Mizzou Takes on In-State Rival Missouri State
4/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 13, 2010
MIZZOU at MISSOURI STATE
Date: April 14, 2010
First Pitch: 6:30 p.m.
Series History: MU leads 20-19
Last Meeting: MSU def. MU, 10-5; May 5, 2009 in Columbia
Stadium: Hammons Field
Radio: KTGR 100.5-FM / 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Gametracker: mutigers.com
FIRST PITCH
Mizzou will travel to Springfield, Mo. on Wednesday for a midweek matchup with Missouri State ... First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ... The Tigers are 18-13 on the season and have a record of 3-6 in the Big 12 after dropping two-of-three at Oklahoma last weekend ... Missouri State enters the week with a 12-19 record and has a matchup with Kansas on Tuesday before facing Mizzou ... Missouri holds a slight 20-19 lead in the all-time series with the Bears ... Last year, Missouri State took a 10-5 win over the Tigers in Columbia ... Last season's scheduled contest in Springfield was rained out ... Following the midweek trip to MSU, Mizzou will prepare for a visit from Oklahoma State this weekend ... The three-game series between Missouri and OSU will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, with games to follow at 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
LAST TIME OUT
For the third time in as many Big 12 Conference series this year, Missouri went 1-2 last weekend in Oklahoma, dropping the first two matchups before taking game three. The Sooners took 6-4 and 10-4 wins before the Tigers claimed a 12-11 victory on Sunday.
MIZZOU-MISSOURI STATE SERIES HISTORY
Missouri has a slight advantage in the series with the Bears, holding a 20-19 lead in the all-time series. MSU took a 10-5 win when the two teams met last year in Columbia. Last season's meeting in Springfield was rained out. Rain hampered the 2008 game in Springfield also, as the Tigers claimed an 8-4 win in a game that was called after six innings due to rain.
SENNE'S HITTING STREAK HITS 16
Aaron Senne currently has a 16-game hitting streak and has had at least two hits in the last six games. He has three hits in five of the last six outings. During the 16-game streak, Senne is hitting .561, 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. Last weekend, he was 3-for-5 in the series opener with Oklahoma, before recording two hits on Saturday. He closed the weekend with a 3-for-5 performance with four RBI. His final hit of the game was a home run in the eighth inning that broke a tie score and took Mizzou to a 12-11 win. He was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on Monday for the second time this season.
SENNE CLIMBING SEVERAL LISTS IN MU RECORD BOOK
Aaron 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) on Mizzou's career doubles, Senne went 5-for-5 with a home run and two doubles against Purdue on March 30 to break the record. He now has 62 doubles, putting him atop that list. Senne has 15 doubles on the year, which ranks second in the Big 12. His .460 average leads the conference. He leads the team with 10 home runs on the year and has 36 home runs for his career, which puts him sixth all-time at Missouri. He is one away from moving into a tie with Cody Ehlers (2001-04) for fifth place. Senne is third in school history with 191 RBI and is fourth with 268 career hits, which is just six 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.
NICHOLAS ADAPTS TO MIZZOU
Junior Brett Nicholas takes a seven-game hitting streak heading into the week. That is after he had an eight-game hitting from March 7-19, hitting .522 during the streak with three home runs and 12 RBI. During the current streak, Nicholas is hitting .431 and has eight RBI. He has recorded a hit in 22 of the 30 games in which he's had an at-bat this year and he has 16 multi-hit games. He had at least two hits in six-consecutive games from April 3-10 and 10 of 11 games between March 27-April 10. On the year, Nicholas is hitting .368 with six home runs and a team-leading 38 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).
MU IS ONLY TEAM WITH THREE-STRAIGHT 16-BIG 12 CONFERENCE WIN SEASONS
Missouri is the only team in the Big 12 Conference that has won at least 16 conference games in each of the last three seasons. MU was 19-8 in 2007, then went 16-11 in both 2008 and 2009. The Tigers Big 12 record over the last three years is 51-30, which is second best in the Big 12 behind only Texas (53-27-1).
OPEL RECORDS MU'S FIRST THREE DOUBLE GAME SINCE 2002
Freshman Dane Opel was 3-for-4 in the final game of the three-game series with Baylor, with all three hits being doubles. He is the first Tiger to record a three-double game since Brad Flanders did it against Louisiana-Monroe in 2002. Opel had a six-game hitting streak from March 28-April 6, hitting .591 over that stretch, with two home runs, four doubles and 11 RBI. He had multiple hits in five-straight games from March 28-April 4, including three hits against Purdue on March 30, when he drove in four runs. In Big 12 games, Opel has a .423 average, which is second on the team. He went 4-for-5 in his debut as a Tiger on Feb. 20 against Washington and had a hit in each of the first three games in which he has played.
31 GAMES, 31 LINEUPS
Head Coach Tim Jamieson has utilized a different lineup for all 31 games this season. Five 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 21 times, Brett Nicholas 10 times) have been slotted. The seventh spot has seen the most changes, as 10 different Tigers have hit in the seven hole.
McCORMICK SCOOPS UP VICTORIES
Junior Phil McCormick picked up victories in back-to-back appearances on April 4 and April 7 and is 4-0 on the season. In his four wins, McCormick has pitched a total of just 3.1 innings. He has not allowed a run in any of those games. His first victory 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 the team with 21 appearances on the season and is second on the squad with a 2.19 ERA.
LIBERTO LEADS MIZZOU AT THE PLATE
Michael Liberto is one of just two seniors on the 2010 squad and heads into the week with a .393 average. Liberto had a nine-game game hitting streak from March 14-23, hitting .412 with a double, a triple and seven RBI during the streak. He has had at least one hit in all but five games in which he has had an at-bat this season and has had multiple hits in 13 of the 27 games he played in 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.
TEPESCH LOOKS TO LEAD TIGER PITCHING STAFF
Nick Tepesch picked up a win against Auburn on Feb. 27, his eighth career victory. He 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. After allowing a single to open the game, Tepesch retired six of the next seven batters he faced, with the only base runner reaching on an error. In the fifth inning, TCU put one run on the board and had runners on second and third before Tepesch struck out the next two batters to end the inning. 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. He did not allow a run and gave up just three hits to earn the win and move to 2-0 on the year. Tepesch has pitched at least seven inning in each of his three starts in Big 12 play. In the conference opener, Tepesch turned in a season-long 7.1 innings pitched (two outs shy of his career long eight IP) 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 Friday against Oklahoma
UP NEXT
The Tigers will return to Taylor Stadium this weekend for a three-game series with Oklahoma State. Game one against the Cowboys will get underway at 6 p.m. on Friday. The second game of the weekend is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday [Note the special time due to the football Black & Gold Game], which is at 1 p.m. on Saturday]. The finale of the series is Sunday at 1 p.m.
