March 12, 2009
MIZZOU at TEXAS
MARCH 13-15, 2009 • AUSTIN, TEXAS
| First Pitch | Friday: 6 p.m. / Saturday: 2 p.m. / Sunday: 1 p.m. |
| Location | UFCU Disch-Falk Field - Austin, Texas |
| Series History | MU leads 23-22 |
| Radio | KTGR 1580-AM / KTGR.com |
| Live Video | texassports.com |
| Gametracker | mutigers.com |
FIRST PITCH
Big 12 Conference play will begin this weekend as Mizzou travels to Austin, Texas for a three-game series against the Texas Longhorns. Game one of the series will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, with games to follow at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p. m. on Sunday. The Tigers are 7-8 on the year after defeating Western Illinois 18-4 on Tuesday. Texas enters the weekend with a 12-1 record and is ranked No. 1 in this week's Baseball America poll. Missouri has won eight of its last 10 meetings against the Longhorns and last year won three of the four games between the two teams. Last time MU and UT met in Austin (May 4-6, 2007), the Tigers won two of the three games on the weekend.
SERIES HISTORY
Mizzou has won eight of the last 10 meetings with Texas, including three-of-four matchups last season. MU leads the all-time series with UT, 23-22. Last season, Missouri won two-of-three in the regular season series, then defeated the Longhorns at the Big 12 Championships. The first game in the series came in 1905, when the two teams split a pair of games. In 1963, Missouri and Texas met at the College World Series, with MU taking a 3-2 victory in that contest.
LAST YEAR
April 11-13 -- Taylor Stadium
Missouri took the regular season series with Texas last year, two games to one. The Tigers won the first two games of the series in impressive fashion, before dropping the finale of the weekend. The opener of the series saw Missouri put 31 runs on the board in a 31-12 win. Jacob Priday set a school record with four home runs and nine RBI and six runs scored. [More on this game below]. The Tigers continued the onslaught of Texas by picking up a 13-2 win in game two of the weekend. Through the first two games of the series, the Mizzou had out-scored UT, 44-14. The Tigers hit .500 (43-for-86) in the first two games, having scored 44 runs on 43 hits. They had seven home runs, eight doubles and a slugging percentage of .837. MU dropped the series finale by a score of 9-2, as the Tigers managed just two runs on four hits in the game. Missouri and Texas also met at the Big 12 Tournament, with the Tigers claiming a 3-2 win in that game. Trevor Coleman delivered a single in the bottom of the 10th inning to drive in Ryan Lollis with the game-winning run on the first day of the tournament.
A TEXAS-SIZED VICTORY
Missouri put up 31 runs in its series opener against Texas last season, defeating the Longhorns 31-12. The 31 runs were the most scored by the Tigers since they defeated Truman State 30-0 in 2003. It was also the most runs scored by MU against a conference opponent since a 27-4 win over Nebraska in 1956. The loss was the worst for Texas since a 25-6 defeat against Texas A&M in 1995 and it was the first game in which Texas allowed at least 20 runs since 1998. Every Tiger in the starting lineup had at least one hit and five had at least three. The 26 hits for Missouri tied a school record, which was set in 2005 against Navy. Jacob Priday set a Big 12 Conference record with four home runs and was 5-for-5 on the night. He set the single-game school record with four home runs, nine RBI and six runs scored. Mizzou put up 10 runs in the third inning, which included Priday's second home run, a three run shot. The Tigers had nine hits in the inning, including doubles from Aaron Senne and Greg Folgia. The 10-run inning was the biggest inning for the Tigers since an 11-run second inning against Mississippi Valley State on May 6, 2006.
TIGER PITCHERS SET CAREER MARKS AGAINST BALL STATE
Missouri had two pitchers set new career highs in strikeouts in last weekend's four-game series with Ball State. Junior Kyle Gibson struck out 13 in Friday's series opener. He allowed just one run on six hits and walked only one batter in eight innings pitched to move to 2-1 on the year. Gibson's previous career best was 11 against Toledo last March. On Sunday, sophomore Nick Tepesch struck out a career-high 12, picking up his first win of the season. It was the second straight Sunday in which Tepesch set a new career best after he struck out eight against Arizona State on March 1. In addition, senior Ian Berger matched his career high with nine strikeouts against Ball State in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
HICKS MOVES UP MISSOURI'S ALL-TIME SAVES LIST
Senior Scooter Hicks picked up two saves last weekend in the Ball State series and has recorded a save in each of his last three appearances. The three saves give him 14 for his career, which places him in a tie for fourth place all-time at Missouri. He is tied with Jeff Cornell (1976-78) and is two behind third-place Travis Wendte (2002-06). Scott Black holds the MU record with 19 career saves (1987-90).
FRESHMEN STEP UP FOR MIZZOU
Heading into the game with Western Illinois, freshman Conner Mach is hitting .462 and has nine RBI. Last weekend, Mach was 7-for-13 (.538) against Ball State. Mach played in three of the four games against BSU. Of his seven hits, three were doubles and he hit a home run, his first of his career. He was 6-for-9 in the doubleheader on Saturday, then was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer in Sunday's series finale. Fellow freshman Ryan Gebhart is hitting .333, having played in eight games for MU this year, starting three times. In his first career start on March 6 against Ball State, Gebhart drove in the Tigers' first two runs of the game on a bases loaded single to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Another freshman, Ben Turner has played in 11 games already this year, starting four times. On the pitching side, Mizzou has seen contributions out of the bullpen from freshmen Jeff Emens (seven appearances), Ryan Clubb (five appearances) and Brian Carr (four appearances).
LOLLIS LEADS TIGERS AT THE PLATE
Through the early stretch of the season, senior Ryan Lollis has been the Tigers' most consistent performer. Lollis is hitting .340 and has a team-best 15 RBI. He has recorded a hit in 12 of Missouri's 14 games and has had two three-hit games (against Gonzaga on Feb. 22 and against Western Illinois on March 4). Lollis had an eight-game hitting streak from Feb. 22 March 6. Of his 18 hits on the year, five have gone for extra base hits. He has three doubles, one triple and had a home run against Gonzaga. On March 4, Lollis drove in three runs, going 3-for-4 against Western Illinois. He also scored three runs against WIU. Lollis was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in last June's Major League Baseball Draft, but passed up a chance to turn professional to return to MU.
JAMIESON MOVES INTO SECOND PLACE ON MU'S ALL-TIME WINS LIST
With Missouri's win over Arizona State on March 1, Head Coach Tim Jamieson moved into second place on Mizzou's all-time wins list. Jamieson is 487-337-2 in his 15th year as the Tigers' head coach. His 487 wins put him ahead of legendary former head coach John "Hi" Simmons. Simmons compiled a record of 481-294-3 from 1937-1973, while Gene McArtor is the all-time winningest coach at Missouri with a record of 733-430-3 from 1974-1994. Jamieson, who served as an assistant coach under McArtor from 1988-94, has led the Tigers to seven NCAA Regionals, including each of the last six and is a two-time Conference Coach of the Year. Last fall, the University of Missouri extended Jamieson's contract, keeping him in the MU dugout through at least the 2013 season. With the retirement of Texas Tech's Larry Hays last summer, Jamieson and Baylor coach Steve Smith are now the longest tenured coaches in the Big 12 Conference, as each is in his 15th year as head coach of the respective programs.
ON THE AIR
Once again this year, KTGR 1580-AM is 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 is in his 19th season of calling Tiger Baseball and is joined in the booth by Hudson Guthrie, who returns for his second year as part of the Tigers' broadcast team.
ALL-ACCESS
Video webcast for all Missouri Baseball home games in 2009 is available at mutigers.com as part of Mizzou All-Access. All-Access is the Tiger fans home to live and archived games for Mizzou Athletics, along with coaches' shows, press conferences and much more. For more information, visit mutigers.com and click on the All-Access icon.
UP NEXT
Next Wednesday, Mizzou returns to Taylor Stadium to take on SIU-Edwardsville at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers will host Texas A&M in a three-game series March 20-22 in Columbia to open the home portion of the conference schedule.