Feb. 7, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
MIZZOU AT THE BUCCANEER CLASSIC
CHARLETSON, S.C., FEB. 9-12
Thu. Feb. 9- East Tennessee State, 1 p.m. EST (Noon CST)
Fri. Feb. 10- Charleston Southern, 11 a.m. EST (10 a.m. CST)
Sat. Feb. 11- Kennesaw State, 2:30 p.m. EST (1:30 p.m. CST)
Sun. Feb. 12- Washington State, 10:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. CST)
Stadium: Buccaneer Field (Capacity: 500)
Records: Mizzou (0-0), East Tennessee State (1-1), Charleston Southern (0-3), Kennesaw State (0-0), Washington State (0-0)
Series History: MU is 1-0 all-time vs. WSU and has never faced ETSU, CSU or KSU.
Coaches: MU- Tim Jamieson (364-262-2/12th year at MU), ETSU- Tony Skole (140-188/7th year at ETSU), CSU- Jason Murray (24-32/2nd year at CSU), KSU (Mike Sansing (608-226/15th year at KSU), WSU- Donnie Marbut (21-37/2nd year at WSU).
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM, flagship
Also on 900-AM in Fulton and 950-AM in Jefferson City
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: N/A
For more information: mutigers.com
FIRST PITCH...
The most anticipated season in years for Mizzou Baseball will open up this weekend with the Buccaneer Classic in Charleston, S.C. The Tigers will face East Tennessee State at Noon CST on Thursday in the season opener. Also on the opening weekend slate are matchups with Charleston Southern, Kennesaw State and Washington State.
Mizzou leads the all-time series with Washington State 1-0 and will face East Tennessee State, Charleston Southern and Kennesaw State for the first time in school history this weekend.
The Tigers enter the 2006 season ranked in the top 20 of all major polls, with the highest being a No. 10 ranking in Baseball America. That marks the highest-ever ranking for an MU baseball team.
All but one starter from last year's squad that finished 40-23 and qualified for a third-straight NCAA Tournament returns in 2006, along with MU's top two pitchers in the starting rotation and three experienced senior relief pitchers.
With the third-straight trip to the NCAA's last season, Missouri joined Texas as the only two Big 12 Conference teams that have qualified for the last three postseasons and begins its bid for a fourth-straight trip this weekend.
FOR OPENERS
Mizzou carries a three-game winning streak in season openers into Thursday's game against East Tennessee State. Last year, the Tigers defeated Portland 8-3 to open the year. Missouri is 7-3-1 under Head Coach Tim Jamieson in season openers.
Included in that stretch was a 0-0 tie against San Jose State in 2001. The game was called after six innings due to poor weather conditions with no score.
MIZZOU IN THE POLLS
Mizzou received its highest ever preseason ranking, when Baseball America picked the Tigers No. 10 in its poll. It marked only the second time MU had appeared in the preseason poll and the first since it was No. 19 in 1983. Missouri was No. 21 in the final Baseball America poll last year.
The Tigers are in the top 20 in all four major college baseball polls, with the Baseball America ranking being the highest. They are No. 13 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll, No. 16 the Collegiate Baseball Top 40 and No. 17 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association Poll.
See below for a complete listing of the polls.
TIGERS SELECTED THIRD IN BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
The Big 12 Conference Baseball Coaches have selected Missouri to finish third in the conference this season, according to the preseason poll. The Tigers received 66 points, including one first-place vote.
Texas (56-16 in 2005), the defending National Champion, has been selected to win the conference crown, garnering 79 total points in voting with nine points for first place, eight for second, seven for third, etc. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
Nebraska (57-15) was No. 2 in the balloting with 70 points and one first place vote. Missouri (40-23), ranked in the top 15 in the pre-2006 national polls, was selected as the third team with 66 points and one first-place vote. Baylor (46-24) nailed down the fourth spot while Oklahoma (35-26) was fifth.
Oklahoma State (34-25) nabbed sixth position, and Texas A&M (30-25-1) pulled up in seventh. Kansas (36-28) and Texas Tech (34-25) tied for eighth while Kansas State (30-25) was 10th.
WHAT'S RETURNING
Mizzou is loaded with experience in 2006, as all but one position starter, its top two pitchers and three of its most experienced relief pitchers return for the Tigers.
Only All-Big 12 selection James Boone is gone from Missouri's starting lineup of 2005.
The infield of senior Derek Chambers (1B), senior Trevor Helms (2B), junior Gary Arndt (SS) and junior John McKee (3B) remains in tact from a year ago. Those four started a combined 209 games at their respective positions in 2005.
Junior Hunter Mense will anchor the outfield, returning for his third season with Mizzou after hitting .327 last year.
Senior Zane Taylor has been a valuable asset to Missouri because of his ability to play numerous positions. He has played third base, shortstop and second base during his first three seasons and will move to the outfield in 2006.
Jacob Priday, who was a Freshman All-American last season, returns for his sophomore campaign where he will likely split time between the outfield and catcher.
J.C. Field had the most starts of any Tiger behind the plate last year and is back for his senior season.
Senior Bryson LeBlanc and sophomores Evan Frey and Dan Pietroburgo saw their first playing time as a Tiger last year and add more experience to this Mizzou squad.
On the mound, MU has one of the top 1-2 combinations as the front of its rotation with juniors Max Scherzer and Nathan Culp.
Scherzer was the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year in 2005 and is a preseason first team All-America selection. He led the conference in strikeouts with a school record 131 K's in 2005.
Culp tied Scherzer with a team-best nine wins a year ago and was a second team All-Big 12 Conference selection. He tied for the team lead with 16 starts last year, compiling a record of 9-2 for a .818 winning percentage.
Three seniors add a wealth of experience to the Tigers pitching staff.
Taylor Parker, Nick Admire and Travis Wendte have made a combined 179 appearances for Missouri.
Parker was second on the team last year with 28 appearances and earned All-Big 12 second team honors.
Admire has started in 13 of his 47 career appearances, recording six wins for the Tigers over the past three years.
Wendte, who missed the 2004 season due to injury, is in his fifth year at Missouri. His 14 career saves, eight of which came in his freshman campaign, is tied for third most in Mizzou history.
SCHERZER RECIEVED PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Junior Max Scherzer, who was the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year and a second team All-American last year has already begun to receive honors this year.
Scherzer has been named a first team preseason All-American by all major collegiate baseball publications.
He has also been named to the watch lists for the Roger Clemens Award, which is awarded to the nation's top pitcher. Scherzer was one of 10 semifinalist for the Clemens Awards in 2005.
Scherzer is also on the Wallace Award watch list, which recognizes the nation's top player and is another award he was a semifinalists for last season.
Last season, he led the Big 12 with 131 strikeouts and a 1.82 ERA. The 131 strikeouts is a new school record, passing John Dettmer's 127 K's in 1991.
He spent last summer with Team USA, where he had pitches clocked as high as 99 miles per hour.
MENSE NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS
Junior Hunter Mense has been named to preseason All-American teams by Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association.
He has also was named to the watch list for the Wallace Award, which is given to the nation's top college baseball player.
Last year, he was a second team All-Big 12 Conference selection after hitting .327 on the year, which was second best on the team.
Mense was also second on the squad in runs scored (62) and stolen bases (10) and was third in hits (67) and slugging percentage (.473).
TIGERS ARE THREE-FOR-THREE
Mizzou is one of just two teams in the Big 12 Conference that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons.
Texas, the defending National Champions, is the only other team out of the powerful Big 12 Conference to reach the postseason in the last three years.
A LOOK AT THE 2006 SCHEDULE
The 2006 Mizzou Baseball schedule features matchups with three of the eight teams that advanced to Omaha for the 2005 College World Series and both of the teams from the 2005 National Championship series.
Once again, the start of the season will see the Tigers hitting the road. Mizzou opens 2006 in Charleston, S.C. where it will play in the Buccaneer Classic hosted by Charleston Southern.
MU will take on East Tennessee State in the season opener on Feb. 9. Kennesaw State, Washington State and host-school Charleston Southern are also on the opening weekend slate.
The Tigers will spend the next weekend in Monroe, La. for a three-game series with Louisiana-Monroe. The following week, Missouri will head to Gainesville, Fla. where the 2005 National Runner-Up Florida will host the Pepsi Baseball Challenge. MU will take on the Gators on Feb. 24, then matchup with Wake Forest and Ohio State.
Missouri will host Illinois State on March 1 in the home opener at Taylor Stadium. That game is the first game in an eight-game homestand which includes a three-game series with Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a three-game set with Purdue, along with a matchup with Saint Louis.
As usual, the Big 12 Conference will be one of the top conference's nationwide. Mizzou will open up the conference portion of the schedule with a trip to College Station, Texas for a series with Texas A&M.
The following weekend, Kansas State will visit Taylor Stadium for MU's Big 12 home opening series. The Tigers will host Nebraska on April 7-9. The last time the Cornhuskers visited Columbia, Mizzou took two of three in the series.
Oklahoma State, who Missouri swept the last time it visited Taylor Stadium, will be in town on April 21-23 and Baylor will be in Columbia on April 28-30.
The Tigers close out the regular season with a three-game series at home against defending national champion Texas.
The Midwest Ford Dealers Border Showdown will continue when the Tigers head to Lawrence, Kan. on March 31-April 2 to take on Kansas. Missouri also has Big 12 Conference road trips to Oklahoma (April 14-16) and Texas Tech (May 12-14).
The Tigers will play two wood bat games, taking on Saint Louis (April 19) and Illinois (May 17) in O'Fallon, Mo.
Mizzou will also participate the Best of the Midwest Tournament in Kansas City on April 25-26.
The Big 12 Conference Tournament is back at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City for the second-consecutive year. This year, the Big 12 Tournament will adopt a new format, which will involve pool play for the first four days of the tournament with the winners of the two pools playing for the Conference Championship on Sunday, May 28.
The NCAA Tournament begins on June 2 and concludes with the College World Series June 16-24 in Omaha, Neb.
MIZZOU WELL REPRESENTED ON TEAM USA
Mizzou Head Coach Tim Jamieson was selected to serve as an assistant coach on the USA Baseball National Team last summer and was joined by two of his Tiger players.
Juniors Max Scherzer and Hunter Mense were also selected to the squad, marking the first Team USA selections for MU since 1991.
The National Team went 16-4 over the summer, playing games in Japan and Taiwan, along with hosting teams from around the world stateside.
Scherzer made four appearances, including two starts, and was 2-1 for Team USA with a 2.70 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 20 innings of work.
Mense made the team after a very impressive showing at the trials. He played in 17 games for Team USA, hitting .259 with a home run, two triples and two doubles.
KTGR, MIZZOU BASEBALL RENEW RADIO AGREEMENT
The University of Missouri and the Zimmer Radio Group have extended their partnership that will keep Mizzou Baseball on Zimmer through 2009.
Mizzou Sports Properties, the multi-media rights holder of the University of Missouri Department of Athletics, announced a four-year renewal of the radio rights agreement for Tiger Baseball.
All of Mizzou's regular season and postseason games will air on KTGR 1580 in Columbia. In addition, a majority of the games will be simulcast on KWOS-AM 950 in Jefferson City and KFAL-AM 900 in Fulton.
Tex Little will return for his 16th season of calling Tiger Baseball
HE STOOD TALL
He Stood Tall is the story of former Mizzou coach John "Hi" Simmons as told by the men who knew him best.
Dozens of players from dozens of players from the 1930s to the 1960s share their stories about their former coach in the recently released book.
There are also chapters dedicated to Simmons' theories about the game, his colorful vocabulary and his enduring legacy at the University.
To order the book, visit mutigers.com or call 913-219-0338. The book can also be purchased at the Tiger Team Store.
All proceeds from the book sales will go the Tiger Bullpen, benefiting Mizzou Baseball.
ALL ACCESS
Video webcast for all Mizzou Baseball home games in 2006 will be available at mutigers.com as part of the new All-Access.
New to mutigers.com this year, All-Access is the Tiger fans home to live and archived games for Mizzou Athletics, along with coaches' shows, press conferences and much more.
For more information, visit mutigers.com and click on the All-Access icon.
