April 18, 2008
MIZZOU AT OKLAHOMA
APRIL 18-20, 2008 • NORMAN, OKLA.
First Pitch:
Friday, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Series History: OU leads 141-100-1
Last Year: MU took 2-for-3 in Columbia
Stadium: L. Dale Mitchell Park
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: soonersports.com
Live Video: soonersports.com
COMPLETE GAMENOTES
FIRST PITCH
Missouri will play its next nine games away from Taylor Stadium, beginning with a three-game series at Oklahoma this weekend. The three-game set will get underway at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, continuing at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Tigers are 26-9 on the year and have a 7-5 record in Big 12 play, while OU enters the series with a 24-13-1 mark and a 3-8-1 conference record.
MU-OU SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma holds a 141-100-1 lead in the all-time series between MU and OU. Last year, the two teams split the four games played. Mizzou took two-of-three from the Sooners in Columbia, before Oklahoma picked up a 7-2 over the Tigers at the Big 12 Tournament.
The last time the two teams met in Norman, the Sooners came away with a series sweep.
MIZZOU MOVES TO SIXTH SPOT IN BASEBALL AMERICA POLL
Mizzou is ranked No. 6 in this week's Baseball America poll, released on Monday.
The Tigers climbed to No. 2 in the March 24th poll, its highest ever mark.
MU finds itself ranked10th in NCBWA poll. The Tigers are 11th in both the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll and the Collegiate Baseball's Top 30.
LAST TIME OUT
Senior Jacob Priday became Mizzou's career home run record holder as he hit a pair of homers in the Tigers 16-9 win over William Woods on Wednesday night at Taylor Stadium. Priday was 3-for-3 on the night with three RBI and four runs scored. He has 46 career homers, breaking the previous MU record of 45 held by Mike Rogers.
Priday also broke the school record for career RBI as his three runs batted in on Wednesday gave him 223 for his career. In his last five games, Priday is hitting .611 (11-for-18) with seven home runs and 17 RBI.
The Tigers fell behind William Woods 5-0 after two innings, before scoring 16 runs over the next five innings.
Priday put Missouri on the board with his first home run of the game to lead off the fourth inning. The Tigers scored three times in the fourth, adding an RBI double from senior Dan Pietroburgo and a bases loaded walk by senior Kurt Calvert.
Pietroburgo connected for his second double of the game in the fifth inning, driving in his second run of the night.
Mizzou took the lead with a four-run sixth inning, which included a two-run double by junior Kyle Mach along with a run-scoring single from Priday and an RBI double off the bat of sophomore Aaron Senne.
Priday's second home run highlighted a three-run seventh inning and broke the Mizzou record. It was his 13th home run of the year, which ties his career best for homers in a season. That home run followed a two-run shot by Senne, which was his eighth of the year.
Senne drove in two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a single, which was part of a five-run inning for the Tigers. Senne had five RBI on the night, finishing 3-for-6. Juniors Ryan Lollis and Steve Gray also had RBI singles in the eighth inning.
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PRIDAY BECOMES MIZZOU'S HOME RUN KING
On Wednesday, senior Jacob Priday became the career home run record holder at Mizzou. He hit two homers against William Woods to give him 46 for his career, breaking the previous school record of 45 set by Mike Rogers (1984-87).
He has 13 home runs on the year, which matches his career best for homers in a season.
Priday also moved to the tops of the career RBI list at MU with three on Wednesday. He has 223 RBI in his career, surpassing Ryan Fry's mark of 222 (1995-98).
Priday had a record-setting night last Friday in the series opener against Texas. He finished 5-for-5 on the night and broke an MU school record and the Big 12 Conference record with four home runs on the night. The four homers was third most in the history of the NCAA. The record is six, hit by Marshall McDougall of Florida State in 1999.
Priday also set a Missouri school record with nine RBI and tied the MU mark with six runs scored.
In the three-game series against Texas, Priday hit .583 (7-for-12), with four homers, a double, 11 RBI. He had a slugging percentage of 1.667 for the series.
The performance earned him Big 12 Conference and NCBWA National Player of the Week honors.
In the last five games, Priday is hitting .611 (11-for-18), with seven home runs and 17 RBI.
Priday currently leads the team and is second in the Big 12 with a .391 batting average. His 13 home runs lead the conference and his 48 RBI are second most in the league. Priday also leads the Big 12 with a .827 slugging percentage.
SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT
Junior Aaron Crow, a preseason All-American, had a string of 43.0 scoreless innings pitched snapped last Friday against Texas.
He allowed five runs in the first inning against UT, after giving up just four runs in his first seven starts of the year. Despite allowing nine runs total against Texas, Crow picked up the win and has won all eight of his starts this season.
Crow's scoreless innings streak is believed to have tied for the fourth-longest in NCAA D-I history. The NCAA record for the longest scoreless inning streak is not found in the record books.
Crow holds a commanding lead in the Big 12 Conference in strikeouts with 71, which is 12 Ks ahead of second place (MU's Kyle Gibson).
On March 14, Crow struck out a career-high 15 batters against Toledo, bettering his previous best of 10 set just two weeks prior against Cal.
Only two Toledo batters advanced beyond first base, as Crow allowed seven hits and did not walk a batter.
Starting with the final out of the fourth inning and continuing through the eighth inning, Crow struck out 11 of the 15 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the eighth. He threw 107 pitches, 87 of which were strikes.
He recorded a second-straight complete-game shutout with a 10-strikeout performance against Baylor on March 21
Crow was selected as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week following that performance.
On March 28, Crow turned in eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out nine against Texas Tech.
He recorded his third complete game shutout of the season, striking out seven against Oklahoma State on April 4 to improve to 7-0. He earned his second Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week honor following the win over the Cowboys.
A TEXAS-SIZED VICTORY
Missouri put up 31 runs in its series opener against Texas last Friday, defeating the Longhorns 31-12.
The 31 runs were the most scored by the Tigers since they defeated Truman State 30-0 in 2003. It was the most runs scored by MU against a conference opponent since a 27-4 win over Nebraska in 1956.
The loss was the worst for Texas since a 25-6 defeat against Texas A&M in 1995 and it was the first game in which Texas allowed at least 20 runs since 1998.
Every Tiger in the starting lineup had at least one hit and five had at least three. The 26 hits for Missouri tied a school record, which was set in 2005 against Navy.
Mizzou senior Jacob Priday set a Big 12 Conference record with four home runs and was 5-for-5 on the night. He set the single-game school record with four home runs, nine RBI and six runs scored.
Mizzou put up 10 runs in the third inning, which included Priday's second home run, a three run shot. The Tigers had nine hits in the inning, including doubles from Senne and sophomore Greg Folgia. The 10-run inning was the biggest inning for the Tigers since an 11-run second inning against Mississippi Valley State on May 6, 2006.
The Tigers followed Friday's outburst with a 13-2 win on Saturday. Through the first two games of the series, MU had a .500 batting average and had scored 44 runs on 43 hits with slugging percentage of .883.
BERGER, WELL DONE
Junior Ian Berger has a 1.99 ERA, which is fourth in the Big 12 Conference.
Berger had a string of 26.1 scoreless innings snapped against Texas Tech on March 29. He struck out six and gave up just one run on four hits in eight inning pitched against TTU.
He has started seven times this season, earning wins against San Diego State, Toledo and Baylor. Berger allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings pitched against San Diego State, to pick up his first win of the year.
He pitched eight scoreless innings against Toledo, allowing just four hits to earn his second victory.
Berger struck out eight against Baylor, allowing just one hit in seven innings. A double by BU's second batter of the game was the lone hit for the Bears on the afternoon. Following the double, Berger retired the next 10 batters he faced and 14 of the next 15.
Berger has picked up the loss in each of his last two starts. He was saddled with his first loss of the season against Oklahoma State, then took the defeat in the series finale with Texas.
SHUT `EM DOWN
The Missouri pitching staff recorded four shutouts in 2007. Already this season, the Tigers have six and MU has twice claimed back-to-back shutouts in 2008.
Junior Aaron Crow picked up complete game shutouts in back-to-back starts against Toledo (March 14) and Baylor (March 21) and teamed with freshman Nick Tepesch to shutout Texas Tech (March 28). Crow picked up his third shutout of the year against Oklahoma State on April 4.
Junior Ian Berger and sophomore Greg Folgia teamed up to shutout Toledo in game two of that series. Berger then combined with Tepesch to record a shutout in game two of the Baylor series.
14-GAME WINNING STREAK TIES FOURTH LONGEST AT MIZZOU
From March 2 through March25, Missouri won 14-straight games, matching the fourth-longest winning streak in school history. The Tigers also won 14 in a row in 2007 and 1985.
The record is a pair of 16-game winning streaks in 1981 and 1917. In 2005, the Tigers put together are 15-game streak.
2008 SQUAD TIED FOR QUICKEST TO 20 WINS
Missouri's 20-3 start to the season matched their best record ever after 23 games. Mizzou has won 20 of its first 23 games twice before (1964, 1982).
SENNE DELIVERS BIG IN RETURN TO MINNESOTA
It was quite a homecoming for Mizzou sophomore Aaron Senne on March 25 as No. 2 Missouri defeated Minnesota 17-8 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Senne, a native of Rochester, Minn., tied a school record with eight RBI, hit two home runs and had a career-high four hits in his return to his home state.
With a large contingent of family and friends in attendance, Senne was 4-for-4 with eight runs driven in and two runs scored. He took over the team lead with six home runs.
In his first at-bat, Senne connected on a two-run homer to right centerfield to give the Tigers the early 2-0 lead. He singled in each of his next two at-bats, driving in runs on both hits.
MU sent 15 batters to the plate in the sixth inning, with three of the nine runs scoring on Senne's second home run of the night and his sixth of the season. Senne's drove in his eighth run of the game when he was hit-by-a-pitch with the bases loaded in his second trip to the plate in the sixth inning.
Senne's eight RBI matches Marcus Adler's eight RBI game against Evansville in 1986. Senne has driven in at least five runs in a game three times this season.
It was his second two-home run game this season, as he also hit two against Indiana State on March 9.
KYLE WITH A 'K'
Heading into this weekend, sophomore Kyle Gibson has struck out 59 batters in 51.1 innings pitched. He is second in the Big 12 Conference is strikeouts, trailing only teammate Aaron Crow.
Gibson picked up a seven-inning complete-game win over Baylor on March 23, allowing just one unearned run on four hits in seven innings, as the Tigers run-ruled the Bears in the series finale.
Gibson split time between being a starter and coming out of the bullpen as a freshman in 2007. This season, he has taken the role as a weekend starter and is 6-0 on the year.
Gibson has 14-career wins after finishing last season with an 8-3 record. He also picked up seven saves as a freshman.
CALVERT MAKING AN IMPACT
Senior Kurt Calvert is third on the squad with a .342 batting average heading into the weekend.
Calvert earned the starting spot in centerfield after a strong fall and preseason. In his first two years at MU, Calvert played in 41 games, starting just four times.
This season, Calvert is 38-for-111. He has three triples, which is third most in the Big 12 and has hit his first three career home runs this year. He is also 9-for-11 in stolen bases.
PLAYING THE `D'
Missouri is third the Big 12 Conference with a .970 fielding percentage. The Tigers have had 11 games this season in which they did not commit an error and have had one or fewer errors in 25 of their 35 games.
SHARING THE SAVES
The Tigers have 12 saves as a team this year, with six pitchers earning those seven saves. Mizzou had four pitchers earn saves all of last season.
Freshman Nick Tepesch picked up the save against Texas Tech to extend his team lead in saves to four, which ranks seventh in the conference.
Junior Rick Zagone has picked up three saves, with all three coming in the last two weeks, with saves against Missouri State, Texas and William Woods.
Junior Scooter Hicks has two saves on the season, which gives him eight for his career.
Freshmen Kelly Fick, sophomore Ryan Allen and junior Ryan Gargano have also recorded a save this season.
FOLGIA DOES IT ALL
Sophomore Greg Folgia had just two hits in 18 at-bats as a freshman last year. But in 2008, Folgia has 43 hits, which is tied for the most on the team. He is hitting .325 on the year.
Folgia had a 10-game hitting streak snapped on March 19 against South Dakota State. The streak was the longest by a Tiger since Brock Bond hit safely in 11-straight games May 12-June 2, 2007.
In the first game of the South Dakota State series, Folgia was in the lineup as the pitcher/designated hitter. He earned the win on the mound, as he struck out seven in five scoreless innings pitched. He struck out the first five batters of the game and did not walk a batter.
Meanwhile, at the plate in that game, Folgia was 3-for-5, with an RBI and three runs scored.
UP NEXT
Mizzou will play a pair of game at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo. next week, taking on Eastern Illinois on Tuesday and Southern Illinois on Wednesday. Both games will start at 6:30 p.m.
Next weekend, the Tigers will travel to College Station, Texas for a three-game set with Texas A&M.
