May 31, 2007

Schedule:
Friday vs. Kent St., 6:30 p.m.
Saturday vs. Miami or Louisville, 1 p.m./6:30 p.m.
Stadium: Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Video: All-Access on mutigers.com
Live Stats: Gamtracker on mutigers.com
Regional Website: at mutigers.com

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FIRST PITCH
The NCAA Tournament comes to Columbia this weekend as Mizzou hosts the Columbia Regional at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers will be joined in the regional by Miami, Louisville and Kent State. This is the first time that Missouri has hosted an NCAA Regional and is the first NCAA postseason action at Mizzou since 1965, which was prior to the regional format. For ticket information, go to mutigers.com or call 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Columbia).

QUICK HITS
- With Mizzou's victory over Oklahoma State at the Big 12 Tournament, MU picked up its 40th win. The season win total is tied for seventh best in MU history.
- This season marks the second 40-win season for the Tigers under Tim Jamieson.
- The Tigers won a series for the 11th time in 12 tries this year by sweeping Oklahoma State in the final week of the regular season. Missouri won eight of its nine Big 12 series and was a perfect 6-0 in road three-games series this year.
- Freshman Trevor Coleman was named the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year last week, becoming the first Tiger to claim that award.
- Sophomore Aaron Crow and junior Jacob Priday were named to the All-Big 12 Conference First Team, while junior Evan Frey was selected to the Second Team. Sophomore Rick Zagone, sophomore Kyle Mach and freshman Kyle Gibson earned honorable mention honors.
- Tim Jamieson was named Co-Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year. It was the second time in his career he has been named the conference coach of the year. The other time was 1996, his second year as the MU skipper.
- Crow's 3.17 ERA is ninth best in the Big 12. He leads the team with 81 stikeouts and eight wins on the season.
- Missouri's team ERA of 4.10 ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference.
- Priday is hitting .395 over the last 20 games. During that span, he has eight home runs, three triples and eight doubles and has driven in 35 runs.
- Priday had three triples in Big 12 Conference games this season, which tied for the league lead. His 32 RBI in Big 12 games ranked second.
- Frey leads the team with a .346 batting average, which ranks 14th in the Big 12. He recorded MU's first five-hit game of the season in the series finale with Baylor. Frey hit .357 in Big 12 games, which was ninth best in the conference.
- Frey has five triples on the season, which is tied for second in the Big 12. One more would put him in the top 10 in the MU record books for triples in a season.
- Junior Brock Bond has set a new school record with 24 hit-by-pitches this season. He is followed closely by senior John McKee who has been hit 23 times. McKee held the old record of 23 set in 2005.
- Freshman Kyle Gibson picked up his seventh save of the season on April 21 against Baylor, fifth most in the Big 12. The seven saves puts him in a tie for seventh for saves in a season at MU.

THE OPPOSITION
Missouri has no previous meetings with any of the three teams visiting Columbia this weekend. Here's a quick snapshot of the other teams in the Tigers' regional.

Miami (36-22)
Conference: Atlantic Coast
Bid: At-Large
Regional Appearances: 36
Last Appearances: 2006 -- College World Series
CWS Appearances: 22
National Titles: 4 (1982, 1985, 1999, 2001)

Louisville (40-22)
Conference: Big East
Bid: At-Large
Regional Appearances: 2
Last Appearances: 2002 -- Regionals
CWS Appearances: 0
National Titles: 0

Kent State (33-24)
Conference: Mid-American
Bid: Automatic (MAC Tournament Champion)
Regional Appearances: 8
Last Appearances: 2004 -- Regionals
CWS Appearances: 0
National Titles: 0

LAST YEAR IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Missouri made an historic run in the NCAA Tournament last season, advancing to the Super Regionals for the first time in school history. The Tigers were making their four-straight trip to the NCAA Regionals and were the No. 4 seed in the Malibu Regional, hosted by Pepperdine. After dropping the first game of the regional to Pepperdine, Mizzou rallied to win its next four games and take the Regional Championship. Following the loss to Pepperdine, the Tigers defeated UC-Irvine in a 14-inning thriller. They scored two runs in the ninth to force extra innings and in the 14th, Ryan Lollis delivered a pinch-hit single to drive in the game-winning run. The next day the Tigers played 18 innings to stay alive, recording wins over UCLA and Pepperdine. In both games, freshmen pitchers recorded complete games for Mizzou. Rick Zagone helped MU defeat UCLA as he stuck out seven and allowed just one run on six hits. Aaron Crow followed by also allowing just one run on six hits to lead the Tigers to a 4-1 win over Pepperdine to set up a rematch on Monday for the regional title. Missouri jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the rematch and never looked back, adding four runs in the seventh and taking an 8-3 win and the regional title. The Tigers would fall short in the Super Regionals, dropping a pair of games to Cal State-Fullerton by scores of 7-1 and 9-1.

MISSOURI TO HOST ITS FIRST NCAA REGIONAL
For the first time in school history, Missouri will be one of the 16 schools hosting NCAA Regionals this weekend. The last time the Tigers hosted NCAA postseason action was in 1965, when they hosted Saint Louis University in a best two-out-of-three series in Columbia.

TIGERS MAKE IT FIVE-STRAIGHT NCAA TOURNAMENTS
Mizzou is one of just 17 schools in the nation that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons. Only two Big 12 schools (MU and Texas) can make that claim.

COMPILING THE WINS
Mizzou's 40 wins on the year is tied for the seventh most in school history. The school record is 46 set by the 1976 squad. This season is the second 40-win year for MU under Tim Jamieson and is the first time the Tigers have reached the 40-win mark before the NCAA Tournament under Jamieson.

MU RECORDS BEST BIG 12 FINISH
The Tigers' second-place finish in the Big 12 Conference is their best in the 11 years of the Big 12. Their previous best finish was fourth place in 2003 and 2005. The second place showing is the best league finish for Mizzou since it won the Big Eight Conference regular season title in 1996.

JAMIESON NAMED CO-BIG 12 COACH OF THE YEAR
Head Coach Tim Jamieson was named the Co-Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year last week. It is the second time in his career he has earned conference coach of the year honors. Jamieson led a team picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 to a second-place showing and its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

COLEMAN LEADS MIZZOU'S ALL-BIG 12 SELECTIONS
MU freshman Trevor Coleman was named the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year last week. Coleman is second on the team with eight home runs and is hitting .277 on the season. Two Tigers, junior Jacob Priday and sophomore Aaron Crow, were named to the All-Big 12 Conference First Team. Junior Evan Frey was a second team, while sophomore Rick Zagone, sophomore Kyle Mach and freshman Kyle Gibson were honorable mention selections. Junior Brock Bond was named to the All-Big 12 Tournament Team last week after hit .615 in the Tigers' three games in Oklahoma City.

TIGERS SET RECORD FOR WINS IN THE BIG 12
Mizzou set a new high this season with 19 wins in Big 12 Conference games. The Tigers finished the year 19-8 in the league. The previous high 17 wins in 1998, the second year of the Big 12 Conference. At that time, Iowa State still had a baseball program, meaning teams played 30 conference games as opposed to the 27 that are now on the schedule each year. The most ever conference victories for a MU team came in 1996, when the Tigers were 20-8 in the final season of the Big Eight Conference.

TAKING THE SERIES
With its series win at Oklahoma State in the final week of the regular season, Missouri capped off another series victory, its 11th series win in 12 tries this year. The Tigers won eight of its nine Big 12 series this year and were a perfect 5-0 in road series in the conference and won all six of its road series overall.

WINNING THE CLOSE ONES
Missouri has been involved in 12 one-run ball games this season and has a record of 11-1 in those games. Eleven games this season have been decided in the final inning, with MU taking wins in six of those games. The Tigers were just 5-11 in one-run games last year and were 3-4 in game decided in the final inning.

2K WINS
After its victory over Oklahoma State at the Big 12 Tournament, Mizzou has now won 1,995 games in its history, putting it five wins away from becoming the 36th program in the NCAA to reach the 2000-win mark. MU is 1,995-1,280-20 in 113 years of baseball.

TAKING A HIT
Sophomore Brock Bond has set a new school record with 24 hit-by-pitches this season. Close behind is senior John McKee, who has 23 HBPs on the year. Bond broke the record which was held by McKee, who was hit by 23 pitches as a sophomore in 2005.

TIGERS TURN UP THE OFFENSE
In the final 16 games of the regular season, Mizzou had a team batting average of .296 and hit 22 home runs. The Tigers had five triples and 34 doubles during that stretch and scored 128 runs. That is an average of eight runs per game. MU was 13-3 during that span.

PRIDAY GOES FOR EXTRAS
Junior Jacob Priday's had 10-straight hits from April 27-May 11 that went for extra-bases. During that stretch, Priday had five home runs, two triples and three doubles. He was named the Co-Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on April 30 after he hit .545 (6-for-11) in the Tigers' three-game sweep of Texas Tech. Priday drove in nine runs and scored six in the series. Priday connected for a two-run home run in the series opener, then had two hits in game two with an RBI triple in the first inning and a two-run double in the third. He finished the weekend with a two-home run game in the series finale. After he drove in a run with a double in the first, he hit a two-run homer in the third inning. Priday then hit his fifth home run of the season to lead off the sixth inning. In the series at Texas, Priday doubled and homered in the series opener, as he went 2-for-4 with two RBI on Friday. After going hitless on Saturday, Priday tripled in Sunday's series finale. He opened the three-game set with Oklahoma last weekend by hitting a home run in the bottom of the first inning. Priday singled in the third inning, snapping his string of 10-straight extra base hits, but hit a home run in his next at bat.

DEEP FREY'D
Junior Evan Frey leads the Tigers with a .347 batting average, which is 12th best in the Big 12 Conference. He 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. 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.

DRIVING `EM IN
MU has had three players record six-RBI games this season. The first was Ryan Lollis, who did it against Florida International on Feb. 10, in the Tigers' second game of the season. Two Tigers put up a 6-RBI game in the three-game series against Oklahoma. Junior Jacob Priday drove in six in a 4-for-4 performance with two home runs in the series opener against Oklahoma. Freshman Aaron Senne was 3-for-4 with six RBI as he fell just a single shy of hitting for the cycle in Sunday's finale against OU.

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 .321 and has raised his season average to .306, which ranks third on the team. He had his second four-hit game of the season when he was 4-for-5 with three RBI against Baylor on April 20. Mach's first four-hit game of the year came against Texas State on March 10.

CLOSING THE DOOR
Freshman Kyle Gibson recorded his seventh save of the season on April 21 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, Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma State.

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 leads the team with 26 appearances and has seven saves on the season. In addition to the seven saves, he has seven wins, compiling a 7-3 record. Another freshman, Greg Folgia, is second on the squad with 24 appearances on the mound. Among the 24 appearances are five starts including one against Louisiana-Monroe in which he was perfect through the first four innings of play. Trevor Coleman was named the Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year last week and is second on the team with eight home runs on the year. Aaron Senne is hitting .276 and matched a team best with an eight-game hitting streak from April 7-21.