Tuesday, April 10
Springfield, Mo.
6:30 p.m.
University of Missouri
at
Missouri State
@MizzouBaseball Opens Four-Game Road Trip at Missouri State
4/9/2018 5:59:00 PM | Baseball
Tigers and Bears play at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN3
- No. 24 Mizzou Baseball opens a four-game road trip Tuesday with in-state foe Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., at Hammons Field. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. and the game will air live on KTGR and KTGR.com with Tex Little and Matt Michaels on the call. It will also air live on ESPN3 through the WatchESPN app.
- Mizzou Baseball put together a 2-2 week last week, defeating SIU-Edwardsville Wednesday, 12-1, before seeing its bats struggle in cold weather at home in a three-game series with Alabama, which the Tide took two of three. Alabama won, 2-1, Friday night despite Mizzou's offense pounding 13 hits. Poor weather forced the two teams to play a doubleheader Saturday and Mizzou won game one, 1-0, behind the first career complete game shutout for junior LHP Michael Plassmeyer, who allowed just four hits and no walks while striking out seven in his fourth win. He earned SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week for that outing. Mizzou's bats were quiet in the nightcap as Alabama won, 5-1, thanks to a three-run third inning that was set up by a pair of walks to open the frame.
- Missouri State is coming off a three-game series sweep over Evansville last weekend in Springfield. The Bears won Friday night, 6-5, before scoring 19 runs over the final two games, winning 8-2 Saturday and 11-4 Sunday. Missouri State has won 11 of its last 12 games coming into Tuesday's contest.
- Mizzou is playing its first game against an in-state opponent this season.
- Mizzou is playing its 11th true road contest Tuesday at Missouri State. Mizzou is 6-4 on the road this season and 8-6 in games played away from Taylor Stadium this season. Under second-year head coach Steve Bieser, Mizzou is 25-16 in games played away from Taylor Stadium.
- Tuesday's weather forecast shows high temperatures close to 60 degrees in the Springfield area. That will be a relief to Mizzou as its average first pitch temperature in games played at Taylor Stadium this season has been unseasonably cold at 48.1 degrees. Keep in mind that 10 of the 18 games were night games, meaning that temperatures became much colder than the 48.1 average at first pitch.
- MSU leads the all-time series, 29-26. MSU won both meetings a year ago, winning 5-3 in Columbia and 5-1 in Springfield. The Bears have won six of the last seven meetings dating back to 2014. The all-time series dates back to 1975. Mizzou and Missouri State are set to meet for three times in a single season for the first time since 1984 - Mizzou won all three of those games that year.
- Second-year Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser played Missouri State three times when he was the head coach at Southeast Missouri from 2013-16. Bieser went 1-2 against the Bears, losing 11-4 in 2013, winning 6-5 in 2014 and losing in 2015, 2-1. The two teams did not play in 2016. Mizzou and Missouri State were supposed to play at Busch Stadium last Tuesday, but poor weather forced a cancellation of that game.
- Mizzou will send junior LHP Tyler LaPlante to the mound Tuesday vs. Missouri State. The junior college product has been tremendous as Mizzou's midweek starter this season. He has gone 4-1 in four appearances this season, posting a 1.50 ERA. As a starter, he is 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA and has defeated Northeastern, which is an RPI top-50 team, and nationally-ranked Wichita State. He started last Wednesday vs. SIU-E and earned the win, striking out six over 3.0 shutout innings.
- Missouri State is sending RHP Austin Knight to the mound Tuesday. He is 1-0 with a 4.21 ERA in 25.2 innings pitched. He started both games against Missouri last season, going a combined 11.2 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) earning a win in the second game of the series. He went 6.2 shutout frames, striking out five and walking none while scattering just three hits. In his first start, he allowed eight hits over 5.0 innings with three runs (two earned) while striking out four and again not walking anyone.
- With Mizzou and Missouri State playing a home-and-home every year, it is no surprise to see plenty of current Mizzou players with career stat lines against the Bears. Below is a snapshot:
- Brett Bond: 5 GP | 4-for-17 | 2B | 4 RBI
- Connor Brumfield: 4 GP | 5-for-18 | 3 R | 1 2B | 2 RBI | 0-1 SB
- Trey Harris: 5 GP | 5-for-18 | 7 R | 1 2B | 1 HR | 2 RBI | 2-2 SB | 1 BB
- Kameron Misner: 2 GP | 3-for-9 | 2 R | 1 2B
- Alex Samples: 2 GP | 0-for-3 | 1 BB
- Brian Sharp: 2 GP | 1-for-8 | 3.0 IP | 7 H | 7 R | 4 ER | 3 BB | 3 Ks
- Nolan Gromacki: 3 App. | 0-0 | 13.50 ERA | 2.0 IP | 3 H | 3 R | 3 ER | 1 BB | 3 Ks
- Michael Plassmeyer: 2 App. | 2.0 IP | 0.00 ERA | 0 H | 0 R | 0 ER | 1 BB | 2 Ks
- T.J. Sikkema: 1 App. | 2.0 IP | 13.50 ERA | 4 H | 3 R | 3 ER | 0 BB | 1 K
PROJECTED STARTERS
- Tuesday: Junior LHP Tyler LaPlante (4-1, 1.50 ERA) vs. RHP Austin Knight (1-0, 4.21 ERA)
Players Mentioned
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