Thursday, April 19
Columbia, Mo.
7 p.m.
University of Missouri
vs
Vanderbilt
@MizzouBaseball Set For Big Home Series vs. SEC East Foe Vanderbilt
4/18/2018 5:23:00 PM | Baseball
Tigers and Dores will play three-game set from Thursday-Saturday in Columbia
- Mizzou Baseball opens the second half of SEC play with a huge home series this weekend against nationally-ranked Vanderbilt in a Thursday-Saturday series at Taylor Stadium. Thursday's game is a national broadcast on ESPNU with Mike Couzens and David Dellucci on the call. The Friday and Saturday games will air on SEC Network+ and all three games will be broadcast over the radio waves on KTGR.
- Mizzou is 1-16 all-time against Vanderbilt but won its first game ever over the Commodores last year in Nashville. Mizzou lost the opener, 5-2, but rebounded to win 2-1 in 12 innings during the Saturday contest behind an absolute gem from eventual first-round pick Tanner Houck. Vandy claimed the series with a 14-5 win on Sunday.
- Junior OF Zach Hanna had a huge week offensively for Mizzou last week. He hit .417 with (5-for-12) with four runs, two doubles, two homers and seven RBI, all against ranked teams on the road. Tuesday vs. Missouri State, he had a big go-ahead two-run single with two outs in the first inning and added a solo homer, driving in three. He was also hit by a pitch with two outs to spark the seventh inning rally that helped Mizzou win, 8-6. He was 3-for-9 vs. Florida with a run, a homer and a team-high four RBI, driving in four of the Tigers' five runs in the series. Hanna went 2-for-3 with an RBI Tuesday vs. Chicago State and is hitting .393 (11-for-28) with 11 RBI and five runs over his 13 games as his recent hot play has earned him more starts in left field.
- Mizzou has been very good at home this season, posting a 16-3 mark at Taylor Stadium.
- Mizzou has committed zero errors in 22 of 37 games this season (59.5 percent), which is six more than it had all of last season. In fact, we looked all the way back to 2003 and could not find a single season during which Mizzou played more than 20 errorless games. Keep in mind, Mizzou has 17 games remaining on its regular season schedule. Mizzou is seventh nationally in fielding percentage after finishing ranked 194th in that category a year ago, marking the largest turn-around in that category nationally this season.
- Mizzou is one of just two teams in the nation to rank in the top-15 nationally in both fielding percentage (seventh at .983) and ERA (15th at 3.17). The only other is defending national champion and unanimous No. 1 Florida.
- The phenomenal pitching and defense have led to Mizzou being one of the nation's elite schools when it comes to keeping the opponent off the scoreboard. Mizzou is allowing just 3.43 runs per game this season, ninth-best nationally and second in the SEC behind only top-ranked Florida. Mizzou is fifth nationally with six shutouts this season. Mizzou has allowed three or fewer runs in 21 of 37 games this season (57 percent). Mizzou has six shutouts this season, the fifth-most nationally and the best mark in the SEC.
- Mizzou also ranks in the top-25 in several pitching categories, including 12th in WHIP (1.21), 14th in strikeout-walk ratio (2.97) and 20th in strikeouts per nine (9.6).
- For the second straight weekend, Mizzou is using the rotation of T.J. Sikkema, Tyler LaPlante and Michael Plassmeyer. The trio of lefties is a combined 10-6 with 2.27 ERA with 141 strikeouts vs. only 28 walks while limiting opponents to .221 hitting.
PROJECTED STARTERS
- Thursday: Sophomore LHP T.J. Sikkema (2-3, 2.82 ERA) vs. RHP Drake Fellows (4-2, 3.27 ERA)
- Friday: Junior LHP Tyler LaPlante (4-2, 2.18 ERA) vs. RHP Patrick Raby (2-4, 2.90 ERA)
- Saturday: Junior LHP Michael Plassmeyer (4-1, 1.96 ERA) vs. RHP Mason Hickman (6-1, 4.35 ERA)
Players Mentioned
OF
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RHP
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LHP
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LHP
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