April 1, 2008

MIZZOU VS. WESTERN ILLINOIS - TUE., APRIL 1
MIZZOU VS. LINCOLN- WED., APRIL 2

First Pitch:
Tuesday vs. WIU, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday vs. Lincoln, 6:30 p.m.
Series History:
vs. WIU: MU leads 19-4
vs. Lincoln: MU leads 10-1

Stadium: Taylor Stadium
Capacity: 2,200

Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Video: mutigers.com
Live Gametracker: mutigers.com

COMPLETE GAMENOTES

FIRST PITCH
Missouri will open a five-game homestand with a pair of midweek games this week at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers will take on Western Illinois on Tuesday and Lincoln on Wednesday, with both games starting at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers enter the week 20-5 after losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. Western Illinois has a record of 4-14 after sweeping a three-game series with Chicago State last weekend. Lincoln is 7-22 on the year, having loss its last five games.

SERIES HISTORIES
Mizzou is 19-4 all-time against Western Illinois after taking a 6-3 win last season over the Leathernecks. Missouri has won five in a row in the series and 14 of the last 15 meetings between the two teams. MU leads the all-time series with Lincoln, 10-1. The last meeting between the two teams came in2003, when Missouri took a 9-1 victory. The Blue Tigers lone win in the series came in 2000, when they defeated MU 4-2.

MIZZOU HOLDS FOURTH SPOT IN BASEBALL AMERICA POLL
Mizzou is ranked No. 4 in this week's Baseball America poll, released on Monday. The Tigers climbed to No. 2 in last week's poll, its highest ever mark. MU finds itself ranked 12th in Collegiate Baseball's Top 30, No. 7 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll and 17th in the NCBWA poll.

LAST TIME OUT
Mizzou closed out a five-game road trip with its first road conference series of the year at Texas Tech in Lubbock. After taking game one of the series, the Tigers dropped the next two with each game decided in the bottom of the ninth. On Friday, junior Aaron Crow extended his scoreless innings streak to 33.2 with eight shutout innings of work as Missouri took a 1-0 win. Crow retired the first seven batters he faced and allowed just two hits to move to 6-0 on the year. The only run of the game came in the top of the first inning, when senior Jacob Priday singled to drive in sophomore Greg Folgia. In each of the next two games, the Tigers carried leads into the ninth inning, but Tech rallied to win each game. Junior Ian Berger struck out six and allowed one run on four hits in eight innings pitched, but took a no decision. Missouri led 2-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, but the Red Raiders got a walk and three-straight singles to score twice and hand the Tigers' their first loss in Big 12 play. On Sunday, Texas Tech scored 11 runs over the final three innings, including a six-run bottom the ninth to claim the series win with a 15-11 victory in the finale. Trailing by two in the bottom of the ninth, TTU tied the game and then Doug Thennis hit a walk-off grand slam to end the game.

SHUT 'EM DOWN
The Missouri pitching staff recorded four shutout in 2007. Already this season, the Tigers have five. MU has twice claimed back-to-back shutouts om 2008. Junior Aaron Crow picked up complete game shutouts in back-to-back starts against Toledo (March 14) and Baylor (March 21) and teamed with freshman Nick Tepesch to shutout Texas Tech (March 28). Junior Ian Berger and sophomore Greg Folgia teamed up to shutout Toledo in game two of that series. Berger then combined with Tepesch to record a shutout in game two of the Baylor series.

14-GAME WINNING STREAK TIES FOURTH LONGEST AT MIZZOU
From March 2 through March25, Missouri won 14-straight games, matching the fourth-longest winning streak in school history. The Tigers also won 14 in a row in 2007 and 1985. The record is a pair of 16-game winning streaks in 1981 and 1917. In 2005, the Tigers put together are 15-game streak.

2008 SQUAD TIED FOR QUICKEST TO 20 WINS
Missouri's 20-3 start to the season matched their best record ever after 23 games. Mizzou has won 20 of its first 23 games twice before (1964, 1982).

SENNE DELIVERS BIG IN RETURN TO MINNESOTA
It was quite a homecoming for Mizzou sophomore Aaron Senne last Tuesday as No. 2 Missouri defeated Minnesota 17-8 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Senne, a native of Rochester, Minn., tied a school record with eight RBI, hit two home runs and had a career-high four hits in his return to his home state. With a large contingent of family and friends in attendance, Senne was 4-for-4 with eight runs driven in and two runs scored. He took over the team lead with six home runs on the season and increased his team-leading RBI total to 32. In his first at-bat, Senne connected on a two-run homer to right centerfield to give the Tigers the early 2-0 lead. He singled in each of his next two at-bats, driving in runs on both hits. MU sent 15 batters to the plate in the sixth inning, with three of the nine runs scoring on Senne's second home run of the night and his sixth of the season. Senne's drove in his eighth run of the game when he was hit-by-a-pitch with the bases loaded in his second trip to the plate in the sixth inning. Senne's eight RBI matches Marcus Adler's eight RBI game against Evansville in 1986. Senne has driven in at least five runs in a game three times this season. Tuesday was his second two-home run game this season, as he also hit two against Indiana State on March 9.

TIGERS TAME THE BEARS
Missouri recorded an impressive sweep of then-No. 14 Baylor March 21-23 at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers did not allow an earned run in the series and outscored the Bears 22-2. Junior Aaron Crow threw his second-straight shutout to open the series, as the Tigers defeated Baylor, 7-0 on Friday. Crow struck out 10, while allowing just three hits. On Saturday, junior Ian Berger followed Crow's lead, by pitching seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit as the Tigers shutout the Bears again, 3-0. Berger struck out eight and lowered his season ERA to 0.30. Freshman Nick Tepesch pitched a perfect final two innings to pick up his third save of the year. MU completed the three-game sweep with a 12-2 run-rule victory on Sunday. Sophomore Kyle Gibson allowed just two unearned runs and struck out nine, earning his fifth win of the year. Along with the 0.00 ERA for the weekend, the Tigers struck out 28 batters and Baylor only managed a .098 batting average in the series. The sweep was the first by either team in the all-time series.

SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT
Junior Aaron Crow, a preseason All-American, has a string of 33.2 scoreless innings pitched and has not allowed a run in Big12 Conference play this year. He has won all six of his starts and has an ERA of 0.84. On March 14, Crow struck out a career-high 15 batters against Toledo, bettering his previous best of 10 set just two weeks prior against Cal. Only two Toledo batters advanced beyond first base, as Crow allowed seven hits and did not walk a batter. Starting with the final out of the fourth inning and continuing through the eighth inning, Crow struck out 11 of the 15 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the eighth. He threw 107 pitches, 87 of which were strikes. He recorded a second-straight complete-game shutout with a 10-strikeout performance against Baylor on March 21 Crow was selected as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week following that performance. Last Friday, Crow turned in eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out nine against Texas Tech.

BERGER, WELL DONE
Junior Ian Berger leads the Tigers and the Big 12 Conference with a 0.47 ERA heading into the week. Berger is 3-0 on the year and has allowed just two earned runs in 38.1 innings pitched this season. Berger had a string of 26.1 scoreless innings snapped last Friday against Texas Tech. He struck out six and allowed just one run on four hits in eight inning pitched against TTU. He has allowed just three earned runs in his last eight appearances dating back to last season, a span of 46.1 innings. Berger has started five times this season, earning wins against San Diego State, Toledo and Baylor. He allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings pitched against San Diego State, to pick up his first win of the year. He pitched eight scoreless innings against Toledo, allowing just four hits to earn his second victory. Berger struck out eight against Baylor last Saturday, allowing just one hit in seven innings. A double by BU's second batter of the game was the lone hit for the Bears on the afternoon. Following the double, Berger retired the next 10 batters he faced and 14 of the next 15. Along with his team-best ERA, he leads the squad with an opposing batting average of .145. He has a career record of 8-1 at MU.

PRIDAY CONTINUES TO CLIMB MU'S RECORDS LIST
Jacob Priday has been very impressive in the early part of his senior season. He is hitting .365, which is ninth best in the Big 12. Among his 27 hits are five home runs and eight doubles. Priday missed five games from March 8-15 with an abdominal injury, but he returned to the lineup on March 16 against Toledo. The five home runs on the year give him 38 for his career, which places him in a tie for third on the MU all-time home runs list with Griffin Moore (1997-98). The school record is 45 (Mike Rogers, 1984-87). Priday is also moving up the charts in the RBI category. He enters the week having driven in 203 career runs, which is second all-time at Mizzou. The record is 222 (Ryan Fry, 1995-98).

FOLGIA DOES IT ALL
Sophomore Greg Folgia had just two hits in 18 at-bats as a freshman last year. But after the first 25 games of the 2008 campaign, Folgia has a team-high 30 hits with a .323 batting average. He had a 10-game hitting streak snapped on March 19 against South Dakota State. The streak was the longest by a Tiger since Brock Bond hit safely in 11-straight games May 12-June 2, 2007. In the first game of the South Dakota State series, Folgia was in the lineup as the pitcher/designated hitter. He earned the win on the mound, as he struck out seven in five scoreless innings pitched. He struck out the first five batters of the game and did not walk a batter. Meanwhile, at the plate in that game, Folgia was 3-for-5, with an RBI and three runs scored.

TAKING THE FIREPOWER OUT OF THE ROCKETS
Mizzou had three-straight starting pitchers record career highs in strikeouts against Toledo on March 14-16. The weekend started with junior Aaron Crow striking out 15 in the series opener. The following day, junior Ian Berger fanned a career-best nine in eight shutout innings. With the wins in the first two games against Toledo, Missouri recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time since sweeping a doubleheader with Youngstown State last year by scores of 11-0 and 11-0. On Sunday, sophomore Kyle Gibson's 11 strikeouts set a new career high for him, while he allowed just one run on four hits in eight innings.

SHARING THE SAVES
The Tigers have nine saves as a team this year, with five pitchers earning those seven saves. Mizzou had four pitchers earn saves all of last season. Freshman Nick Tepesch picked up the save against Texas Tech last Friday to extend his team lead in saves to four. Junior Scooter Hicks has two saves on the season, which gives him eight for his career. Freshmen Kelly Fick, sophomore Ryan Allen and junior Ryan Gargano have also recorded a save this season.

TAKING A HIT
Through the first 25 games of the season, the Tigers have been hit by a pitch 53 times. Missouri was hit by 22 pitches in the first week alone, averaging 5.5 HBPs per game through the first four games. The Tigers had three-straight games from Feb. 23-25 in which six batters were hit by pitches. The school record for hit-by-pitches in a year is 108, set in 2005. MU came close to breaking that record last year, with 107 HBPs. If it were to keep up the current pace, Missouri would finish the regular season with 125 hit-by-pitches. Senior Lee Fischer leads the team with 10 HBPs, while sophomore Aaron Senne has seven hit-by-pitches after being hit four times against Minnesota. Junior Kyle Mach has also been hit six times. Brock Bond holds the MU record for hit-by-pitches in a season, with 25 in 2007.

TIGERS PICKED SECOND IN BIG 12 POLL
The Big 12 Conference baseball coaches have picked Mizzou to finish second in the league, according to the 2008 Big 12 Preseason Poll. The Tigers garnered 71 points, including one first-place vote, finishing behind only Texas, who received 80 points, including eight first-place votes. The ranking is the highest for the Tigers since the start of the Big 12 Conference in 1997. Their previous best came in 2006, when the coaches voted Missouri third. Last season, MU was selected eighth in the preseason poll, but ended the year second.

Aaron Crow NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Mizzou junior pitcher has been named to multiple Preseason All-American teams. Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association have all selected Crow as a Preseason All-American. Crow was a first team All-Big 12 selection last season, leading the Tigers with nine wins on the year, compiling a 9-4 record with a 3.59 ERA. He struck out a team-high 90 batters on the season and had two complete games. He was also named to the preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the nation's top player.

CROW, GIBSON EARN SUMMER LEAGUE RECOGNITION
Pitchers Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson were each listed among Baseball America's top prospects of the Cape Cod League. Crow and Gibson each spent last summer in the Cape Cod League, which remains one of the most talented leagues in summer baseball. Crow was named by Baseball America as the No. 1 prospect of the league. He had a Cape Cod best 0.67 ERA and touched 98 mph on the radar gun pitching for Falmouth. Baseball America quoted one National League scouting director as saying, "If the draft was tomorrow, Crow would go No. 1." Gibson, who also pitched for Falmouth, was rated as the third best prospect in the league. He struck out 51 batters in his eight starts, recording a 1.17 ERA.

TIGERS MAKE IT FIVE-STRAIGHT NCAA TOURNAMENTS
Mizzou is one of just 18 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. The Tigers have made NCAA Regionals in each of the last five seasons and last year hosted the school's first-ever Regional. In 2006, Mizzou advanced to the Super Regionals for the first time in school history.

UP NEXT
The Tigers will continue their homestand with a three-game series against Oklahoma State this weekend at Taylor Stadium. Game one of the weekend set will be Friday at 6:30 p.m. Satruday's game will start at 4 p.m. and will be televised by the Mizzou Sports Network (FSN Midwest and MetroSports). Sunday's finale will get underway at 1 p.m.