No. 24 @MizzouBaseball Opens SEC Play at No. 16 LSU

Friday, March 16

Baton Rouge, La.

6:30 p.m.

University of Missouri

LSU

3/14/2018 3:00:00 PM | Baseball

GAME NOTES vs. LSU

Mizzou is on the road to open SEC play for the fourth straight year

No. 24 Mizzou Baseball, winner of nine straight, faces a huge road test at nationally-ranked LSU this weekend at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. All three games will be televised with Friday's contest airing on SEC Network+ while also being part of SEC Network's Bases Loaded coverage. Saturday's game will be on SEC Network while Sunday's will again be on SEC Network+. KTGR radio will have the broadcast in the Mid-Missouri area with Tex Little and Matt Michaels on the call.
Mizzou has won nine consecutive games, which is tied for the second-longest streak in the nation as of Wednesday (March 14). Only UCF (12 straight) has a longer active streak. Mizzou is averaging 7.8 runs per game over its current nine-game winning streak while allowing just 2.1 in that span. Mizzou's fielding has been tremendous as well, allowing just one unearned run in the nine games, fielding at a .981 clip. Mizzou's pitchers are limiting batters to .182 hitting during the nine-game win streak with a 1.91 ERA. Mizzou's pitchers have allowed just 10 extra-base hits over the nine-game winning streak (seven doubles, one triple, two homers). Mizzou is averaging 9.67 strikeouts per game while it has walked just 29 batters (3.22 per game) in that span.
Mizzou is 2-0 this season against ranked opponents, defeating then No. 24-ranked Miami on the road on, 9-0, on Feb. 21, and topping No. 20 Wichita State, 9-4, Tuesday at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers are outscoring ranked opponents by a combined score of 18-4 this season. The Tigers are set for three more games vs. a top-25 team as LSU is ranked in all the major polls, highlighted by a No. 16 rank in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30.
Mizzou is ranked in one of the major top-25 polls for the first time since March 28, 2017, when it checked in at No. 23.
Mizzou and LSU last met in last year's SEC Tournament, with LSU claiming a 10-3 win. In all, Mizzou trails the all-time series with LSU, 12-0. Mizzou was swept in 2013 at home by the Bayou Bengals and again at Alex Box in 2015. LSU took all three from Mizzou in 2016 and won last year's meeting in the tournament. Mizzou and LSU played stand-alone games in 1986 and 1987 with LSU winning both.
Since Mizzou joined the SEC, the Tigers are 8-7 on the opening weekend of SEC play. Last year, Mizzou opened SEC play on the road at Alabama and swept the Crimson Tide. This is the fourth consecutive season that Mizzou will open SEC play on the road - only Kentucky (six straight seasons opening on the road) has done so more during that span. In 2015, Mizzou took three from Georgia and in 2016 Mizzou was swept at then No. 1-ranked Florida. Even with opening on the road in the last three seasons, Mizzou is 6-3 during that span.
Looking deeper into success away from home, since Steve Bieser took the helm of Mizzou's program, the Tigers are 23-13 away from home, including a 15-7 mark in true road games. Mizzou is 3-1 in true road games this season, including a 9-0 win at nationally-ranked Miami in February.

PROJECTED ROTATION

Friday: RS Junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (3-0, 1.57 ERA)
Saturday: Junior LHP Michael Plassmeyer (2-0, 2.88 ERA)
Sunday: Senior RHP Andy Toelken (2-1, 3.92 ERA)

TIGERS CUT BACK ON ERRORS

A bugaboo for Mizzou last season was its overall team defense, but second year head coach Steve Bieser and his staff appear to have the Tigers on the right track defensively through the first 17 games this season. Through 17 games last year, Mizzou had 32 errors, nearly 2.5 times as many as it has through the first 17 games this season (just 13). Mizzou was fielding .955 at this point a season ago and it has seen that number increase to .980 this year.
Without an error over the last weekend's three-game set with La Salle, it was the Tigers' first weekend series without an error since May 16-18, 2013, in a series win at home over Kentucky. Mizzou has not committed an error in four straight games for the first time since May 14-20, 2016.
It was also the first three-game stretch without an error since April 1-4 of last season in two games vs. Florida and one vs. Illinois.
Mizzou has allowed just one unearned run over its nine-game winning streak.

FIRST IS FAR FROM THE WORST

The Tigers have scored in the first inning in eight consecutive games during the nine-game winning streak.
Mizzou has scored in the first inning in 11 of 17 games this season, going 10-1 in such contests.
Mizzou has outscored opponents, 24-5, in the first inning this season and 34-5 over the first two frames.
Since head coach Steve Bieser took over the program, Mizzou has scored 83 times in the first inning in his 76 games (1.09 per game) – Mizzou had scored just 64 first-inning runs in the previous two years combined (114 games; 0.56 per game).

PITCHING SHINING UNDER FIRST-YEAR PITCHING COACH FRED CORRAL

Mizzou's pitching staff, despite losing first-round pick Tanner Houck and workhorse Cole Bartlett to the draft a year ago, has been tremendous through four weeks under first-year pitching coach Fred Corral.
Last weekend against La Salle, Mizzou allowed just six runs and took a no-hitter into the fifth inning of every game. Mizzou limited batters to .177 hitting on the weekend and surrendered just three extra-base hits. Tuesday vs. No. 20 Wichita State, Mizzou took a 9-1 lead into the ninth before allowing three runs in the frame.
Over the nine-game win streak, Mizzou is limiting batters to .182 hitting with only 10 extra-base hits (seven doubles, one triple, two homers).
Mizzou ranks in the national top-30 in six of the major pitching categories. Below is a look at the national marks for Mizzou's staff:
- 9th - WHIP - 1.06
- 9th - Hits Allowed - 6.58
- 16th - Strikeout-Walk Ratio - 3.41
- 17th - ERA - 2.54
- 28th - Strikeouts/Nine Innings -10.0
Mizzou is third in the SEC with 174 batters struck out as well, trailing only Kentucky (180) and Ole Miss (176).

BOND HEATING UP

Mizzou senior C Brett Bond was dubbed the No. 4 college senior by PerfectGame.org during the offseason and turned down the MLB Draft (23rd round by the Astros) to return to Mizzou for his senior season. Bond got off to a slow start by his standards this season, batting just .167 through the first six games of the season. Head coach Steve Bieser and his staff had Bond as the team's cleanup hitter to start the year, but his slow start dropped him down in the order. However, he's been on a tear over his last 11 contests, raising his batting average from .167 to .291.
Over his last 11 games, Bond is batting .350 (14-for-40) with a homer, two doubles, eight RBI and eight runs. He was the team's top hitter during last weekend's series with La Salle, going 6-for-9 with two runs, a double and four RBI.
Bond's success is key to the Mizzou order as his right-handed bat serves as the perfect split in the cleanup spot between a pair of Mizzou lefties who have enjoyed hot starts - sophomore three-hole hitter 1B Kameron Misner (.383/.560/.704, 3 HR, 12 XBHs, 16 RBI) and junior 3B Brian Sharp (.426/.500/.733, 3 HR, 8 XBHs, 23 RBI). If Bond stays hot, he would fit perfect between Misner in the three hole and Sharp in the five hole, putting a righty between the two lefties.

TIGERS IN SEC WEEKLY HONORS

Mizzou junior 3B Brian Sharp earned SEC Player of the Week on Feb. 26 and RS junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca earned SEC Pitcher of the Week the following Monday. That is noteworthy as Mizzou is the only SEC school to earn both awards this season.
Sharp earned Player of the Week after throwing 9.2 shutout innings without a walk and 14 strikeouts while scattering just seven hits, including 5.0 shutout innings at No. 24 Miami in a 9-0 win, while going .563/.588/1.125 with 10 RBI at the plate that week. Northeastern, Sharp exploded for one of the most impressive single-game performances in school history in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader. In Mizzou's 20-1 win, Sharp went 5-for-5 with a pair of homers, a triple, a walk and a school-record nine RBI, tying the mark set by Jacob Priday on April 11, 2008, vs. Texas. His 13 total bases were the most since Priday had 15 in that same game vs. Texas. A double shy of the cycle, Sharp came to bat in the eighth inning with the bases loaded. Instead of hitting the double he needed for the cycle, he launched a grand slam to right field to complete the historic performance.
After throwing 7.0 innings of no-hit, shutout baseball in Mizzou's first no-hitter since 2005, Montes De Oca was the SEC Pitcher of the Week,on March 5. Montes De Oca struck out a career-high 12 in his longest career outing as a Tiger vs. UMBC, starting a combined no-hitter. It was the program's 10th no-no and the first since Max Scherzer and Michael Cole combined to no-hit Texas Tech in 2005.
That marked the first SEC Pitcher of the Week honor for Montes De Oca and he is the first Mizzou pitcher to earn this distinction since May 22, 2017, when Cole Bartlett earned the nod after throwing a complete game, one-hitter at Tennessee. He also earned Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week for his efforts.
Montes De Oca was untouchable during his Friday night vs. UMBC, his third start of the season. He carved up the UMBC order efficiently and likely would have finished the game had it not been for a 26-pitch fifth inning during which he walked two. Those were the only baserunners against him all evening. Just one batted ball left the infield during his 7.0 innings and only two of the 21 outs he recorded were hit in the air, a foul out to first base and a shallow pop to left that was gloved by Mizzou SS Chris Cornelius.
That start earned him a game score of 87, which was the fourth-best mark in the nation last week and second-best among schools from a Power 5 league.

MIZZOU IN ELITE COMPANY

Following the first four and a half weeks of play, Mizzou is in some pretty elite company as one of just four teams to rank in the top 20 nationally in both ERA and runs scored.
As of Wednesday, Mizzou ranks ninth in the nation with 144 runs scored and 17th with a 2.54 ERA.
The only other teams nationally to do so are No. 6 Florida (13th in runs, sixth in ERA), No. 10 Texas A&M (17th in runs, fourth in ERA) and No. 18 Arkansas (15th in runs, ninth in ERA).