Tuesday, May 16
Columbia, Mo.
4:00 PM
University of Missouri
vs
Eastern Kentucky
@MizzouBaseball Hosts Eastern Kentucky in Home Finale
5/15/2017 3:12:00 PM | Baseball
Mizzou Enters Final Week With Plenty to Play For
| MIZZOU ENTERS FINAL WEEK WITH PLENTY TO PLAY FOR | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPPONENT | LOCATION | DAY | TIME (CT) | Listen | Stats | Watch |
| Eastern Kentucky | Taylor Stadium | Tuesday, May 16 | 4:00 p.m. | KTGR | Stats | SEC Network+ |
- Mizzou Baseball enters the final week of the regular season with plenty to play for. Having already clinched a berth in the SEC Tournament, Mizzou will look to improve its NCAA Tournament resume as it closes the season with a midweek game against Eastern Kentucky and a three-game series at Tennessee (No. 44 in the RPI). Tuesday's game will be Mizzou's final home game of 2017 and it will air live on SEC Network+ and KTGR in the Mid-Missouri area.
- Mizzou is coming off of a huge series win over South Carolina (No. 24 in the RPI at the time) last weekend. After dropping the Friday night game, 4-3, Mizzou rallied for a pair of 5-3 wins on Saturday and Sunday. Both wins were in come-from-behind fashion as Mizzou trailed 3-1 Saturday and 3-2 Sunday entering the eighth inning. Mizzou jumped eight spots in the RPI after the series win, checking in at No. 63 this week. That puts the Tigers back in the running for NCAA Tournament consideration, especially when looking forward to Tennessee this weekend, which stands at No. 44 in the RPI. Three or four wins this week could do plenty to bolster Mizzou's NCAA Tournament resume before heading to next week's SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.
- Mizzou has won more than 30 games for the first time since 2012 (33 wins while advancing to the NCAA Tuscon Regional) while Mizzou's 11 SEC wins are its second-most ever since joining the league. The Tigers still have three SEC games remaining this weekend and four regular season contests left on the schedule as first-year head coach Steve Bieser has Mizzou trending in the right direction.
- Mizzou Baseball SS Chris Cornelius was named SEC Freshman of the Week, announced Monday by the league office. This is the first career conference honor for Cornelius and he is the second Mizzou player to earn SEC Freshman of the Week after T.J. Sikkema earned the distinction on March 20.
- Cornelius hit .400 while slugging .900 as all four of his hits in the South Carolina series went for extra bases (three doubles and a triple). He scored a team-high four runs over the three games and drove in two more. Cornelius was instrumental in both comeback wins over Carolina on Saturday and Sunday.
- With Mizzou trailing 3-1 in Saturday's game, Cornelius kick-started a two-run fifth inning to tie the game as he ripped an RBI double off the wall in center field to get Mizzou back within one at 3-2. He eventually scored the tying run on a two-out RBI single by Robbie Glendinning.
- In Sunday's game with Mizzou trailing, 3-2, heading into the eighth inning, he ripped a leadoff double off the wall in right field to start a three-run inning that gave Mizzou a 5-3 lead to help clinch Mizzou's first series win since April 6-8 at Georgia. He scored the tying run on a two-out single by Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) following the double.
- On the week, Cornelius led Mizzou in runs, doubles, triples, total bases and slugging.
- Mizzou will send LHP Michael Plassmeyer to the mound for his first start since April 15. In that start, Kentucky tagged him for three runs on four hits over 2.2 innings in what turned out to be a 9-8 Mizzou win. Following that start, Plassmeyer has been in Mizzou's bullpen and has made seven appearances. He is coming off of a two-out save in the Sunday finale vs. South Carolina, arguably his best and most important bullpen outing in that span. Plenty of Mizzou pitchers are expected to get work this week.
Pitching Matchup
-
Friday
LHP Michael Plassmeyer (4-1, 5.07 ERA) vs. RHP Max Ford (1-3, 9.79 ERA)
Series History
- Mizzou and Eastern Kentucky have met just three times in the history of the two programs. The two played a three-game series in 2001, which was a 31-win year for Mizzou. The Tigers took two of three contests with EKU in a series what was at a similar point in the season as this year's matchup.
- The two teams met from May 5-6 as the Tigers won game one of a doubleheader, 5-2, before dropping the nightcap, 6-5. Mizzou then won the third game, 12-2.
Former Mizzou pitching coach Matt Hobbs started game one of that three-game series and tossed 7.2 innings, scattering just five hits while being charged with just one earned run. He walked five and struck out four in the win, which was his eighth of the year. - Two-way standout Ryan Stegall has a tremendous series against EKU that year, tossing 6.0 innings on the mound Sunday, earning his third win of the year. At the plate, he went 4-for-13 with three runs and two RBI while slugging his 12th homer of the year in the first game of the series. He was also hit by a pitch.
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).
Players Mentioned
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