which ranks 13th in the Big 12.

STREAK FREAKS
Freshman Aaron Senne had his eight-game hitting streak snapped last Sunday at Baylor. The eight-games streak matched junior Evan Frey's streak from March 2-15 as the longest for Mizzou this season. Freshman Trevor Coleman and sophomore Kyle Mach and Ryan Lollis have each had seven-game streaks this season. Frey and junior Jacob Priday have the longest current streaks at four games heading into Wednesday.

TAKING A HIT
Through the first 40 games, senior John McKee has been hit 17 times and junior Brock Bond has been hit by a pitch 16 times. McKee holds the school record for hit by a pitches in a season, as he took 23 HBPs as a sophomore in 2005.

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 .339, which ranks second on the team and 20th in the conference. He had his second four-hit game of the season when he was 4-for-5 with three RBI against Baylor last Friday. Mach's first four-hit game of the year came against Texas State on March 10.

2K WINS
Missouri's win over Baylor last Saturday was the 1,983rd win in school history, putting it 17 win away from becoming the 36th program in the NCAA to reach the 2000-win mark. Mizzou is 1,983-1,276-20 in 113 years of baseball.

ZAGONE EARNS NATIONAL AND CONFERENCE HONORS
Sophomore Rick Zagone was named the NCBWA Co-National Pitcher of the Week on April 10, one day after he earned Co-Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week. On April 7, 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.

FRESHMEN MAKE IMPACT
The 2007 freshman class has quickly made an impact on the Tigers. On the mound, freshman Kyle Gibson's lead the team with 20 appearances and has seven saves on the season. In addition to the seven saves, he has five wins, compiling a 5-3 record. Another freshman, Greg Folgia, is third on the squad with 15 appearances on the mound. Among the 15 appearances are five 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. Aaron Senne's average of .297 and Trevor Coleman's .290 mark are fourth and fifth respectively on the team. Coleman leads the team with five home runs and Senne matched a team best with an eight-game hitting streak from April 7-21.

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 427-302-2 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.

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
This weekend, the Tigers will return to Taylor Stadium, hosting Texas Tech in a three-game series opening at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The series will continue at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Sunday's series finale will be broadcast on Metro Sports in Kansas City and Fox Sports Midwest with Dan McLaughlin and former Mizzou player and coach Gene McArtor calling the action.