@MizzouBaseball Hosts Youngstown State in Final Nonconference Weekend

3/10/2016 12:15:00 PM | Baseball

OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY // TIME	LIVE STATS
Youngstown State	Taylor Stadium	Friday, March 11 // 6 p.m.	Stats
Youngstown State	Taylor Stadium	Saturday, March 12 // 2 p.m.	Stats
Youngstown State	Taylor Stadium	Sunday, March 13 // 1 p.m.	Stats

Game Notes

Setting the Stage

Mizzou Baseball, winners of 10 of its last 11 games, will host Youngstown State in its final nonconference weekend beginning this Friday at 6 p.m. at Taylor Stadium. The two teams will play again at 2 p.m. Saturday and the series finale will be at 1 p.m. Sunday. Each game is slated to air on the Mizzou Network on SEC Network+ and Tex Little and Trevor Coleman will have the call on KTGR 103.1 FM/1580 AM. This is Mizzou's first three-game weekend series of 2016.
Mizzou leads the all-time series with Youngstown State, 10-1, in 11 meetings. All 11 meetings between the two programs have come since 2003 and the last time the two teams met was in 2007 when Mizzou swept the Penguins, 10-5, 11-0, 11-0, at Taylor Stadium. Current graduate assistant Trevor Coleman was a star in that series. He did not start game one, but started the final two games, going 3-for-5 with two runs and four RBI and a double. He was also the battery mate to current big leaguers Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson in those two games as Mizzou pitched a pair of shutouts.
In the all-time series, Mizzou has shutout Youngstown State in six of the 10 wins and has outscored the Penguins 110-13. The only loss was a 3-2 defeat in 2004.
Mizzou has opened the season 12-3 through the first 15-games this season, marking Mizzou's best 15-game start since 2008 when the team went 13-2 to open the season. Last year, Mizzou was 11-4 through 15 games and that team wound up finishing third in a loaded SEC East.
Looking at the stats when comparing the 2015 and 2016 teams through 15 games, there is one glaring difference: Mizzou's offense has been a lot better this year. In fact, through 15 games a season ago, Mizzou was hitting just .239 as a team with only 66 runs (4.4 per game). This year, Mizzou is hitting .278 as a team with 96 runs (6.4 per game) while slugging 37 extra-base hits while last year's team had just 34 extra-base hits. Mizzou's ERA was 1.98 through 15 games a season ago and checks in at 3.04 this year, but the improvement in the offense is clear to see. Only one hitter on last year's roster was hitting above .300 at this point last season while four players are doing so this year. In fact, C Brett Bond led the team with a .311 average at this point last season and that mark would rank fifth on this year's team.

Pitching Matchups

LHP Joe King (0-1, 3.45 ERA) vs. RHP Reggie McClain (2-0, 1.09 ERA)
RHP Jeremy Quinlan (1-1, 4.61 ERA) vs. RHP Tanner Houck (2-1, 1.64 ERA)
LHP Collin Floyd (0-1, 9.26 ERA) vs. LHP Austin Tribby (2-0, 3.44 ERA)

Up Next
Mizzou will close its homestand when it welcomes Southeast Missouri next Tuesday and Wednesday. Tex Little and Trevor Coleman will have the call on KTGR and the games will stream live on the Watch ESPN App courtesy of SEC Network+. For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MizzouBaseball.