Mizzou Rounds Third, Heads Home for Three-Game Series vs. UIC

Mizzou Rounds Third, Heads For Home
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME	Listen	Stats	Watch
vs. UIC	Taylor Stadium	Friday, March 3	6:30 p.m.	KTGR	Stats	SEC Network+
vs. UIC	Taylor Stadium	Saturday, March 4	2:00 p.m.	KTGR	Stats	SEC Network+
vs. UIC	Taylor Stadium	Sunday, March 5	1:00 p.m.	KTGR	Stats	SEC Network+

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Mizzou Baseball, riding a seven-game winning streak, is set for its home-opening series this weekend as it host UIC in a three-game series at Taylor Stadium. The opener of the three-game set will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday with a 2 p.m. first pitch on the docket for what is supposed to be a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Mid-Missouri. The series finale will be at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Mizzou is off to a 7-1 start, its best since opening 10-1 in 2015, and is riding its longest win streak since early last season. The Tigers are fresh off a Kleberg Bank College Classic tournament title where they swept the three-game event while winning their road opener at Texas A&M Corpus Christi last Thursday night, 7-6. Mizzou opened the tournament by knocking off No. 25 Houston, 4-2, roughing up preseason All-American Seth Romero for all four runs while earning the program's first win over a ranked opponent since April 2, 2016. The Tigers came back out in game two of the tournament and five Tiger pitchers combined to one-hit the host Islander of Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Sophomore LHP Michael Plassmeyer took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of that game and struck out a career-high eight as Mizzou finished with 15 strikeouts in the game. Mizzou then defeated Illinois, 7-6, on Sunday to clinch the tournament title. Freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema was named Tournament MVP while Plassmeyer, RHP Andy Toelken, OF Connor Brumfield, OF Trey Harris and DH Brian Sharp, all earned All-Tournament nods.
Since joining the SEC, Mizzou has won three of four home openers, dating back to the 2013 season. The Tigers also lead the all-time series with UIC, 10-4, but the Flames are fresh off a series win at SEC foe Vanderbilt last weekend. All three games this weekend will be on SEC Network+ and KTGR.
Heading into the weekend at 7-1 on the year, Mizzou needs just three wins to match its best start since 1985. Mizzou last opened the season 10-1 in 2015, a year that saw Mizzou ascend as high as No. 15 nationally in the major polls. Reaching that mark will not be an easy feat as UIC rolls in to Columbia having just taken a three-game series at No. 7 Vanderbilt, a team that Mizzou has yet to beat since joining the SEC. It was the Flames' first series win over a ranked opponent on the road since 2007.
Mizzou won three of four games from UIC in a closely contested series at Taylor Stadium a year ago. The two teams have met every year since 2014 with Mizzou holding a 7-1 mark in eight games during that span. The only loss in that span came in game one of a doubleheader at Taylor Stadium a year ago.

Pitching Matchups

Friday: RHP Tanner Houck (0-1, 7.20 ERA) vs. LHP Jake Dahlberg (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
Saturday: LHP Michael Plassmeyer (2-0, 1.64 ERA) vs. RHP Jack Andersen (0-1, 7.71 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Andy Toelken (1-0, 1.93 ERA) vs.RHP Reid Birlingmair (1-0, 1.46 ERA)

Series History

Mizzou leads the all-time series with UIC, 10-4, after taking three of four games at Taylor Stadium last season. In game one last year, Mizzou led 4-1 after seven innings, but UIC rallied to tie the game at 4-4 with two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth. Then, the heroics of preseason All-SEC SS Ryan Howard took over as he launched a walk-off, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to complete the win. UIC's projected Sunday starter Reid Birlingmair was the pitcher who gave up the homer to Howard a year ago. Mizzou and UIC then split a doubleheader Saturday with Mizzou dropping game one, 4-2, before winning 10-5 in the nightcap. Mizzou then cruised to a 13-5 win on Sunday a year ago.
In 2015, Mizzou swpet a three-game set from the Flames last season in Millington, Tenn. Mizzou outscored UIC, 15-4, in the three games and limited the Flames to just .215 hitting with only three extra-base hits and four walks as the pitching was sensational. That was part of a 10-1 start for Mizzou that season, which was the best start for the program since 1985 when the team went 14-0 to start the season. Mizzou would need to win all three games this weekend to match that streak.

Getting Offensive

The story of the season for Mizzou so far has been the offense. First-year head coach Steve Bieser, whose teams at Southeast Missouri consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally offensively, has Mizzou on a similar trajectory. Bieser and hitting coach Dillon Lawson rely on a pitch recognition program that they have instilled in the Mizzou players since they arrived on campus. The coaching staff has also introduced a lot of new, advanced technology to help hitters, and the results are seen in the stats. After two weeks of play, Mizzou leads the SEC in batting (.352), walks (45), doubles (27), hits (102) and on-base percentage (.444). Mizzou ranks in the top 10 nationally in all five of those categories as well. Below is a break down:

Stat	Total	SEC Rank	National Rank
Doubles	28	1	3
Hits	102	1	5
Walks	45	1	9
OBP	.444	1	9
Batting	.352	1	10

To offer some perspective on Mizzou's offensive production, Mizzou last hit above .300 as a team in 2008, hitting .301 that season. In fact, Mizzou has hit above .300 just 25 times since 1950. The Tigers are averaging 12.75 hits per game and have double-digit hits in six of eight games. That puts Mizzou on pace for 714 hits during the 56-game regular season schedule. The school record is 643, set in 1988.

Double Trouble

A huge key to Mizzou's offense has been its ability to slug extra-base hits, highlighted by an SEC-best 28 doubles. It took Mizzou 16 games to hit that many doubles a year ago and Mizzou has at least three doubles in five consecutive games this season. Six different Tigers have at least three doubles with juniors Brett Bond and Matt Berler leading the way with four as the doubles have been a full team effort. Mizzou's OPS (on base plus slugging percentage) after two weeks is .961 – to put that mark into perspective, .900 or higher in considered elite for a player, not to mention an entire team putting up a combined mark above .900.
While it is important to take into account the sample size so far, Mizzou is averaging 3.5 doubles per game this season through the first eight. That puts the team on pace for 196 doubles, which would be by far the most in program history. The record is 138 set in 1999 near the tail end of the gorilla ball era.

Comparing the Offense

While some could argue that Mizzou's offensive numbers are inflated by a perceived 'lack of competition' it is hard to argue when comparing the numbers to where they have been over the last several seasons. Even with playing a pair of Power 5 programs this year, including facing preseason All-American LHP Seth Romero and No. 25 Houston, Mizzou's numbers are far better than they were a year ago through the first eight games, facing very similar competition.

Stat	2016	2017	% Increase
Doubles	14	28	100
XBHs	21	36	71
Hits	76	102	34.2
Runs	54	69	27.7
Slugging	.408	.517	26.7
Batting	.287	.352	22.7
Walks	40	45	12.5
OBP	.397	.444	11.8

Graphic Translation: #Mizzou's offense = ????????????#PitchRecognition #BieserBall #MIZ #C2E ??? pic.twitter.com/ICuDRuctm2
— #MizzouBaseball (@MizzouBaseball) March 2, 2017

Bullpen on Parade

While all the rage has been Mizzou's offense, its hard to argue against the machine that has been Mizzou's bullpen. Mizzou's bullpen is currently riding 21.1 inning streak without allowing an earned run and owns a combined 1.30 ERA in 34.2 innings of work this season. Mizzou's bullpen has allowed just 23 hits over those 34.2 innings and has struck out 47 batters against just 15 walks (3.133 K-BB ratio). The bullpen is limiting teams to a .167 batting average this season.

Down With the Sikkemas

A key reason for Mizzou's success in the bullpen has been the emergence of freshman LHP T.J. Sikkema. Described as having electric stuff by Mizzou head coach Steve Bieser, Sikkema has arguably been the best reliever in the SEC this season. Sikkema was lights out last weekend as a reliever for Steve Bieser's team. He was named Kleberg Bank College Classic MVP after earning a win and save over a pair of Power 5 opponents, including nationally-ranked Houston when he tossed a 2.2 inning save in a 4-2 win, the first save of his career. He then earned the win on Sunday against Illinois as he threw the final 4.1 shutout innings, scattering just three hits while matching his career-high with eight strikeouts. On the week, he went 7.0 innings and allowed just three hits with 11 Ks against just one walk. That extended his personal shutout inning streak to 12.0 with 19 strikeouts and just seven hits allowed in that span.
His save against Houston preserved Mizzou's first win over a ranked opponent since April 2, 2016, at Arkansas. He was a key cog in Mizzou winning seven consecutive games, its longest streak since Feb. 24-March 4 last season.
Sikkema led all Mizzou pitchers in innings (7.0), appearances (2), strikeouts (11) and finished second in opponent batting (.130) last week, trailing only Michael Plassmeyerwho tossed 6.0 innings of one-hit baseball against Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Sikkema now leads all SEC freshmen in ERA (0.73) and is 11th overall. He also ranks 15th in the SEC in opponent batting average and 10th in innings pitched while his nine strikeouts looking are also a league-best. He is 19th nationally in strikeouts as well which is second in the SEC.

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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