March 30, 2010
MIZZOU vs. PURDUE
Date: March 30-31, 2010
First Pitch: 6 p.m. / 1 p.m.
Series History: Purdue leads 4-2
Last Meeting: Purdue 8, Mizzou 6 (3/12/2006)
Stadium: Taylor Stadium
Radio: KTGR 100.5-FM / 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Video: mutigers.tv
Live Gametracker: mutigers.com
More Information: mutigers.com
FIRST PITCH
Mizzou opens a six-game homestand with a midweek series against Purdue this week at Taylor Stadium ... The Tigers and Boilermakers will face off at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and 1 p.m. on Wednesday ... Missouri enters the series 13-8 on the year, while Purdue is 11-9 ... MU has faced Purdue six times before, with the Boilermakers holding a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series ... Following the two-game set with Purdue, the Tigers will host Baylor in the first home Big 12 series of the season ... Mizzou opened conference play last weekend at Texas A&M, dropping the first two games of the series before winning the final game of the weekend ... Baylor is 13-9 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12 ... The three-game set will get underway at 6 p.m. on Friday.
LAST TIME OUT
Missouri opened its Big 12 Conference schedule last weekend with a three-game set at Texas A&M. The Aggies took the first two games of the series before the Tigers avoided a sweep with a 13-4 win on Sunday. The weekend began with No. 21 Texas A&M taking a 3-1 win behind the pitching of Barret Loux, who struck out 11 Tigers in seven innings pitched. In total, Mizzou struck out 15 times and managed just three hits. Junior Nick Tepesch turned in a season-long 7.1 innings on the mound, striking out four. Saturday's game saw Texas A&M claim a come-from-behind victory, scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to take a 5-4 win. Freshman Eric Anderson pitched 5.1 scoreless innings. He left with the lead, but took a no decision. All five of the Aggies runs came in the final three innings. Mizzou won the final game of the series by a score of 13-4 on Sunday. Senior Aaron Senne matched his career best with four hits in the finale, collecting hits in each of his first four at-bats, including RBI doubles in the third and fourth innings. The two doubles moved him into a tie for first place on Mizzou's career doubles list with 56.
MIZZOU-PURDUE SERIES HISTORY
Purdue has won four of the six all-time matchups between the Tigers and Boilermakers. The first meetings in the series came in 1980, when the teams split a pair of games. Purdue then took a win over MU in 1981. Mizzou and Purdue last met in 2006 in a three-game series at Taylor Stadium. The Boilermakers won the first and third games of the series by scores of 7-0 and 8-6, while Missouri claimed a 22-2 win in the middle game of the three-game set.
NICHOLAS ADAPTS QUICKLY TO MIZZOU
Junior Brett Nicholas had an eight-game hitting from March 7-19, hitting .522 during the streak with three home runs and 12 RBI. He has recorded a hit in 13 of the 20 games in which he's had an at-bat this year and he has eight multi-hit games. Nicholas is hitting .338 with four home runs and a team-leading 25 RBI. He hit .444 with a slugging percentage of 1.444 in the three games against North Dakota. He had a home run in the series opener, then hit two homers in the first game of a Friday doubleheader. Nicholas hit .625 (5-for-8) in the Xavier series (March 12-14). He opened the series by going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in Friday's extra-inning victory, then drove in two runs on Saturday, finishing 1-for-2 with a single and a walk. On Sunday he was 1-for-2 and drew two walks.
21 GAMES, 21 LINEUPS
Head Coach Tim Jamieson has utilized a different lineup for all 21 games this season. Four different Tigers have been in the leadoff spot and MU has had four players hit cleanup. The spot in the lineup with the least amount of change is third spot where only two players (Aaron Senne 14 times, Brett Nicholas seven times) have been slotted. The seventh spot has seen the most changes, as eight different Tigers have been hit in the seven hole.
NEWCOMERS MAKE A QUICK IMPACT
The roster for Missouri is loaded with new names in 2010. Through the first 21 games of the season, a total of 18 players have seen their first playing time for Missouri. Freshman Brannon Champagne, Dane Opel, Blake Brown, Kale Gaden and Eric Garcia have combined to make 60 starts and junior college transfer Brett Nicholas has started 20 of MU's 21 games on the year. Garcia is the team's third leading hitter with a .362 average, trailing seniors Michael Liberto (.425) and Aaron Senne (.395). Nicholas is fourth on the squad with a .338 average and has a team-leading 25 RBI. On the mound, freshman Eric Anderson has started five games for the Tigers. He is 1-1 on the season and is second on the squad with 20 strikeouts. Anderson picked up a win in his first collegiate start against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 28 when he struck out five and did not allow a run in five innings pitched. Junior Zack Hardoin, a transfer from Blinn College, has made 12 appearances, which is second on the team. He picked up the win on Feb. 20 against Washington with a scoreless inning of work in relief and started the first game of the March 19 doubleheader with North Dakota.
SENNE CLIMBING SEVERAL LISTS IN MU RECORD BOOK
Aaron Senne doubled in back-to-back at-bats last Sunday against Texas A&M and moved into a tie for first with Ryan Fry (1995-98) on Mizzou's career doubles list with 56. Senne matched a career-high with four hits in that game against Texas A&M, finishing 4-for-6. Senne has nine doubles on the year, which ranks fourth in the Big 12. He leads the team with seven home runs on the year and has 33 home runs for his career, which puts him eighth all-time at Missouri. He is two away from moving into a tie with Ryan Stegall (1999-2001) and Dave Silvestri (1986-88) for sixth place. Senne ranks sixth in school history with 176 RBI. He currently stands eighth with 239 career hits, which is 35 behind the career record holder Jayce Tingler (2000-03). Senne returned to Mizzou this season for his senior year, passing up a chance to join his hometown Minnesota Twins organization. A native of Rochester, Minn., he was drafted by Minnesota in last June's Major League Baseball Draft, but chose to return to Missouri. Senne hit his first home run of the season and drove in four against Washington on Feb. 20. At the Auburn Classic, Senne hit three home runs in a span of two games. He homered twice against Auburn on Feb. 27, finishing 3-for-5 with four RBI in the game. The next day, he homered against Boston College. Senne hit a home run in both games against Arkanas-Pine Bluff.
LIBERTO LEADS MIZZOU AT THE PLATE
Michael Liberto, one of just two seniors on the 2010 squad, leads the Tigers with a .425 average after the first 21 games of the season. He is the fourth leading hitter in the Big 12. Liberto has an eight game hitting streak intact heading into the series with Purdue. He is hitting .414 with a double, a triple and six RBI over the last eight games. He has had at least one hit in all but three games in which he has had an at-bat this season and has had multiple hits in 11 of the 21 games this season. Liberto opened up the year by hitting .692 at the Collegiate Cactus Classic in Tucson. He was 9-for-13 in the three games with a double, a triple and three RBI. Liberto matched his career best with four hits in a 4-for-5 performance against Gonzaga in the season opener, with a triple and two RBI.
UP NEXT
Baylor will visit Taylor Stadium this weekend as the Tigers host the Bears in their first Big 12 home series of the season. The three-game set will get underway at 6 p.m. on Friday, with game two at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday.