April 28, 2009
MIZZOU vs EASTERN ILLINOIS
APRIL 28, 2009 -- O'FALLON, MO.
| First Pitch | 6:30 p.m. |
| Stadium | T.R. Hughes Ballpark - O'Fallon, Mo. |
| Series History | MU leads 4-0 |
| Last Year | MU def. EIU, 8-6 |
| Radio | KTGR 1580-AM / KTGR.com |
| Gametracker | mutigers.com |
MIZZOU at MISSOURI STATE
APRIL 29, 2009 -- SPRINGFIELD, MO.
| First Pitch | 6:30 p.m. |
| Stadium | Hammons Field - Springfield, Mo. |
| Series History | MU leads 20-18 |
| Last Year | MU def. MSU, 8-4 |
| Radio | KTGR 1580-AM / KTGR.com |
| Gametracker | mutigers.com |
FIRST PITCH
Missouri hits the road this week for a pair of midweek games away from Taylor Stadium. On Tuesday, the Tigers will take on Eastern Illinois at 6:30 p.m. at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo. The game will be MU's annual 'Wood Bat Classic' as both team will use wood bats. On Wednesday, Mizzou will travel to Springfield, Mo. to take on Missouri State at 6:30 p.m. Missouri leads the all-time series with EIU, 4-0, and is 20-18 all-time against MSU. The Tigers are 24-21 on the year and stand 11-10 in the Big 12 Conference. They are coming off a three-game sweep of Texas Tech last weekend, as they outscored the Red Raiders, 42-14, in the three games. Mizzou is now just two games out of first place in the league standings. The two games this midweek are the first of five-consecutive games for the Tigers away from home. This weekend, MU will be in Lincoln, Neb., for a three-game series against Nebraska. That series will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday.
OFFENSE COMES ALIVE AGAINST TEXAS TECH
Missouri picked up its first three-game sweep of the season last weekend against Texas Tech, outscoring the Red Raiders, 42-14 in the three games. MU pounded out a season-high 19 hits in the series opener on Friday, taking an 18-7 victory. All nine players in the Tigers' lineup had at least one hit and all but one drove in a run. Junior Greg Folgia drove in five runs, recording two doubles and a single in the opener. Junior Aaron Senne was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle as he was 3-for-6 with three RBI and hit his first home run. In game two, Mizzou picked up where it left off on Friday night, putting up six runs in the second inning on its way to a 9-5 win. Folgia homered in the second inning, his team-leading eighth home run of the year. On Sunday, Missouri run-ruled Texas Tech, 15-2 in seven innings, which included a 4-for-5 day for senior Ryan Lollis, who hit his fourth home run of the year. In the series, the Tigers hit .415 as a team to improve their season average to .274. Junior Trevor Coleman (.600), senior Kyle Mach (.571), Lollis (.500), Senne (.467) and Folgia (.429) all hit over .400 in the three-game series.
GIBSON GOES THE DISTANCE, AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN...
Mizzou junior Kyle Gibson has pitched a complete game in five of his seven Big 12 starts. He improved to 7-3 last Friday against Texas Tech, but did not go the distance for the first time in four starts. He pitched 6.2 innings against TTU, striking out nine and at one point retired 13-straight batters. On April 17, he won for the sixth time this season, striking out nine, walking none and allowing just three runs in a complete-game win over Kansas State. A week earlier he picked up his fifth victory of the year, as he and the Tigers defeated Baylor by a score of 5-3. On April 3, Gibson struck out 15 and allowed two runs on six hits against Oklahoma, but was handed the hard-luck loss in a 2-1 game. Gibson was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second-consecutive week on March 23. He was the first pitcher to claim back-to-back Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors since Texas' Kyle McCulloch in 2006. Gibson picked up a complete game victory over Texas A&M on March 20, as he struck out a career-high 16 batters in the Tigers' 3-2 win. He gave up just two runs on five hits to the Aggies and his only walk allowed on the night was an intentional pass in the eighth inning. Gibson retired the first 10 batters to the plate and 18 of the first 19 he faced. A week earlier, Gibson was named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week, in addition to Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, after picking up his first career shutout in MU's series opener with Texas on March 14. Gibson struck out 11 batters and gave up six hits in nine innings pitched, as the Tigers defeated Texas, 2-0. The complete-game was the first nine-inning complete game for Gibson, who has had two seven-inning complete games in his career. He leads the conference with 99 strikeouts on the year in 75.2 innings pitched.
JAMIESON JOINS 500-WIN CLUB
Mizzou Head Coach Tim Jamieson picked up his 500th win on March 17 against Kansas State. The win came in dramatic fashion as the Tigers scored four runs in the ninth inning and took a 4-3 victory. He enters the week 504-350-2 in his 15th year as the Tigers' head coach. Missouri's win over Arizona State on March 1 moved Jamieson into second place on Mizzou's all-time wins list. His 504 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.
MIZZOU-MISSOURI STATE CONNECTIONS
Missouri Assistant Coach Evan Pratte will return to his alma mater on Wednesday when the Tigers play Missouri State. Pratte was a four-time letterwinner for the Bears from 1988-91. He holds the school record for most assists in a season, with 184 in 1991. In the MSU career record books, he ranks eighth in hits (259), eighth in runs scored (176), seventh in walks (88), third in sacrifice flies (140) and fourth in game-winning RBI. Pratte is in his 12th season as part of the staff at Mizzou. A second connection between Missouri and MSU are brothers Ryan and Tim Clubb. Ryan is a freshman pitcher for Missouri, while Tim is a junior pitcher for the Bears and was a 2008 All-American.
FOLGIA IS MISSOURI'S UTILITY MAN
Junior Greg Folgia has a nine-game hitting streak in tact heading into the Tigers' two midweek games. During the streak, Folgia is hitting .436 with three home runs and 19 RBI. He had an average of .429 in last weekend's series against Texas Tech. In the series opener, Folgia drove in five runs. It was his second five-RBI game in a four-game span. Folgia was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on April 20 after he hit .429 in the Tigers' five games of the previous week. That includes a .455 average in the three-game series against Kansas State, highlighted by a two-home run, five-RBI game on Saturday. A week earlier, he hit .400 in the series at Baylor. Folgia has a team-best .344 average on the year and leads the team with eight home runs and 51 RBI. His 51 RBI are second most in the Big 12 and his ranks 17th with his .344 average. He had a six-game hitting streak from April 4-11, hitting .476 with two home runs, three doubles and 10 RBI during those 10 games. He had a pair of three-hit games during the stretch. Folgia has started in left field, center field and at first base for the Tigers this season and also has made 12 appearances on the mound out of the bullpen. In his two previous years at MU, Folgia has also played second base, third base and shortstop, meaning he has played all positions except right field and catcher during his career at Mizzou.
SENNE EYES CYCLE
Last Friday, Mizzou junior Aaron Senne was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle. Senne was 3-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored in the series opener against Texas Tech. Senne drove in the first run of the game on a double in the first inning. He led off the bottom of the fifth inning with his first home run of the year. Senne then delivered an RBI triple in the seventh inning. Senne hit .467 in the three-game series with TTU. He is second on the team with a .313 average on the season with 28 RBI. He has 14 doubles, which is tied for third most in the Big 12. Last season, he had a team-best .347 batting average and had 13 home runs and 67 RBI.
ON THE AIR
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.