May 2, 2006
MIZZOU at MISSOURI STATE
MIZZOU at ILLINOIS STATE
MAY 2-3, 2006
First Pitch:
Tuesday at Missouri State, 7 p.m.
Wednesday at Illinois State, 3 p.m.
Records:
Mizzou: 21-21, 9-12 Big 12 Conference
Missouri State: 23-17, 8-6 Missouri Valley Conference
Illinois State: 15-27, 6-9 Missouri Valley Conference
Series History:
Missouri State leads the all-time series with Mizzou, 18-16
Mizzou hold a 6-1 lead in the all-time series with Illinois State
Coaches:
MU- Tim Jamieson (383-282-2/12th year at MU and overall)
MSU- Keith Guttin (831-497/24th year at MSU and overall)
ISU- Jim Brownlee (85-97/4th year at ISU and 786-726-5/27th year overall)
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM, flagship;
Also on 900-AM in Fulton and 950-AM in Jefferson City
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: Gametrackeron mutigers.com
For more information: mutigers.com
On Tap: vs. Mississippi Valley State -- May 5-7 -- Taylor Stadium
Friday- 6:30 p.m. / Saturday- 2 p.m. / Sunday- 1 p.m.
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LEADING OFF...
Mizzou will have two midweek contests this week, taking on a pair of Missouri Valley teams on the road. On Tuesday, the Tigers will travel to Springfield, Mo. to take on Missouri State at 7 p.m. at Hammons Field. MU will follow that with a trip to Normal, Ill. to take on Illinois State at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
Missouri is coming off of a series win against Baylor last weekend, highlighted by a three-hit shutout pitched by junior Nathan Culp on Friday night. It was the second shutout of the season for Culp, who has a team-high eight wins on the year.
The matchup with Missouri State will be the first of the season, as the scheduled game in Columbia on April 5 was cancelled due to rain.
Wednesday's game with ISU is a rescheduled matchup after the March 22 game was rained out. The Tigers and Redbirds have met once this season, with Mizzou taking an 18-5 win in the home opener for the Tigers on March 1.
Both games can be heard on KTGR 1580-AM in Columbia and on the Web at ktgr.com. Live Stats will also be available through Gametracker on mutigers.com.
This weeks games are the first of five-straight non-conference games for Mizzou as Mississippi Valley State will visit Taylor Stadium for a three-game series this weekend. The Tigers will return to Big 12 Conference play when they travel to Texas Tech on May 12-14.
QUICK HITS
• Junior Nathan Culp threw his second three-hit shutout of the season last Friday night against Baylor and is the only pitcher in the Big 12 to have two shutouts this season. Six pitchers have one.
• Culp has an ERA of 2.65, which ranks second-best in the Big 12 Conference and his eight wins (8-4 record) is tied for the second most in the conference. He is also ninth in the Big 12 with 54 strikeouts on the season.
• Sophomore Evan Frey leads the Big 12 with a .413 average in conference games. His 33 hits in Big 12 games is second most in the conference and his overall average of .392 ranks fourth.
• Frey has an on-base percentage of .483, which is second best in the Big 12.
• Mizzou's team ERA of 3.42 is second-best in the Big 12 Conference.
• Three Tigers have ERAs in Big 12 games that rank in the top 20 in the conference led by Culp's 3.04 (7th). Freshman David Cales has a mark of 3.09 (8th) and freshman Rick Zagone's conference ERA is 3.77 (14th).
• Junior Max Scherzer recorded his 200th career strikeout last Sunday against Baylor. He has 47 strikeouts on the season and 201 for his career.
• With his 24 appearances this season, senior Taylor Parker has pitched in 98 career games at MU, which places him second in the Mizzou record book behind Scott Black (108).
• Parker has recorded four saves in Big 12 play, which places him in a tie for fifth in the conference. His five saves overall this year places him in a tie for 11th in the Mizzou record books for saves in a season.
• Sophomore Jacob Priday hit his team-leading eighth home run last Sunday against Baylor, one away from matching his homer total from last season.
• Senior Derek Chambers carries a nine-game hitting streak into the week, which is a season long for him. Chambers' career-best hitting streak is 13 games, which he put together last season.
• Head Coach Tim Jamieson is just 15 wins away from his 400th career win. His 385 wins ranks third on MU's all-time coaching wins list behind only legendary coaches Gene McArtor (733) and John "Hi" Simmons (481).
SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State carries a three-game winning streak into the matchup with the Tigers on Tuesday. The Bears took a pair of wins over Bradley last weekend, both shutouts (4-0 and 6-0), before the final game of the series was rained out. Prior to that, MSU defeated Kansas State, 7-6 at the Best of the Midwest Tournament in Kansas City.
Missouri State is 23-17 on the season. Prior to the three-game winning streak, the Bears had lost three straight and seven of eight games.
Chris Krawczyk was named the Missouri Valley Pitcher of the Week after earning a save in the win over Kansas State last Wednesday and a win in Sunday's game when he struck out a career-high 11 in seven scoreless innings of work.
The Bears' pitching staff combined to strikeout 26 batters in the two games with Bradley last weekend. MSU has a team ERA of 4.99 and is hitting .289 as a team with 37 home runs on the year.
Keith Guttin is in his 24th season as the Bears head coach, compiling a record of 831-497.
MU-MSU SERIES HISTORY
Missouri State holds an 18-16 lead in the all-time series between the Tigers and Bears. The teams met in Columbia on April 5, but rain delayed the game in the bottom of the second inning and after a 1:35 delay, the game was called.
SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE
Illinois State dropped two of its three games with Evansville last weekend and enters the week with a 15-27 record. The Redbirds have a matchup with Illinois Wesleyan on Tuesday prior to facing Mizzou.
Ryan Anetsberger is hitting .329 with 24 RBI on the season and is followed closely by Jesse Griswold, who has a .321 average with 28 RBI on the year. ISU has a team batting average of .272. Matt Bolt has a .410 batting average in the last 16 games, scoring 16 runs and driving in 18.
Redbird Head Coach Jim Brownlee has a record of 85-97 in his fourth years at Illinois State and is 786-726-5 in 27 years as a head coach.
MU-ISU SERIES HISTORY
Mizzou has won six of the seven meetings with Illinois State, including an 18-5 win in its home opener on March 1. Wednesday's game is a make up of the March 22 game that was rained out.
LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers took two-of-three last weekend against Baylor, taking games one and three of the weekend set.
Mizzou opened the series with a 7-0 win on Friday behind the pitching of junior Nathan Culp. Culp went the distance, recording his second shutout of the season, allowing just three hits and striking out seven in the game. He did not walk a batter and improved to 8-4 on the year.
Freshman Ryan Lollis was 2-for-3 in game one, with a double and a triple and scored three of the Tigers' seven runs. Senior Derek Chambers also had a pair of hits and sophomore Gary Arndt and senior J.C. Field each had two RBI in the game.
Baylor took game two by a score of 5-4. Only one of the five Bears' runs was earned as a four-run second inning for Baylor was aided by two Mizzou errors. Sophomore Brock Bond had two of the Tigers six hits in the game.
The Tigers finished off the series with a 3-1 win on Sunday to take the series. Sophomore Jacob Priday hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth inning. The two-run shot broke a 1-1 tie and MU held on for the victory.
Freshman Rick Zagone started on the mound and allowed just two hits in five scoreless innings, before turning it over to junior Max Scherzer, who pitched the final four innings. Scherzer recorded the win, his first since March 3, allowing just one unearned run on three hits and striking out six.
The Missouri pitching staff allowed just one unearned run over the weekend and gave up just 14 hits in the three games.
ON TAP
Missouri will host Mississippi Valley State in a three-game non-conference series this weekend with game one of the series at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams will face off at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Tigers are back in Big 12 play the following weekend with a three-game series at Texas Tech.
On May 17, Missouri will take on Illinois at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo. before closing out the regular season with a three-game set against Texas May 19-20 at Taylor Stadium.
CULP SHUTS `EM DOWN
Missouri junior lefty Nathan Culp recorded his second shutout of the season, with a 7-0 win over Baylor last Friday night at Taylor Stadium.
He struck out seven and gave up just three hits, while walking none.
Culp allowed just one hit through eight innings and the lone baserunner between the fourth and eighth innings reached on an error.
It was the second shutout of the season for Culp, who blanked Kansas on March 31 in Lawrence. That was also a three-hit shutout, as he struck out five Jayhawks in that game and was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week for that performance.
Culp faced the minimum through 7.2 innings against KU, as the only two baserunners to reach up to that point were erased on double plays.
He struck out five and walked just one, picking up his team-leading sixth win of the season.
Culp did record a seven-inning shutout over North Dakota State in 2005 in a game that was called after seven innings due to a run rule in effect.
TGI-PRIDAY
Sophomore Jacob Priday hit his team-best eighth home run last Sunday against Baylor and is just one short of his homer total from last season.
The home run on Sunday was a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth inning that broke a 1-1 tie.
Priday had a 14-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-4 outing on April 23 against Oklahoma State. The streak was a career long for Priday and is the longest streak by a Tiger this season. Zane Taylor and Evan Frey each had 11-game streaks this year.
On Friday, Feb. 24, sophomore Jacob Priday turned in a 5-for-6 performance to help lead Mizzou to a 14-5 win over then-No. 1 Florida. It was Priday's second career five-hit game.
Ironically, his second career five-hit game came nearly a year to the day after his first. He was 5-for-6 against Navy on Feb. 25, 2005, driving in four runs and scoring four times.
On Feb. 24, 2006, Priday was again 5-for-6, driving in three runs and scoring twice.
For the weekend at the Pepsi Baseball Classic, Priday was 7-for-12 (.583), with three doubles and four RBI, earning him a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
On March 14, Priday was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, after he hit .533 with two home runs and 11 RBI in the four games the previous week.
Priday was 3-for-4 and drove in a career-high six runs in the Tigers 22-2 win over Purdue in the second game of the three-game series.
DID I CATCH A NINER IN THERE?
In Mizzou's win over Southeast Missouri State last Wednesday, the Tigers held a 5-3 lead heading into the ninth inning. Nine runs later, MU had blown the game wide open.
Missouri scored nine times in the ninth inning, with seven of those runs coming before the first out of the inning was recorded.
Below is the play-by-play for MU's half of the ninth:
• Frey singled to left field.
• Bond singled, bunt; Frey advanced to second.
• Taylor tripled to right field, 2 RBI; Bond scored; Frey scored.
• Priday homered, 2 RBI; Taylor scored.
• Chambers doubled, ground-rule.
• Mach walked.
• Lollis homered, 3 RBI; Mach scored; Chambers scored.
• Pietroburgo struck out.
• Arndt walked.
• Frey singled through the right side; Arndt advanced to third.
• Bond singled through the right side, RBI; Frey advanced to second; Arndt scored.
• Bond advanced to second on a wild pitch; Frey advanced to third on a wild pitch.
• Taylor singled, RBI; Bond advanced to third; Frey scored.
• Cales flied out to cf.
• LeBlanc lined out to cf.
MAX TRAX
Injuries have forced All-American Max Scherzer to miss five starts this season, including four in Big 12 Conference play.
Last Sunday, Scherzer pitched 4.0 innings in relief against Baylor and picked up his first win since a victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee on March 3.
Scherzer struck out six against Baylor, allowing just one unearned run on three hits. His fifth strikeout in the game was the 200th of his career.
In his first appearance of the year under the Taylor Stadium lights, he struck out nine batters in five innings pitched and recorded the win against UW-Milwaukee, his third in as many starts.
Scherzer was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 28 after leading the Tigers to a victory over No. 1 Florida on Feb. 24.
In the win against Florida, he struck out eight in seven innings, allowing just one run on only three hits to record his second victory in a many starts.
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 was 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 semifinalists 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.
SUPER SOPHOMORE
Sophomore Evan Frey is flirting with the .400 mark, as he his hitting .392 heading into this week's matchups with Missouri State and Illinois State.
Frey leads the Big 12 Conference with a .413 average in conference games and is second in the Big 12 with 30 hits in league games this season.
Against Southeast Missouri State on April 26, Frey had a career-high four hits to take his average back to the .400 mark.
His average leads the team and is fourth best in the Big 12 Conference. He has had a hit in all but five games in which he has played this season.
He had an 11-game hitting streak snapped, as he went 0-for-2 against SEMO on March 29. During the streak, Frey hit .463, drove in nine runs, had two triples and a double.
He had five multi-hit games during the streak, including four games in which he had three hits.
TAYLOR MADE HITTING
Senior Zane Taylor has had a hit in all but nine games for the Tigers this season and is hitting .313 on the year.
He recorded his 200th hit as a Tiger against Southeast Missouri State on April 12.
Taylor had an 11-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-3 outing in the series finale against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on March 5. His career-long hitting streak was a 13-game streak coming in 2004.
After opening the year with a 0-3 outing in the season opener against East Tennessee State, Taylor had a hit in each of the next 11 games, including eight games in which he has had multiple hits.
Taylor also has drawn 27 walks this season, which is tied for sixth best in the Big 12.
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.
MENSE NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS
Junior Hunter Mense was named to preseason All-American teams by Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association.
He 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).
TAKING DOWN NO. 1
Mizzou defeated No. 1 Florida on Feb. 24 in Gainesville, Fla. 14-5, knocking off a No. 1 team for the first time since it defeated then-No. 1 Texas, 8-0 on May 1, 2004.
The win over Texas was actually the second-straight victory over UT for the Tigers, who recorded a 4-1 win the night before.
In the win over the Gators, Missouri pounded out a season-high 22 hits, the most since it recorded 26 hits against Navy (2/25/05).
Sophomore Jacob Priday was 5-for-6 against UF, and the top two in the Tiger lineup (Trevor Helms and Zane Taylor) were a combined 8-for-11. Helms 4-for-6 and Taylor finished 4-for-5.
Junior Max Scherzer kept Florida in check all night, striking out eight in seven innings pitched. He allowed one run on just three hits to the top-ranked Gators.
Mizzou led 14-1 before UF scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth and added a pair of runs in the ninth inning.
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.
KINSLER DEBUTS RANGERS
Former Missouri Tiger Ian Kinsler made his first major league appearance on opening day this season with the Texas Rangers.
Kinsler, who played at Missouri in 2003 and hit .325 for the Tigers, was named the starting second baseman for the Rangers at the start of the year.
His first career major league hit came off Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox on opening day and he homered against Detroit on April 6.
He dislocated his left thumb in the Rangers' game on April 11, sliding into second base on an attempted steal and is currently on the 15-day disabled list.
Kinsler was a 17th round draft pick by Texas in 2003.
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 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.
