May 13, 2010
MIZZOU vs. NEBRASKA
Date: May 14-16, 2010
First Pitch: 7 p.m. / 7 p.m. / Noon
Series History: MU leads 144-105-1
Last Year's Series: MU swept series in Lincoln
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
GAMENOTES 
FIRST PITCH
Missouri concludes the 2010 regular season with a six-game homestand that begins with a three-game series with Nebraska this weekend at Taylor Stadium ... The series will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday and continues with games at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Noon on Sunday ... Mizzou enters the weekend 24-22 overall and 7-13 in the Big 12 Conference ... Nebraska is 23-24 on the year and has a 7-14 mark in the conference ... MU holds a 144-105-1 lead in the all-time series with the Cornhuskers and last year swept the three-game series between the two teams in Lincoln.
LAST TIME OUT
Mizzou was swept by Kansas last weekend in Lawrence, suffering its first series sweep since 2008 against Texas A&M. KU took a 10-3 win in Friday's series opener before taking a pair of one-run victories on Saturday (9-8) and Sunday (10-9). Sunday's series final was a 10-inning contest, as the two teams went to extra innings tied at seven. Missouri scored two runs in the top of the 10th on a home run by junior Jonah Schmidt. However, the Jayhawks answered with three runs in the bottom half of the 10th close out the sweep.
MIZZOU-NEBRASKA SERIES HISTORY
Missouri leads the all-time series with Nebraska,144-105-1. The Tigers have swept the season series in each of the last two seasons and have won eight of the last nine meetings. [See page 6 for more on last year's series.] The last time the two teams met in Columbia (2008), Missouri picked up the sweep by outscoring the Huskers, 37-13 in the three games.
SENNE BECOMES MIZZOU'S ALL-TIME HITS LEADER
Aaron Senne, who broke the school record for career doubles earlier this season, became Mizzou's all-time hits leader on May 2 as he had two hits in the series finale at Texas Tech, giving him 275 career hits and placing him ahead of the previous record holder, Jayce Tingler (274, 2000-2003). He enters the weekend series with Nebraska with 278 hits. Senne had back-to-back two-double games on March 28-30 to set a new record for career doubles at Missouri. After doubling in consecutive at-bats against Texas A&M on March 28 to move into a tie for first with Ryan Fry (1995-98), Senne went 5-for-5 with a home run and two doubles against Purdue on March 30 to break the record. He now has 66 career doubles, putting him atop that list. Senne has 19 doubles on the year, which ranks third in the Big 12. His .399 average is also third best in the conference. He hit his team-leading 12th home run of the year on May 1 against Texas Tech and has 38 home runs for his career, which puts him in a tie for fourth place on the career homers list with Griffin Moore (1997-98). He has 201 career RBI and ranks third in that category in the MU career record books. 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 AND NICHOLAS A TOUGH COMBO FOR OPPONENTS
Batting back-to-back in the Tigers' lineup, Missouri senior Aaron Senne and junior Brett Nicholas have provided as strong of 1-2 punch as there is in the Big 12 Conference. Senne ranks third in the Big 12 with a .399 batting average heading into the weekend, while Nicholas' .381 mark is seventh best in the league. Senne is seventh in the Big 12 in hits (71), second in home runs (12) and third in doubles (19). Nicholas has 15 doubles on the year, which ranks 10th in the conference. Nicholas (56) and Senne (47) rank second and 12th respectively in RBI in the Big 12. Both Senne and Nicholas have put together extensive hitting streaks this year. Senne had a 17-game streak from March 17-April 14 and Nicholas hit safely in 19-straight games from April 3-May 4.
NICHOLAS ADAPTS TO MIZZOU
Junior Brett Nicholas had a 19-game hitting streak from April 3-May 4, which was the longest at Missouri since Jayce Tingler had a 24-game streak in 2002. During his 19-game streak, Nicholas hit .418, with 10 doubles, four home runs and 22 RBI. He began the streak with six-straight two-hit games and had two hits in 13 of the 19 games. That streak followed an eight-game hitting streak from March 7-19, as he hit .522 during that streak with three home runs and 12 RBI. He has recorded a hit in 36 of the 45 games in which he's had an at-bat this year and he has 25 multi-hit games. On the year, Nicholas is hitting .381 with nine home runs and a team-leading 56 RBI. The 56 RBI are second most in the Big 12 Conference. Earlier in the year, 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).
LIBERTO LEADS IN THE LEADOFF SPOT
Michael Liberto is one of just two seniors on the 2010 squad and heads into the weekend with a .358 average and is riding nine-game hitting streak. During the hit streak, Liberto is has a .342 average, with nine RBI. He had two hits in four-straight games from April 30-May 4. The nine-game hitting streak matches his career long, which he set earlier this year, hitting safely in nine-straight games from March 14-23. During that streak, he hit .412 with a double, a triple and seven RBI. He has had at least one hit in all but 10 games in which he has had an at-bat this season and has had multiple hits in 20 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.
GEBHART RETURNS
After missing the first 34 games of the season recovering from an offseason ankle injury, sophomore Ryan Gebhart had a hit in the first nine games he played in his return and has recorded a hit 10 of the 12 games in which he's played this season. In his first game back, he went 2-for-4 against Oklahoma State on April 18. He has had multiple hits in three-straight games from May 1-4. He was 3-for-5 with two RBI in game two against Texas Tech, then had two hits and two RBI in the finale with TTU. On May 4, Gebhart was 2-for-4 against Missouri State. He is hitting .370, with three doubles, a triple and eight RBI since his return.
46 GAMES, 45 LINEUPS
Head Coach Tim Jamieson has utilized 45 different lineups in the 46 games this year. Jamieson's lineup on April 17 against Oklahoma State was identical to the lineup the previous night vs. OSU. That was the first and only repeated lineup of the season. Six different Tigers have been in the leadoff spot and four have hit cleanup. The spot in the lineup with the least amount of change is third spot where only two players (Aaron Senne 36 times, Brett Nicholas 10 times) have been slotted. The seventh spot has seen the most changes, as 12 different Tigers have hit in the seven hole.
TEPESCH LEADS TIGER PITCHING STAFF
Nick Tepesch picked up his second-straight victory in the opener of the doubleheader with Kansas State on April 25. Tepesch allowed just one run on seven hits and struck out five in 7.2 inning pitched to move to 4-3 on the year. A week earlier he recorded a win against Oklahoma State, striking out eight in seven innings pitched. He allowed just two runs on four hits. Tepesch pitched at least seven innings in each of his first five starts in conference play before his outing against Texas Tech on May 1 in which he took the loss, allowing five runs on 10 hits in 6.1 innings pitched. In MU's conference opener, Tepesch turned in 7.1 innings pitched against Texas A&M, striking out four. He came within just one out of pitching his first career complete game against Baylor on April 3, when he struck out five in 8.2 innings pitched in the game, but took the loss. He struck out five and allowed three earned runs in seven innings pitched on April 9 against Oklahoma. Earlier, Tepesch picked up his first win against Auburn on Feb. 27, then struck out five in 6.1 innings pitched against TCU on March 6, but took a no decision in a 10-inning win by TCU. Tepesch allowed three runs, two of which were earned, on six hits in the game. In his start against Xavier, he left following just one inning of work after he was hit by a batted ball in the top of the first inning. Tepesch returned against North Dakota on March 19 and struck out eight in six innings pitched.
McCORMICK SCOOPS UP VICTORIES
Junior Phil McCormick picked up his team-leading fifth victory of the season on May 4 against Missouri State. He pitched four scoreless innings, striking out five against MSU, setting career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts. Before that, McCormick had four wins, pitching a total of just 3.1 innings in those four games. He has not allowed a run in any his five victories. His first win came on Feb. 21 against New Mexico State. McCormick faced just one batter in that game, forcing a double play to end the top of the 10th inning. The Tigers then scored the game-winning run in the bottom half of that inning to give McCormick the win. His second win came on March 13 against Xavier, when he faced three batters and got two outs in the top of the eighth before the Tigers broke the tie with a pair of runs in their half of the eighth inning. On April 4, McCormick faced just two batters and got the final out of the top of the seventh inning. Missouri then scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a lead and go onto victory. Three days later, McCormick was the first MU reliever out of the bullpen and pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball against Illinois. Mizzou took the lead in the third inning while McCormick was still the pitcher of record. He leads with a 2.88 ERA and 29 appearances. Last year he made 30 appearances, which ranked seventh in school history. The school record for appearances in a season is 35, set by Brad Buehler last year.
UP NEXT
Mizzou will close out the regular season with a three-game series against Texas next weekend at Taylor Stadium. Game one is set for 6 p.m. on Friday. The series will continue with games at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.