Mizzou-EIU Meet in O'Fallon
4/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 27, 2010
MIZZOU vs EASTERN ILLINOIS
Date: April 27, 2010
First Pitch: 6:30 p.m.
Series History: MU leads 5-0
Last Meeting: MU def. EIU, 4/28/09
Stadium: T.R. Hughes Ballpark
Radio: KTGR 100.5-FM / 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Gametracker: mutigers.com
More Information: mutigers.com
FIRST PITCH
Missouri will play seven of its next eight games away from home, starting with Tuesday night's matchup with Eastern Illinois at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo. ... The game will start at 6:30 p.m. ... Mizzou is coming off a doubleheader sweep of Kansas State last Sunday at Taylor Stadium to improve to 21-17 on the year and 6-8 in the Big 12 ... Eastern Illinois is 11-26 on the season ... The Tigers hold a 5-0 lead in the all-time series with EIU, with the last two wins coming at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in 2008 and 2009 ... Following the game with the Panthers, Missouri will travel to Lubbock,Texas this weekend for a three-game set against Texas Tech ... That series begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
LAST TIME OUT
A 10th inning, two-run single from freshman Dane Opel completed a Missouri sweep of Sunday's doubleheader with Kansas State after a total of 19 innings were at Taylor Stadium on Sunday. Trailing by one in the ninth inning of the second game of the doubleheader, Mizzou tied the score when sophomore Ryan Gebhart scored on a sacrifice bunt by junior Ryan Ampleman, forcing extra innings. KSU regained the lead with a run in the top of the 10th, but had a runner thrown out at the plate to end the inning. With the bases loaded and two out in the Tigers' half of the 10th inning, Opel singled up the middle to drive in two runs, giving MU a 9-8 victory. The win completed the sweep of the twinbill after the Tigers took a 4-2 victory in game one. Junior Kelly Fick picked up the win after pitching five innings in relief. He struck out three and allowed just one run on two hits to improve to 2-0 on the year. In the opener of the doubleheader, junior Nick Tepesch took the victory as he allowed just one run and struck out five in 7.2 innings pitched. Tepesch has won his last two starts and improved to 4-3 on the year. He has pitched at least seven inning in all five of his starts in Big 12 play. Redshirt freshman Andreas Plackis drove in the first runs of the opener with a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning. He added a single in the third and finished 2-for-4. The Tigers plated two runs in the fourth as junior Jonah Schmidt and Gebhart started the inning with hits and later scored. Gebhart had three hits in the two games on Sunday and has had a hit in each of the four games he has played since returning from an injury.
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 64 career doubles, putting him atop that list. Senne has 17 doubles on the year, which ranks second in the Big 12. His .422 average is second best in 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 193 RBI and is tied for second with 269 career hits, which is just five 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 14-game hitting streak heading into the week. During the current streak, Nicholas is hitting .439, with eight doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI. He began the streak with six-straight two-hit games and has had two hits in 11 of the 14 games during the streak. His current streak follows an eight-game hitting from March 7-19, as he hit .522 during that streak with three home runs and 12 RBI. He has recorded a hit in 29 of the 37 games in which he's had an at-bat this year and he has 21 multi-hit games. On the year, Nicholas is hitting .383 with seven home runs and a team-leading 45 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-EASTERN ILLINOIS SERIES HISTORY
Missouri and Eastern Illinois have met five times before with the Tigers claiming the victory in all five games. The teams first met in a three-game series in 1990, which Missouri swept. The last two contests have taken place at T.R. Hughes Ballpark as Mizzou claimed an 8-6 win in 2008 and a 7-4 victory last year.
SENNE PUTS TOGETHER LONGEST HITTING STREAK AT MU SINCE 2002
Aaron Senne had a 17-game hitting streak from March 17-April 14. The streak was the longest by a Tiger since Jayce Tingler hit safely in 24-straight games in 2002. 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.
36 GAMES, 35 LINEUPS
Head Coach Tim Jamieson has utilized 37 different lineups in 38 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. 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 29 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 has four wins 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 23 appearances on the season and is second on the squad with a 2.25 ERA.
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 .429 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. Last Sunday, Opel delivered a walkoff, two-run hit in the bottom of the 10th inning to lead Missouri to a 9-8 win over Kansas State, completing a doubleheader sweep.
LIBERTO LEADS IN THE LEADOFF SPOT
Michael Liberto is one of just two seniors on the 2010 squad and heads into the week with a .346 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 eight games in which he has had an at-bat this season and has had multiple hits in 16 of the 36 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 LEADS TIGER PITCHING STAFF
Nick Tepesch picked up his second-straight victory in the opener of last Sunday's doubleheader with Kansas State. 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 has pitched at least seven innings in each of his last five starts. In MU's conference opener, Tepesch turned in a season-long 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 Lubbock, Texas for a three-game series against Texas Tech starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Game two is 5 p.m. on Saturday, with the finale set for Noon on Sunday. Next Tuesday, Mizzou will host Missouri State at Taylor Stadium before a three-game series at Kansas.
