May 4, 2010
MIZZOU vs MISSOURI STATE
Date: May 4, 2010
First Pitch: 6 p.m.
Series History: Tied 20-20
Last Meeting: MSU def. MU, 5-4 (4/14/10)
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 returns to Taylor Stadium on Tuesday to face Missouri State at 6 p.m. ... The Tigers enter the matchup with a 23-19 record after dropping two-of-three at Texas Tech last weekend ... MSU has an 18-24 record on the year ... The two teams met earlier this season (April 14 in Springfield, Mo.) when the Bears took a 5-4 win over Missouri ... That win evened the all-time series, 20-20 ... Tuesday's game is the final scheduled midweek contest for Mizzou this year ... This weekend, the Tigers will travel to Lawrence, Kan. for a three-game set with Kansas ... MU will then conclude the regular season with a pair of home series, hosting Nebraska (May 14-16) and Texas (May 21-23) at Taylor Stadium.
LAST TIME OUT
Missouri opened last weekend's series against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas by taking a 12-8 win in 11 innings. It was the second-straight extra-inning conference win for the Tigers. With the score tied at eight, the first four Tigers to the plate in the 11th all reached and freshman Dane Opel drove in the go-ahead runs with a single. Mizzou added two more runs for the 12-8 win. Sophomore Jeff Emens got the win with 3.1 inning pitched in relief. He allowed just one run on five hits and got the Tigers out of a jam in the bottom of the 10th, when TTU had the bases loaded with one out, but failed to score. On Saturday, Tech evened the series with a 5-4 win despite a ninth-inning rally by Missouri. Sophomore Ryan Gebhart had a career-high three hits on Saturday and junior Brett Nicholas extended his hitting streak to 17 games. The Tigers scored two runs in the ninth and had the tying run at third and the go ahead run at first when the final out was recorded. Nicholas' streak went to 18 games as he homered in Sunday's series finale. Freshman Dane Opel added a home run on Sunday, but the Red Raiders outscored the Tigers, taking a 16-15 victory. Senior Aaron Senne had two hits in game three and set a new school record for career hits, passing the old mark held by Jayce Tingler. Texas Tech scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth to take a series win.
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 second in the Big 12 with a .415 batting average heading into the week, while Nicholas' .384 mark is fourth best in the league. Senne is fourth in the Big 12 in hits (68), second in home runs (12) and third in doubles (18). Nicholas has 15 doubles on the year, which ranks 10th in the conference. Nicholas (49) and Senne (46) rank fourth and eighth 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 is currently riding an 18-game hitting streak.
SENNE CLIMBING SEVERAL LISTS IN MU RECORD BOOK
Aaron Senne, who broke the school record for career doubles earlier this season, became Mizzou's all-time hits leader last Sunday. Senne had two hits against Texas Tech on Sunday, giving him 275 career hits and placing him ahead of the previous record holder, Jayce Tingler (274, 2000-2003). 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 65 career doubles, putting him atop that list. Senne has 18 doubles on the year, which ranks third in the Big 12. His .415 average is second best in the conference. He hit his team-leading 12th home run of the year on Saturday 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 is third in school history with 199 RBI. 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.
NICHOLAS ADAPTS TO MIZZOU
Junior Brett Nicholas takes an 18-game hitting streak into the week. The streak is the longest at Missouri since Jayce Tingler had a 24-game streak in 2002. During his current streak, Nicholas is hitting .427, with 10 doubles, three home runs and 19 RBI. He began the streak with six-straight two-hit games and has had two hits in 13 of the 18 games during the streak. His current streak follows 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 33 of the 41 games in which he's had an at-bat this year and he has 23 multi-hit games. On the year, Nicholas is hitting .384 with eight home runs and a team-leading 49 RBI. 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).
MIZZOU-MISSOURI STATE SERIES HISTORY
Missouri State's win over the Tigers last month evened the all-time series at 20-20. MSU has won the last two games in the series as it took a 10-5 win when the two teams met last year in Columbia. [See page 6 for more on the earlier meeting this year.]
SENNE PUTS TOGETHER 17-GAME STREAK
Aaron Senne had a 17-game hitting streak from March 17-April 14. Senne had at least two hits in six-straight games from April 4-11 and had three hits in five of those contests. During the 17-game stretch, he hit .551, with five home runs, 10 doubles and 24 RBI. The streak began when he went 2-for-3 in game two of a doubleheader with North Dakota on March 19. He had two hits in each of the first three games of the streak and has had 11 multi-hit games. That includes a four-hit game in the series finale with Texas A&M and a 5-for-5 night against Purdue on March 30. He was 3-for-5 in the series opener with Oklahoma, before recording two hits in game two. He closed the weekend with a 3-for-5 performance with four RBI. His last hit of the finale was a home run in the eighth inning that broke a tie score and took Mizzou to a 12-11 win. He earned his second Big 12 Conference Player of the Week award after the series at Oklahoma.
42 GAMES, 41 LINEUPS
Head Coach Tim Jamieson has utilized 41 different lineups in 42 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 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 32 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 last Saturday's outing 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. Tepesch 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.
UP NEXT
This weekend, the Tigers travel to Lawrence, Kan. for a three-game series with Kansas before returning home for their final six games. Game one with KU is 7 p.m. on Friday, with games following at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Missouri will host Nebraska May 14-16, then close the regular season with a three-game series against Texas, May 21-23.