Friday, February 17
Fort Myers, Fla.
6:00 PM
University of Missouri
vs
Eastern Michigan
@MizzouBaseball Set for Opening Day in Fort Myers
2/14/2017 1:46:00 PM | Baseball
Tigers battle Eastern Michigan in four-game series
| Bieser Era Begins Friday vs. Eastern Michigan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPPONENT | LOCATION | DAY | TIME | Listen | STATS |
| Eastern Michigan | Fort Myers, Fla. | Friday, Feb. 17 | 6 p.m. CT | KTGR | Stats |
| Eastern Michigan | Fort Myers, Fla. | Saturday, Feb. 18 | 12 p.m. CT | KTGR | Stats |
| Eastern Michigan | Fort Myers, Fla. | Saturday, Feb. 18 | 3 p.m. CT | KTGR | Stats |
| Eastern Michigan | Fort Myers, Fla. | Sunday, Feb. 19 | 10 a.m. CT | KTGR | Stats |
- Mizzou Baseball officially kicks off a new era as first-year head coach Steve Bieser and Mizzou open the 2017 campaign with a four-game series against Eastern Michigan, beginning Friday (Feb. 17) at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla. Bieser, who was hired in June of last year, is just the fourth head coach at Mizzou since 1937 and the 14th in program history. He takes over at Mizzou following an extremely successful four-year stint at Southeast Missouri, where he won three consecuitve OVC Championships while posting at least 36 wins in each of his last three seasons at the helm. His tenure at his alma mater concluded with a 39-21 record, resetting the school's record for wins, and a 22-8 mark in OVC play and an OVC Tournament Championship, sending SEMO to its first NCAA Regional since 2002.
- Bieser and his team, which features 15 first-year players, open 2017 in Fort Myers for the second consecuitve year. Last year, Mizzou played the first two weekends of the season at City of Palms Park, splitting a four-game series with Seton Hall before completing a four-game sweep of Hofstra. Mizzou is 6-2 all-time in City of Palms Park, the former Spring Training facility of the Boston Red Sox.
- Mizzou will send preseason All-American Tanner Houck to the mound on Friday night in what is expected to be a banner year for the junior righty. Houck was a first team preseason All-American by three major publications and earned preseason All-America distinction from four different publications. He is projected as a top-10 pick in this summer's MLB First Year Player Draft and brings plenty of fan fare into his first start of the season.
- 2017 marks the 126th season of Mizzou Baseball and its fifth as a member of the Southeastern Conference. Looking at the numbers, Mizzou is 76-38-2 in season openers all time. The Tigers have won 10 of the last 14 season openers, including in each of the last three seasons. In fact, the last two Mizzou openers have been shutouts. Mizzou won last year's opener against Seton Hall, 7-0, at City of Palms Park behind a solid start from then senior RHP Reggie McClain. Mizzou defeated Iona, 1-0, in its season opener in 2015. The last time Mizzou was scored on during a season opener was 2014 when the Tigers topped Southern Miss, 4-3.
- No team has scored more than five runs in a season-opener against Mizzou since 2011 when Cal Poly hung nine on Mizzou in a 10-9 Mizzou win. Only six teams have scored more than five in a season opener vs. Mizzou since 2000.
- With the trend being runs at a premium when facing Mizzou in season-openers over the last two seasons, the task does not get any easier for Eastern Michigan as it is set to face junior ace RHP Tanner Houck. Houck has been sensational in eight career nonconference starts. He is 5-2 with a 2.35 ERA in 53.2 innings, striking out 54 against just seven walks. In his two starts at City of Palms Park a year ago, Houck was tremendous, going 2-0 while scattering just 10 hits over 15.0 innings, allowing just one run (earned) with 18 strikeouts against just four walks.
- Mizzou is set to compete in City of Palms Park to open the season for the second consecutive season. Last year, Mizzou went 6-2 in the park while outscoring its opponents, 50-26, over the eight games played there.
- Mizzou leads the all-time series with Eastern Michigan, 12-4, in 16 meetings. The two teams last met in 2013. A complete look at the series is on page two of the notes.
Pitching Matchups
- Friday:
RHP Tanner Houck (5-6, 2.99 ERA) vs. RHP Davis Feldman (2-4, 4.21 ERA)
- Saturday (Game 1):
RHP Andy Toelken (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Brent Mattson (1-4, 4.53 ERA)
- Saturday (Game 2):
LHP Michael Plassmeyer (4-7, 5.12 ERA) vs. RHP James Harness (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
- Sunday:
TBA vs. TBA
15 First Year Players
- When Mizzou takes the field Friday vs. Eastern Michigan, it will do so with 15 first-year players on its roster (8 freshmen and 7 junior college transfers). Additionally, Mizzou has just two four-year players and just one lone senior on its 2017 roster, making the Tigers one of the youngest teams in the SEC. OF Kirby McGuire is the team's only senior but has joined the program last season as he has been with the program just one year. Mizzou has just two players - RS juniors Cole Bartlett and Ryan Lee.
- Looking deeper at the numbers, Mizzou has 34 players on its roster as it breaks camp for the season opener. Of the 34, 24 are first- or second-year players at Mizzou. Mizzou is one of only two SEC schools with just one senior on the roster. Below is a breakdown of the SEC schools:
-
School First Year Players Seniors Mizzou 15 1 Georgia 17 1 Ole Miss 17 2 Vanderbilt 14 2 Florida 13 2 Mississippi State 16 3 South Carolina 16 4 Alabama 12 4 Texas A&M 16 5 Arkansas 18 6 Tennessee 17 7 Kentucky 13 7 LSU 13 9 Auburn 20 9
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- A key spot for the Tigers that will feature the most turnaround from a year ago is the infield. All four spots - first base, second base, third base and shortstop - have first-year starters at those positions heading into the opening weekend of play. Of the four players starting along the infield, only one was even with program last year and that is sophomore Brian Sharp. He moves to first base to try and fill the void left by Zach Lavy who was one of the best all-around first basemen in the country last year. Sharp primarily played at third base a year ago.
Looking 'Sharp'
- Speaking of Brian Sharp, the sophomore utility man turned some heads with his performance during the fall as he was virtually unstoppable at the plate. He hit a team-best .478 and reached base in 66 percent of his plate appearances while slugging a pair of homers and two doubles. He drew a team-high 12 walks in the seven Fall World Series games, doubling the next-best mark on the team, and struck out just five times. Head coach Steve Bieser, who knows a thing or two about hitting as his SEMO teams consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally in every major offensive category, said on record that Sharp may have the best approach at the plate that he's ever seen from a college player.
- During his freshman season, Sharp showed signs of being that type of a hitter, hitting .252 with 15 RBI and 24 walks. While those numbers are not outstanding by any stretch, they are pretty respectable after navigating a freshman season in the SEC. That being said, the Mizzou coaching staff is looking at Sharp to become the type of hitter that he was during the fall and hit in the middle of the lineup. He showed tremendous pop in his bat during the fall as well, which bodes well for Mizzou moving into the spring.
Bond, Harris Looking for Rebound Campaigns as Juniors
- A key to Mizzou's success offensively in 2017 will be a pair of juniors rebounding from what were disappointing sophomore seasons in 2016. Both C Brett Bond and OF Trey Harris burst onto the scene in 2015 with impressive offensive seasons - Bond hit .294 with five homers and 25 RBIs while Harris hit .263 with four homers and 22 RBI - but both took a step back last year, both hitting below .220.
- Despite hitting just .219 last year, Bond rebounded from a rough first half to hit .260 (27-for-104) with five of his seven homers and 14 RBI over his final 28 games last year as he began to show signs of being the hitter he was as a freshman. During the fall, he hit .409 with three doubles and a homer while driving in a team-best 11 RBI, which bodes well for Mizzou moving into the spring.
- Harris had a nice fall as well, hitting .300 with a double and a triple while scoring a team-high 10 runs and swiping five stolen bases.
For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter (@MizzouBaseball) and like the team on Facebook and Instagram (Mizzou Baseball and missouri_baseball, respectively).
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