Wednesday, February 24
Miami, Fla.
2 p.m. (CST)
University of Missouri
at
Florida International
@MizzouBaseball Continues Florida Road Trip at FIU Wednesday
2/23/2016 10:37:00 AM | Baseball
| GAME | LOCATION | DAY // TIME | LIVE STATS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida International | Miami, Fla. | Wednesday, Feb. 24 // 2 p.m. (CT) | Stats |
Setting the Stage
- Mizzou Baseball will continue its nine-game trip to Florida with the middle game of the trip against Florida International Wednesday (Feb. 24) in Miami.
- Mizzou is coming off of a 2-2 weekend in a four-game series against Seton Hall last weekend in Fort Myers, Fla., at City of Palms Park. Mizzou won game one, 7-0, behind 8.0 shutout innings from senior RHP Reggie McClain. In the next game, sophomore RHP Tanner Houck struck out a career-high nine batters and allowed just one run over 6.0 innings, guiding Mizzou to a 4-1 win. Seton Hall then rallied to take the final two games of the series, 8-4 and 9-1, respectively.
- Mizzou and Florida International have met three times in the previous years with Mizzou winning all three matchups. All three meetings between the two programs came in 2007 - the year which Mizzou hosted an NCAA Regional. Mizzou won the Friday night contest, 12-6, the Saturday contest 15-7 and the Sunday game 3-2.
- Florida International is coming off of a three-game weekend series at SEC foe Ole Miss and the Rebels took all three games from the Panthers, outscoring FIU 32-11 over the three games. They play St. Thomas Tuesday night.
- Florida International is coming off of a 30-31 season that saw them advance to NCAA Regional competition, playing in the nearby Coral Gables Regional where it qualified as a No. 4 seed after winning the Conference USA Tournament.
- Mizzou is currently TBA on a pitcher for Wednesday's game as head coach and pitching coach Tim Jamieson will likely take a 'Johnny Wholestaff' approach for the midweek game.
- FIU is also TBA on its starter for Wednesday.
- Wednesday's game will be Mizzou's first true road game of the season. Mizzou went 7-11 in road contests last season and 1-2 in nonconference road contests.
- After one week of play, Mizzou leads the SEC in stolen bases, totaling 10 in the opening weekend of action against Seton Hall. Eight of those 10 stolen bases came in game two of the series as Mizzou finished just two shy of the school record in a single game and it was the most by a Mizzou team since March of 2011 vs. Le Moyne when Mizzou also stole eight bags. Mizzou was caught stealing just once on the weekend as well. The eight steals are the most in a single game by any SEC team so far this season.
- Mizzou leads the SEC in defensive chances after one week of action with 157 and remarkably, Mizzou committed just three errors on those chances last weekend. Mizzou also turned an SEC-best seven double plays in the opening weekend of action.
- Sophomore 3B Shane Benes currently ranks third in the SEC after slugging a pair of homers last weekend against Seton Hall. He trails only Vanderbilt's Jeren Kendall and Kentucky's Tristan Pompey. He homered in his first AB of the season and added a two-run shot in the previous game. He also just missed a grand slam in game two against Seton Hall, flying out to the warning track.
- Junior Ryan Howard leads the team in batting after week one, registering a hit in each game last weekend along with a double and a homer and two multi-hit games. He was a Preseason All-SEC honoree as the first team shortstop.
- Also landing on the Preseason All-SEC Team was sophomore RHP Tanner Houck, who is a consensus Freshman All-American and Preseason All-American.
Up Next
Mizzou will be back in action in Fort Myers this weekend, hosting a four-game series against Hofstra at City of Palms Park. Tex Little and Trevor Coleman will have the call on KTGR. For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MizzouBaseball.
Players Mentioned
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Monday, February 10
Inside Mizzou Athletics - Talkin' Baseball with Brock Lucas
Monday, February 03
Mizzou vs. LSU Series Highlights
Monday, April 22
Mizzou at Missouri State Highlights
Friday, April 19
