| Date(s): April 9-10 |
Live Audio: www.kcou.fm |
| First Pitch: 1 p.m. CT / 11 a.m. CT |
Live Video ($): www.mutigers.tv |
| Location: Columbia, Mo. |
Series Record: TAMU leads 33-22 |
| Stadium: University Field |
Mizzou Series Streak: Lost 1 |
| Live Stats: www.mutigers.com | First Meeting: 1978 (TAMU won 6-3) |
| Live Twitter: @MIZLive | Last Meeting: 2010 (MU won 14-1, lost 6-5) |
LEADING OFF
-The No. 12 Missouri Tigers return home for the first time since mid-March and will put the nation's longest home winning streak on the line against the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies this weekend. Play opens up on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT with the series finale starting at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The Tigers are 30-5 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12, putting them in second place. The Aggies, ranked No. 20 in each poll, come in at 30-9 and 3-2 in the league as they sit in sixth.
-Missouri coasted to a doubleheader sweep over Evansville on Wednesday, winning 7-2 in the first game before run-ruling the Purple Aces by a 9-1 score in five innings in the finale. Kristin Nottelmann took the win in game one to improve to 12-1, throwing a complete game and striking out a season-best 10. Chelsea Thomas won her 15th game of the year to improve to 15-3, striking out six and allowing just one hit in four innings of work.
-The Tigers hit four home runs over the course of the two games, highlighted by Nicole Hudson's two home run game in game one. Hudson hit two run homers in each of the first two innings, making her the second Tiger this year to hit two home runs in the same game. She now has eight on the year, second most on the team, after hitting 10 as a freshman last season. Ashley Fleming hit her team-best ninth in the second game, connecting on a two-run blast in the first inning of game two. Mackenzie Sykes added a solo shot, her second of the year, in the first game.
-In game two, the Tigers hit a season-best five doubles against the Purple Aces. In the first inning, Marla Schweisberger, Lisa Simmons and Princess Krebs hit back-to-back-to-back two-baggers to help the Tigers to a five run inning. Jenna Marston and Kathryn Poet each doubled later in the game. Poet's scored two runs, pushing the Tigers to nine runs and securing the run-rule.
-Senior Alaina Burkhart, who transferred to Mizzou this season after spending last year at Missouri State and the previous two seasons at Neosho Community College, collected her first two hits as a Tiger in the first game against Evansville. The lefty singled to lead off the fourth inning, and doubled in a run in the top of the fifth.
-Chelsea Thomas struck out double-digits for the 10th time this season on Sunday when she struck out 11 Baylor hitters. Her ERA this season is best in the nation at 0.56, and she entered the week with the seventh best strikeouts per seven innings ratio at 11.3.
-With their 9-1 win on Wednesday, 11 of Missouri's last 22 wins have come via mercy rule. Ten of those run-rule victories came in the month of March. Miizzou averaged 6.83 runs a game last month after averaging 3.88 in the month of February and gave up 1.26 runs per game in March.
-The Tigers have 13 shutouts on the year, 12 of which came the month of March. They are walking just 1.10 batters per seven innings, the best in the conference. The staff's .173 opponent batting average is second amongst Big 12 teams. The team is second in the league in strikeouts per seven innings, as they average 9.03, and is third in the conference with a 1.34 earned run average.
-Ashley Fleming continued her great 2011 campaign with her ninth home run of the year on Wednesday in game one at Evansville. The junior also had nine home runs last season and now has 22 for her career - ninth most in school history. Six of her home runs this year have come in the last 10 games. She leads the team with 11 doubles, 38 RBI and an .825 slugging percentage.
-Nicole Hudson smashed her seventh and eighth home runs of the season in game one with Evansville. her eight bombs are second most on the team and she's also second in runs batted in at 26. Last season as a freshman, Hudson hit 10 home runs and drove in 41.
-Freshman Maddison Ruggeberg has surprised a lot of people this year, emerging as one of the best hitters on the team in her first year of action. Second amongst regulars with a .389 batting average, Ruggeberg also has blasted four home runs and driven in 17 RBI. She's slugging .611 this season, second-highest on the squad, and has struck out just eight times in 72 at bats.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M comes into the weekend ranked No. 20 in the nation by both the NFCA/USA Today and ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings. They are currently 30-9 on the season and sit in sixth place in the Big 12 with a 3-2 record. They opened league-play with a split against Baylor before sweeping Iowa State in two games. This past Wednesday the Aggies lost a heartbreaker to Texas, as they blew a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh and lost 4-3.
The Aggies are hitting .297 as a team, with four regulars hitting over .300 on the year. Leading the way is Natalie Villarreal at .381 and the second-most doubles in the Big 12 with 12. Two Aggies are in double-digits in home runs, as Rhiannon Kliesing has 14 and Meagan May has 10. Kliesing has 43 runs driven in and an .888 slugigng percentage, while May has plated 40 and slugs .791.
In the circle, Texas A&M splits time between Lindsey Sisk and Melissa Dumezich. Sisk is 14-3 with a 1.82 ERA in 20 appearances, while Dumezich stands at 16-6 with a 2.06 ERA while appearing 24 times. Dumezich has struck out 150 batters and walked 44 in 129.0 innings, while Sisk has 86 strikeouts to 26 walks in 119.1 innings.
Texas A&M is 33-22 all-time against the Tigers. Last season, Missouri hit a season-best five home runs in a 14-1 whipping of the Aggies in game one. In game two, Missouri rallied back from a 5-1 deficit in the top of the seventh to tie it, but A&M scored in the bottom of the seventh to avoid the sweep. Mizzou is 4-4 against Texas A&M under head coach Ehren Earleywine.
FOLLOW LIVE
Each game will feature live scoring and play-by-play through GameTracker. Links to GameTracker can be found on the softball schedule page at mutigers.com. Free audio will be available at www.kcou.fm. Mizzou All-Access subscribers can watch at www.mutigers.tv
WHAT'S NEXT?
Missouri heads up to Cedar Falls, Iowa for a midweek game against the Northern Iowa Panthers on Wednesday, April 13 at 3 p.m. CT.
FOLLOW MIZZOU SOFTBALL ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK
Tiger softball fans can follow along with the season through many of the program's social media options. On Twitter, Mizzou fans can follow the entire athletic department at twitter.com/mutigersdotcom. Assistant Coach Pete D'Amour is also on Twitter at twitter.com/MizzouSBcoach. On Facebook, fans can search "University of Missouri Softball Team" to track down the team's official page.
MIZZOU'S HOME WINNING STREAK LONGEST IN NATION
With Georgia's loss to Tennessee on April 6, the Missouri Tigers now own the longest winning streak in all of Division I College softball with 28 straight wins on their home turf. Here's a look at the longest home streaks in the country.
1. Missouri - 28
2. Arizona State - 25
3. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - 23
4. Alabama - 17
Playing at University Field has been a major advantage for the Tigers since head coach Ehren Earleywine took over in 2007. In 117 games played at home under Earleywine, the Tigers have won 100 of them for an .856 winning percentage on their home field. Of their 17 losses, 13 of them came in two combined seasons. In Earleywine's first year the Tigers went 17-7 at home, and in 2009 they went 17-6. In 2008, Mizzou finished 22-1 at home while last year they went 31-3. So far this year the Tigers are 13-0.
POWER SURGE
With 44 home runs through 35 games, the Tigers have shown a major increase in power compared to last season. In 2010, the Tigers had just 27 home runs and 174 RBI through the first 35 games. Ashley Fleming and Marla Schweisberger led the team with five home runs each at that point and 10 Tigers in all had home runs. This year, 14 Tigers have hit long balls and they've driven in 199 as a team. Fleming leads the team with nine home runs, matching her total from last year, and Nicole Hudson has eight after leading the team with 10 last season. The squad is slugging .090 points higher at this point with a .520 slugging percentage compared to .430 last year through 35 games. Missouri finished with 62 home runs in 64 games last season. They are on pace to hit 67 home runs in 53 regular season games this year.
TAYLOR ACCEPTS INVITE TO NATIONAL TEAM TRYOUTS
Two-time All-America selection Rhea Taylor has accepted an invitation to the 2011 USA Softball Women's National Team, as announced Wednesday morning by the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America. Taylor will join 20 others who accepted invitations and will compete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., from June 12-17.
The approximately 17 athletes selected to the USA Softball roster will compete in over seven different events in four different countries. Fans in the United States will get four opportunities to see the team in action with three exhibition stops scheduled as well as the World Cup of Softball IV, July 21-25, in Oklahoma City.
MIZZOU ROLLS TO SWEEP OVER ACES
The No. 12 Missouri softball team swept Evansville in a doubleheader on Wednesday evening, taking game one by a 7-2 final before run-ruling the Purple Aces by a 9-1 score in the finale.
In game one, Nicole Hudson homered twice, both two-run shots, while Maddison Ruggeberg, Lindsey Muller and Alaina Burkhart collected two hits each and Mackenzie Sykes hit her second home run of the season. Kristin Nottelmann went the distance, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out a season-high 10 batters while walking zero.
The Tigers hit a season-best five doubles in game two and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Ashley Fleming hit her ninth home run of the year, driving home two on the play. Kathryn Poet plated two on a fifth inning double, while Lisa Simmons led the team with two hits. Chelsea Thomas picked up win number 15 with four innings of one hit ball, as she struck out six.
CAN'T K FLEMING
Junior Ashley Fleming has been one of the Tigers top hitters this year, and much of that is because she is so tough to strike out. This season, Fleming has struck out just eight times in 97 at bats while drawing 15 walks. From March 13 to April 2, she went 42 straight at bats without a strikeout, and has struck out only three times in her last 77 at bats.