April 30, 2010
Complete Game Notes 
WHO: No. 10 Missouri Tigers vs. Baylor Bears
WHEN: Saturday, May 1 - 2 p.m. CT | Sunday, May 2 - Noon CT
WHERE: University Field - Columbia, Mo.
LIVE STATS: Game One | Game Two
LIVE RADIO: KCOU 88.1 FM or Online
LIVE VIDEO: Mizzou All-Access
ADDITIONAL INFO: Prior to Saturday's game, seniors from both the Baylor squad and the Missouri team will be honored for Senior Day. The first 50 fans that arrive at University Field on Saturday will receive a free t-shirt.
The No. 10 Missouri softball team closes out the home portion of their regular season schedule with a two-game set this weekend against Big 12 opponent Baylor. Game one will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. CT, while game two will begin at Noon CT on Sunday. Prior to Saturday's game, seniors from both the Baylor squad and the Missouri team will be honored for Senior Day. The first 50 fans that arrive at University Field on Saturday will receive a free t-shirt.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Baylor came into the season with big expectations, but a stress fracture in the left forearm of sophomore ace pitcher Whitney Canion put a big damper in the Lady Bears' season. Originally picked to finish third in the Big 12, Baylor sits at 26-20 overall and 6-9 in league play. The Bears are 4-6 in their last 10 games, and for the first time this season were not featured in either poll this past week. Glenn Moore enters his 10th season as head coach of the Lady Bears, and he's assisted by Mark Lumley, Britni Sneed Newman and Josh Newman.
Much like the Tigers, Baylor loves to run, as they've stolen 111 bases this season, second-most in the entire country, and have four players with double-digits in steals. As a team, they hit .294, led by Nicole Wesley's .393 batting average. Kayce Walker is second on the team with a .371 average, and has combined with Wesley to steal 41 of the team's bases. Dani Leal leads the team in home runs with eight, while Jordan Vannatta has seven longballs and a team-best 37 driven in.
With Canion out of the picture, freshman Courtney Repka has stepped in as the ace for Baylor, as she's seen action in 37 of the 46 games - 35 of those being starts. Her record stands at 18-14, while her ERA is 2.45. She's thrown 20 complete games, four shutouts and has picked up a save. In 211.2 innings she's allowed 182 hits while striking out 138 batters and walking 79. Repka has allowed 19 home runs this year and opponents are hitting .225 off her.
MIZZOU VS. BAYLOR
Missouri leads the all-time series by a 24-15 margin over the Bears. The Tigers are 6-5 against Baylor in Columbia, and have won five of the last six overall. Last season, Missouri swept the series in Waco, Texas, winning by 2-1 and 7-1 margins. The two squads met again the Big 12 Tournament, with Mizzou squeaking out a 1-0 victory to advance to the championship game.
FOLLOW THE GAMES
Live stats for both games will be provided at mutigers.com. Mizzou All-Access will feature a live video stream of the games for subscribers. KCOU will broadcast the series on both 88.1 FM and online at www.kcou.fm.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Missouri closes out their last week of action on the road, as they'll travel to Macomb, Ill., for a doubleheader against Western Illinois, beginning at 3 p.m. CT. After that, Mizzou rounds out Big 12 play with a two-game set against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Saturday's game will be televised on Fox Sports Net and will begin at Noon CT.
SENIOR DAY
Senior Day festivities will be held this Saturday prior to Missouri's 2 p.m. CT game against the Baylor Bears. Seniors from the Baylor squad, along with Missouri's three seniors, Jana Hainey, Gina Schneider and Michaele Vock, will be honored for their collegiate accomplishments prior to the start of the game.
TAYLOR BREAKS RUNS RECORD
Junior Rhea Taylor broke her second school record of the year last Wednesday against Iowa State, when she scored three times in the doubleheader to set the all-time runs mark at Missouri. She now has 166 career runs, beating out Mary Babb's record of 164, which has stood since 1997. During Taylor's current 14-game hitting streak that dates back to April 11, she has scored 21 times. She's collected 29 hits during her current hitting streak, giving her 221 in her career and putting her in fourth place all-time at Mizzou. Taylor connected on triples in back-to-back games back on April 14 and April 17, giving her 10 in her career, and moving her into a tie for 10th all-time at MU.
MISSOURI BEATS CMU IN MAKEUP GAME
Missouri fought past an upset-minded Central Methodist squad on their way to a 5-0 win on Thursday evening.
Sophomore Kristin Nottelmann picked up win number 15 on the season, and had taken a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Just one out shy of her second no-hitter of the season, the bid was disrupted with a two-out single in the final inning. Nottelmann allowed just the one hit and two walks, while striking out 11.
Junior Rhea Taylor went 2-for-3 with a run scored in the game, extending her hitting streak to 14 straight games. She also continued her streak of nine streak multi-hit games, increasing her batting average to .462 on the season. Freshman Nicole Hudson busted the game wide-open with her bases-clearing, three-run double in the fifth. Junior Megan Christopher belted a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, her third of the year, to make it 5-0 Tigers.
TIGERS SWEEP IOWA STATE IN SLUGFEST
On a windy, blustery day in Ames, Iowa that saw 11 home runs between the two Big 12 teams, the No. 10 Missouri Tigers earned a doubleheader sweep over the Iowa State Cyclones, winning by scores of 12-6 and 14-9. The two teams combined for 41 runs on 49 hits in the wild doubleheader.
Missouri rallied in game one, as they were down 6-5 with one out in the top of the seventh before scoring seven times in the inning. Rhea Taylor went 3-for-5 at the plate with two home runs, one a grand slam, and five driven in. Taylor becomes the first Tiger this season to hit two home runs in a single game. Ashley Fleming went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, while also driving in three runs. Marla Schweisberger picked up a pair of hits, including a two-run home run, while Jenna Marston doubled twice and scored twice.
The Tiger offense continued rolling into game two, as they scored 14 runs on 15 hits in the win. The Tiger bats stayed red-hot in game two, as they picked up five runs on five hits in the first inning. Taylor picked up a hit for the 13th straight game with an infield single, while Lee did the same thing, giving the Tigers two on and nobody out. Marston followed with a home run to right-center field for her fourth blast of her freshman campaign.
Iowa State made it a game, however, with a six-run bottom of the sixth to make it 11-9. The Cyclones picked up six hits and took advantage of two Tiger errors to avoid the run-rule and get themselves back in the contest.
Missouri gave themselves some breathing room with a three-run seventh, pushing their lead to 14-9. Schweisberger doubled in Marston, who led off the inning with a double, to drive home one run. Fleming scored on a groundout, and Jaydee Young, pinch running for Schweisberger, came home on a wild pitch. Jana Hainey picked up her second save of the season with 1.1 innings of hitless ball.
MIZZOU SPLITS IN COLLEGE STATION
The Missouri softball team split their two-game series with the Texas A&M Aggies down in College Station, Texas, as the Tigers took game one 14-1 in five innings before falling 6-5 on Sunday.
The softball team scored early and often on Saturday, hitting a season-best five home runs and scoring a season-high 14 runs on their way to an impressive 14-1 win over No. 22 Texas A&M in five innings to open the pivotal series. The 14 Tiger runs came on 10 hits, and extended the Missouri winning streak to nine in a row. Junior Rhea Taylor extended her hitting streak to 10 games with a 2-for-4 day at the plate which included two runs and three driven in – all coming on her fifth home run of the season. Freshman Lindsey Muller added a three-run blast of her own in her only at-bat. Missouri also got home runs off the bat of juniors Catherine Lee and Marla Schweisberger, along with sophomore Ashley Fleming.
The Tigers went for the sweep on Sunday and they put together a late-rally in the seventh inning, but it wasn't enough as they dropped the finale against No. 22 Texas A&M by a 6-5 final. Down 5-1 in the seventh, Marla Schweisberger hit her second home run of the weekend and seventh of the season with a runner on and no one out, cutting the lead to 5-3. Taylor then followed with an infield single right back to the pitcher, beating the throw in a close play at first and bringing the tying run to the plate. After a pop-out, Marston roped a double into the gap, plating Taylor and cutting the lead to 5-4. A few batters later, Kathryn Poet singled into left field to score Marston and even the score at 5-5.
However, the Aggies were able to push one more run across in the bottom half of the inning for the win. Hainey got the first two outs relatively easily, getting a fly out and a foul out. Back-to-back two out walks set up the winning single by Rhiannon Kliesing, ending the Tigers' chance of sending the game to extras.
TIGERS BACK IN TOP-10 OF NFCA POLL
A 4-1 week which included a split at then-No. 22 Texas A&M pushed Mizzou back into the top-10 of the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll. With 453 points, Missouri leaped conference foe Oklahoma State, who fell from No. 7 to No. 11 after a 1-3 week. Michigan continued to close in on No. 1 Washington, who remained the top-ranked team for 13th straight time. The Wolverines sit just eight points behind the Huskies for No. 1.