April 25, 2011

By Cassandra Novy, Media Relations Student Assistant

The Mizzou baseball team is coming off of its first series win during Big 12 play after topping Baylor in two of three games last weekend in Waco. The Tigers were not short on player of the week candidates this week as there were plenty of noteworthy performances on the mound and at the plate. But a pair of players stood out as MUTigers.com will honor juniors Conner Mach and Matt Stites as this week's player of the week and pitcher of the week.

Player of the Week: Conner Mach
Junior Conner Mach had a standout weekend against Baylor. In his first series in the leadoff batter position, Mach went 6-11 on the weekend, launching his first homerun of the season and racking up five RBI. The junior tallied the first four-hit game for a Tiger this season, going 4-4 on Friday, and reached base in all five of his plate appearances (he was hit by a pitch at one at bat). Mach posted a .545 batting average in the series, while slugging a team-best of .909. His hot bat made him the team leader in runs (two), RBI (five), OBP (.600), slugging (.909), and total bases (10) on the weekend. He also started in left field in all three games on the weekend, despite not playing in the outfield all season.

Mach now has an overall batting average of .275. He is the only Tiger to have started in all 39 games this season.

Pitcher of the Week: Matt Stites
In his first Big 12 win on Saturday, junior righty Matt Stites struck out a career-high nine batters in the series finale at Baylor. Stites threw a career-high 123 pitches, while only allowing one Bear run. In his 7.2 innings on the mound, the Festus, Mo., native confined the Baylor batters to a .148 average. His nine strikeouts on the day brought his total to a team-best 55 strikeouts on the season.

Stites also leads the club in IP, with a total of 64.1. His 3.64 ERA is second-best on the team, and he has a 2-3 record, posting wins over CMU and Baylor.