@MizzouBaseball Looks for 12th Straight Win Wednesday vs. WCU

Mizzou Looks to Extend Longest Win Streak Since 2008
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME	Listen	Stats	Watch
vs. Western Carolina	Taylor Stadium	Wednesday, March 8	4:00 p.m.	KTGR	Stats	SEC Network+

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Mizzou Baseball, ranked No. 26 in this week's College Baseball Newspaper Top 30 and riding its longest winning streak since 2008, will continue its season-long 10-game homestand on Wednesday as it welcomes Western Carolina to Taylor Stadium. First pitch is at 4 p.m. and the game will air live on SEC Network+ and on KTGR in the Mid-Missouri area and KTGR.com.
Mizzou is coming off of a 10-1 Tuesday win over Eastern Illinois behind a solid first career start from junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca and solid relief work from RHP Ryan Lee. Montes De Oca went a career-long 5.0 innings with just one unearned run and three strikeouts while walking two to earn his first career win. Lee pitched the final three innings and struck out a career-best seven batters against just one hit and no walks. The offense scored three runs in the first, three in the third, one in the fourth and three more in the eighth. Junior C Brett Bond led Mizzou's offense, going 5-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. It was Mizzou's first five-hit performance since April 23, 2011, when Jonah Schmidt had five vs. Baylor. Bond now leads the SEC in hitting at .490. Junior Robbie Glendinning tallied a career-high three hits with his second homer of the year in the game and junior OF Trey Harris drove in a game-high four runs in the win. Mizzou scored six of its 10 runs Tuesday with two outs.
Following the win, Mizzou now has its longest win streak since 2008 at 11 games. The 2008 team won 14 consecutive games at one point that year. Currently at 11 straight wins, there have only been 15 win streaks in school history longer than Mizzou's current streak. Should they win Wednesday, there would be only 11 win streaks longer in the history of the program.
Mizzou's hot start can be directly linked to the offensive mastermind of first-year head coach Steve Bieser who has Mizzou ranked in the SEC's top three in virtually every offensive category after three weeks of play. Mizzou leads the SEC in doubles and batting, is second in slugging and on-base percentage and third in hits and total bases. Mizzou's team OPS after 12 games is .950. What is amazing about Mizzou's team batting average of .344, the top mark in the league, is that Mizzou only has two players ranked among the league's top 15 as it truly has been a team approach under Bieser with his pitch recognition program. Among the 10 hitters who meet the minimums, seven are hitting .300 or better while they are all hitting .275 or better. In fact, 10 of Mizzou's top 12 hitters on the year are all hitting above .300.
Mizzou has slugged an SEC-best 36 doubles, led by junior Matt Berler who has six, tied for third-most in the SEC. Junior C Brett Bond has been Mizzou's best hitter this season, ranking first in the SEC with his .490 average and is third with 24 hits. Bond ranks fourth in the SEC in runs scored (18), fifth in total bases (35), eighth in slugging (.714) and second in OBP (.561).
Mizzou will send RS sophomore RHP Liam Carter to the mound on Wednesday to face LHP Dillon Bray. Carter last started in the finale of the Kleberg Bank College Classic at Illinois and Mizzou's border rival touched him for six runs, both on three-run homers, over two innings of work. His first start of the season, however, was very good. Carter earned the win in the finale against Eastern Michigan, tossing 5.0 innings while allowing just four hits and two earned runs while striking out three and walking one.
Mizzou is set to face its fourth lefty starter this season. Mizzou is 3-0 in such games this season. Mizzou defeated a LHP last night in its 10-1 win over Eastern Illinois.

Pitching Matchup

RHP Liam Carter (1-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. LHP Dillon Bray (0-1, 5.62 ERA)

Series History

Mizzou and Western Carolina have never met. In fact, Mizzou has played just one game against teams from the Southern Conference in the history of the program. That game was against Furman in the 1991 NCAA East Regional. Mizzou topped Furman, 8-4, to advance to keep their season alive, but a pair of losses to NC State, including an 8-5 loss, ended Mizzou's season that year. Florida, the No. 1 seed, won that regional. Mizzou was the No. 4 seed heading in.
Western Carolina is coming off of an impressive, 9-8 win at No. 20 NC State on Monday night. The Catamounts scored all nine runs over the first four innings, including four in the third inning.
Western Carolina has played a tough schedule so far this season, playing and defeating defending national champion Coastal Carolina, while playing nationally-ranked Clemson, nationally-ranked East Carolina, nationally-ranked St. John's and nationally-ranked NC State. WCU is 2-4 against ranked teams this season.
WCU also played Appalachian State on March 4, a team that visits Mizzou this weekend for a three-game set. Appalachian State won that game, 7-3.
The Catamounts sit at No. 59 in the RPI rankings.

We're Going Up Through The Quad To The Gynasium

After winning 11 consecutive games, Mizzou is streaking through its nonconference schedule. With its win streak currently at 11 games, Mizzou is chasing some of the longest win streaks in program history. The current 11-game mark matches the longest by a Tiger team since 2008 when they also won 14 in a row. Below is a breakdown of the longest win streaks in school history:

Consecutive Wins	Years Accomplished
19	1964
16	1981, 1917
14	2008, 2007, 1985
13	2003, 1998, 1978, 1952, 1916
12	1979 (twice), 1977, 1974
11	2017, 2005, 2004, 1958, 1954, 1939

There have been only 15 win streaks in Mizzou's history longer than Mizzou's current 11-game streak. The school record for longest winning streak was set by the 1964 team which finished as the College World Series National Runner-Up that year. Mizzou would need to win the final six games of its homestand and the first two games of the SEC-opening series at Alabama to reach that streak.
What makes Mizzou's 11-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 11 wins, six of the games have been decided by two or fewer runs, including four one-run wins and a pair of walk-off wins, including Sunday's 11-10 win in which freshman OF Kameron Misner hit a walk-off solo shot in the ninth.

We Were Merely Freshmen

Through three weeks of play, a trio of Mizzou freshmen have established themselves as stalwarts on Mizzou's roster and have been a hue part of Mizzou's success. OF Kameron Misner, INF Chris Cornelius and LHP T.J. Sikkema have been key cogs for Mizzou and their contributions were fully on display last weekend in the series win over UIC.
Misner of course was the hero of Sunday's game, belting a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning on a 2-0 fastball to clinch an 11-10 win an a three-game series sweep. Misner is now tied for the team lead with two homers and is hitting .346 with nine RBI and 27 total bases. He also leads Mizzou with four steals and stole home last weekend as well. He has hit in the three-hole in six games this season with Mizzou winning all six.
Cornelius has started and played in 11 games this season, seeing time at both middle infield spots. He is hitting .275 with two doubles and eight RBI and tallied his first collegiate homer run last week.
Sikkema has been Mizzou's top reliever this spring and leads all SEC freshmen in ERA (0.55) and strikeouts (26). We outline his dominance later in the notes.

Getting Offensive

The story of the season for Mizzou so far has been the offense. First-year head coach Steve Bieser, whose teams at Southeast Missouri consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally offensively, has Mizzou on a similar trajectory. Bieser and hitting coach Dillon Lawson rely on a pitch recognition program that they have instilled in the Mizzou players since they arrived on campus. The coaching staff has also introduced a lot of new, advanced technology to help hitters, and the results are seen in the stats. After three weeks of play, the results are easy to see as Mizzou ranks in the top four in the SEC in virtually every major offensive stat category, including an SEC-best .344 average, fifth-best in the nation. Below is a complete look at the stats and where Mizzou ranks:

Stat	Total	SEC Rank	National Rank
Batting	.344	1	5
Doubles	36	2	6
OBP	.432	2	10
Hits	146	3	19
Runs	103	4	18

To offer some perspective on Mizzou's offensive production, Mizzou last hit above .300 as a team in 2008, hitting .301 that season. In fact, Mizzou has hit above .300 just 25 times since 1950. The Tigers are averaging 12.17 hits per game and have double-digit hits in nine of 12 games. That puts Mizzou on pace for 681 hits during the 56-game regular season schedule. The school record is 643, set in 1988.

Double Trouble

A huge key to Mizzou's offense has been its ability to slug extra-base hits, highlighted by 36 doubles, the second-best total in the SEC. It took Mizzou 24 games to hit that many doubles a year ago. Mizzou has hit a double in 11 of 12 games this season and in nine consecutive games. Mizzou slugged a season-high seven doubles against Eastern Michigan on Feb. 18 in a 27-run outburst. Seven different Tigers have at least three doubles with junior Matt Berler leading the way with six as the doubles have been a full team effort. Mizzou's OPS (on base plus slugging percentage) after three weeks is .950 – to put that mark into perspective, .900 or higher is considered elite for a player, not to mention an entire team putting up a combined mark above .900.
While it is important to take into account the sample size so far, Mizzou is averaging 3.0 doubles per game this season through the first 12. That puts the team on pace for 168 doubles, which would be by far the most in program history. The record is 138 set in 1999 near the tail end of the gorilla ball era.

Comparing the Offense

While some could argue that Mizzou's offensive numbers are inflated by a perceived 'lack of competition' it is hard to argue when comparing the numbers to where they have been over the last several seasons. Even with playing a pair of Power 5 programs this year, including facing preseason All-American LHP Seth Romero and No. 25 Houston, Mizzou's numbers are far better than they were a year ago through the first 12 games, facing very similar competition.

Stat	2016	2017	% Increase
Doubles	19	36	89.5
XBHs	27	50	85.2
Runs	66	103	51.5
Slugging	.375	.518	38.1
Hits	106	146	37.7
Batting	.272	.344	26.5
OBP	.377	.432	14.6
Walks	55	63	14.5

Bullpen on Parade

While all the rage has been Mizzou's offense, it's hard to argue against the machine that has been Mizzou's bullpen. Despite a rough outing under windy conditions on Sunday, Mizzou's bullpen owns a combined 1.25 ERA in 50.1 innings of work this season. Mizzou's bullpen has allowed just 36 hits over those 50.1 innings and has struck out 71 batters against just 16 walks (4.44 K-BB ratio). The bullpen is limiting teams to a .195 batting average this season.

Down With the Sikkemas

A key reason for Mizzou's success in the bullpen has been the emergence of freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema. Described as having electric stuff by Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser, Sikkema has arguably been the best reliever in the SEC this season. Sikkema was lights out in week two as he was named Kleberg Bank College Classic MVP after earning a win and save over a pair of Power 5 opponents, including nationally-ranked Houston when he tossed a 2.2 inning save in a 4-2 win, the first save of his career. He then earned the win on Sunday against Illinois as he threw the final 4.1 shutout innings, scattering just three hits while matching his career-high with eight strikeouts. On the week, he went 7.0 innings and allowed just three hits with 11 Ks against just one walk.
He continued that spectacular pitching last weekend against UIC, tossing 4.0 shutout innings while striking out seven against no walks while scattering only two hits. He now owns a 16.0 inning shutout streak with 26 strikeouts and just nine hits allowed in that span.
Sikkema now leads all SEC freshmen in ERA (0.55) and is sixth overall. He also ranks 12th in the SEC in opponent batting while his 12 strikeouts looking are also a league-best. He is 25th nationally in strikeouts as well which is third in the SEC. He has struck out 26 of the 46 batters he has faced this season.
On the year, Sikkema owns a 14.33 K/9 average.

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