No. 18 @MizzouBaseball Hosts Little Rock With Winning Streak Intact

Mizzou Opens Eight-Game Homestand Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME	Listen	Stats	Watch
UALR	T aylor Stadium	Tuesday, March 21	6:30 p.m.	KTGR	Stats	SEC Network+

Game Notes | Season Tickets | Single Game Tickets | Break Time Lounge

Mizzou Baseball, ranked in all the major college baseball polls and riding the nation's longest winning streak, opens an eight-game homestand this Tuesday against Arkansas-Little Rock at Taylor Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. Ben Arnet and Brian McRae will be on the call.
Mizzou is coming off of a sweep of Alabama in its SEC opener last weekend. It was Mizzou's first SEC road sweep since March 15, 2015, at Georgia and just Mizzou's third SEC series sweep since joining the SEC in 2013. The three wins ran Mizzou's winning streak to 19 games, the longest active streak in the nation and the second-longest in school history. At 19-1, Mizzou is also off to its best 20-game start in program history.
The storyline of Mizzou's season has been the offensive renaissance under first-year head coach Steve Bieser. And while that is still a big component to Mizzou's winning streak, it's been the pitching staff that has stole the headlines as of late. In fact, Mizzou now leads the SEC in ERA (2.72) and is second in hits allowed and third in opponent batting. Quietly, Mizzou ranks 12th nationally in ERA. The Tigers are also 18th nationally in batting average offensively, making Mizzou one of just four teams nationally to rank in the top 20 in both ERA and batting average. The other three are Louisville, St. John's and Kentucky, all nationally-ranked teams like the Tigers.
Mizzou's pitching staff has allowed just 13 earned runs over the last seven games (67.0 innings) with a 1.75 ERA in that span.

Pitching Matchups

Tuesday
RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (1-0, 1.59 ERA) vs. RHP Carter Brown (1-0, 5.62 ERA)

Series History

UALR leads the all-time series with Mizzou, 2-1. The two teams first met in 2000 with Little Rock claiming a 9-3 win over Mizzou.
The next meeting between the two programs came in 2012 when Mizzou earned a 10-5 win over the Trojans at Taylor Stadium.
The next and last meeting between the two teams was in 2015 when Mizzou played Little Rock in a midweek game sandwiched between a pair of SEC series wins over Tennessee and Alabama. Mizzou lost that game, 4-3.
Several current Tigers played in that game in 2015. Below is a look:
- Trey Harris: 1-for-3, RBI, SAC fly
- Alex Del Rio: 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter

We're Going Up Through The Quad To The Gymnasium

After winning 19 consecutive games, Mizzou streaked through its nonconference schedule. With its win streak currently at 19 games, Mizzou is chasing the longest win streak in program history. The current 19-game mark trails only the 1946 team, which won 21 straight as part of a 19-0 Big 8 conference season before advancing all the way to the College World Series finals. There was some controversy with the win streak record, however. The official Mizzou Baseball media guide listed the 1964 team's streak at 19. But, the guide had inexplicably not documented a pair of 11-0 wins over Oklahoma State in a doubleheader that year and it was confirmed this week that Mizzou did in fact win two more games that year. Thus, the streak stands at 21 rather than the previously reported 19. This year's Mizzou team needs two more wins to match that streak.

Consecutive Wins	Years Accomplished
21	1964
19	2017

What makes Mizzou's 19-game winning streak even more impressive is that it has been winning games in a variety of different ways, including finding a way to win close games. Of the 19 wins, nine of the games have been decided by two or fewer runs, including seven one-run wins and four walk-off wins, including last Wednesday's 7-6 win over Chicago State in which Mizzou walked it off on an error in the bottom of the 13th inning.

SIKKEMA EARNS SEC CO-FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Mizzou Baseball freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week, announced Monday by the league office. Sikkema earned a pair of saves in Mizzou's series sweep at Alabama last weekend.
Sikkema made two appearances for Mizzou on the weekend at Alabama, earning saves in the Friday and Sunday contests, pitching 5.1 innings while striking out an incredible 10 batters without allowing a run. On Friday, he pitched the final 2.0 innings and helped Mizzou earn its first SEC shutout since March 15, 2015, while teaming with Tanner Houck to allow the fewest hits ever for a Mizzou opponent in an SEC game (two). Four of his five strikeouts Friday were of the looking variety as he now has an SEC-best 22 on the season. Sikkema followed that by pitching the final 3.1 innings in Sunday's contest, settling down what had been a wild game before he came in. He again struck out five in that contest.
Sikkema has arguably been the top reliever in the SEC this season, as he now owns a personal 27.0 shutout inning streak with 46 strikeouts and just 13 hits allowed in that span. He is tied for the SEC lead in strikeouts (46) while ranking third in ERA (0.33) and third in opponent batting (.143). He has earned a decision, four wins and three saves in each of his last seven appearances and is averaging 15.15 strikeouts/nine innings this season, the top mark in the nation among freshmen.

GETTING IT DONE ON BOTH SIDES

Heading into Tuesday's game, Mizzou is getting it done both offensively and on the mound as one of just four teams nationally ranked in the top 20 in both batting average and ERA. Mizzou leads the SEC in ERA (2.62) after five weeks of play and checks in at third in batting (.318).
The Tigers join nationally-ranked Louisville, St. John's and Kentucky as the only four teams in the nation that rank in the top 20 nationally in both categories.

Team	Batting Average (rank)	ERA (rank)	Rank Average
Louisville	.325 (13th)	1.75 (2nd)	8th
Kentucky	.331 (5th)	2.78 (17th)	11th
St. John's	.323 (14th)	2.62 (10th)	12th
Mizzou	.318 (18th)	2.68 (12th)	15th

Mizzou's average rank in both categories is 15th nationally. While there is still plenty of baseball to be played, that is a stark contrast from last year's team that finished 262nd nationally in batting and 117th in ERA at the end of the year. That was good for a 220 average rank, 205 spots below where Mizzou ranks this season.

#BIESERBALL EFFECT IS APPARENT

We have noted the effect that first year head coach Steve Bieser has had on this year's team throughout the notes, but there may not be a more telling stat than looking at Mizzou's turnaround offensively. Mizzou ranked 262nd nationally in batting a year ago and after five weeks of play this year, Mizzou ranks 18th nationally, good for a 244-place turnaround, which is the largest increase in the nation. The next-closest Power 5 team is Alabama at a 182-place turnaround, the eighth-best in the nation. Below is a breakdown. Keep in mind, this increase comes after Mizzou lost its top three hitters from a season ago.

Team	2016 Avg. (Rank)	2017 Avg. (Rank)	Turnaround
Mizzou	.249 (262nd)	.318 (18th)	+244
South Florida	.248 (265th)	.313 (22nd)	+243
Dartmouth	.253 (247th)	.308 (29th)	+218
Cornell	.240 (280th)	.294 (66th)	+214
Savannah St.	.237 (281st)	.281 (89th)	+192

In addition, Mizzou's ERA turnaround from 117th nationally a year ago to 12th this year is a 105-spot increase. That ranks among the nation's top 40 turnarounds as well under first-year pitching coach Pat Hallmark.

For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter (@MizzouBaseball) and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Baseball and missouri_baseball, respectively).

Schedule