May 14, 2009

MIZZOU vs. CAL STATE-BAKERSFIELD
MAY 15-17, 2009 • COLUMBIA, MO.

COMPLETE GAMENOTES

FIRST PITCH
Missouri will close out the 2009 regular season this weekend as it hosts Cal State-Bakersfield in a three-game series at Taylor Stadium. Game one is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, with games to follow at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday is Senior Day at Taylor Stadium, as Mizzou will recognize its seven seniors prior to the game. The Tigers are 30-23 on the year and finished their Big 12 schedule with a 16-11 record. They enter the final weekend of the season in second place in the conference and will be scoreboard watching this weekend to see what the other Big 12 teams do in their final conference series of the year. Mizzou has clinched at least a fourth-place finish. This is the first season in which Cal State-Bakersfield has fielded a baseball team. The Roadrunners are 11-32 on the year and are coming off a series win over Nebraska, taking two-of-three from the Huskers in Lincoln last weekend.

MACH EXTENDS HITTING STREAK TO 13 GAMES
Senior Kyle Mach will carry a 13-game hitting streak into this weekend's series against Cal State-Bakersfield. The streak is the longest of Mach's career and is the longest streak by a Tigers since Jacob Priday hit safely in 14-straight games in 2006. During the streak, Mach is hitting .442 with two home runs, five doubles and 10 RBI. He had multi-hit games in each of the three games against Texas Tech, April 24-26, including a 4-for-6 performance in the opener. He had three hits last Sunday in the series finale against Kansas. Mach led the Tigers with a .337 batting average in Big 12 games this season. Overall on the year, Mach is hitting .319, second best on the team, with four home runs and 34 RBI.

MIZZOU FINISHES STRONG IN THE BIG 12
Missouri won 10 of its final 12 Big 12 Conference games and finished with a 16-11 mark, which matches its league record from a year ago. The Tigers won seven-straight Big 12 games at one point, including sweeping back-to-back Big 12 series over Texas Tech (April 24-26) and Nebraska (May 1-3). In Mizzou's nine conference series this year, seven came against teams that were ranked at the time of the series. MU's late season push started as it took 2-for-3 against Kansas State on the road on April 17-19. Missouri then picked up its first three-game sweep of the season outscoring TTU, 42-14, in the three games. The following week the Tigers picked up their first sweep over Nebraska in Lincoln since a two-game sweep in 1996. It was the first three-game sweep on the road against the Huskers since 1963. MU has now swept each of the past two series against Nebraska. The Tigers closed their conference season by taking two-of-three against Kansas, which included a walk-off win in the series finale, as sophomore Ryan Ampleman hit his first career home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Tigers a 13-12 victory.

GIBSON GOES THE DISTANCE, AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN...
Mizzou junior Kyle Gibson pitched a complete game in five of his nine Big 12 starts and has won his last five outings. His first complete game was a complete-game shutout over Texas on March 14. He struck out 11, walked none and allowed just six hits earning Big 12 Conference and National Pitcher of the Week honors. The following week, he struck out a career-high 16 in a complete-game win over Texas A&M, earning a second-straight Big 12 Pitcher of the Week award. He was the first pitcher to claim back-to-back Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors since Texas' Kyle McCulloch in 2006. On April 3, Gibson struck out 15 and allowed two runs on six hits in a complete-game outing against Oklahoma, but was handed the hard-luck loss in a 2-1 defeat. That was the first of three-straight complete games as he was victorious against Baylor on April 10 and Kansas State on April 17. Gibson earned the win against Texas Tech on April 24, but did not go the distance for the first time in four starts, striking out nine in 6.2 innings. He won his eighth game of the year last Friday against Nebraska, going eight innings and striking out eight. Gibson leads the Big 12 Conference and ranks third nationally with 115 strikeouts on the season. He is sixth in the MU record books for strikeouts in a season and his 288 career strikeout are third most in Mizzou history. He also ranks fourth with 26 career victories.

FOLGIA IS MISSOURI'S UTILITY MAN
Junior Greg Folgia earned his second Big 12 Player of the Week award on Monday and was named the National Player of the Week, after he hit four home runs, drove in 10 and hit .550 in the Tigers' four games last week, including a .545 average in the three-game series against Kansas. The highlight of the week was a two-home run game in game one against KU. After a solo shot in the first inning, Folgia drove in three on an inside-the-park home run in the sixth inning. It was his second two-homer game of the year. Folgia had a career-long 10-game hitting streak snapped against Nebraska on May 1. During the streak, he is hit .442 with three home runs and 19 RBI. Folgia had an average of .429 in the Tigers' series against Texas Tech. In the opener of the TTU series, he drove in five runs. It was his second five-RBI game in a four-game span. Folgia was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week on April 20 after he hit .429 in the Tigers' five games of the previous week. That includes a .455 average in the three-game series against Kansas State, highlighted by a two-home run, five-RBI game in game two. A week earlier, he hit .400 in the series at Baylor. Folgia has a team-best .330 average on the year and leads the team with 12 home runs and 61 RBI. His 61 RBI are fourth most in the Big 12. Folgia has started in left field, center field and at first base for the Tigers this season and also has made 13 appearances on the mound out of the bullpen. In his two previous years at MU, Folgia has also played second base, third base and shortstop, meaning he has played all positions except right field and catcher during his career at Mizzou.

A LOOK AT THE BIG 12 RACE
With just one week left in the regular season, a lot is still up for grabs in the Big 12 Conference. Texas has clinched the regular season title. Missouri is currently in second place and is guaranteed at least a fourth-place finish. Texas and Mizzou have concluded their conference schedules, while the other eight teams will wrap up Big 12 action this weekend. The weekend's Big 12 schedule is on the left hand side of this page. In order to finish second, Missouri needs the following to take place:

Texas A&M must to take 2-of-3 from Oklahoma, but not sweep the series

TIGERS REACH 30-WIN MARK
The win by Mizzou in last Sunday's series finale against Kansas marked its 30th victory of the season. It was the seventh-consecutive season in which the Tigers have reached the 30-win mark. Missouri has won at least 30 games in 13 of the 15 years under Head Coach Tim Jamieson.

BUEHLER NAMED BIG 12 PITCHER OF THE WEEK ON MAY 3
Missouri sophomore Brad Buehler was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week on May 4, after appearing in all four of the Tigers' games between April 28-May 3. He did not allow a run in five innings pitched, while picking up two saves. Buehler pitched the final 1.1 innings against Eastern Illinois on April 28, striking out one and recording his fourth save of the year. The Festus, Mo. hurler threw a scoreless ninth inning in the series opener against Nebraska with one strikeout. Buehler then pitched the Tigers out of two holes in game two against NU. The Huskers loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and scored once before Buehler came out of the bullpen to force two pop outs. Then, after Nebraska had two singles to start the ninth, Buehler got a ground out and two strikeouts to close the game, earning his fifth save of the year. In the third game of the weekend, the Huskers loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, when Buehler came on in relief to limit the damage, including getting a strikeout for the final out of the game. On the season, Buehler has made 29 appearances and leads the team with an opponent's batting average of .207.

GRAY PROVIDES BIG WEEK FOR MIZZOU
Junior Steve Gray hit .556 (10-for-18) in a four-game stretch between April 28-May 3, as the Tigers went 4-0 against Eastern Illinois and Nebraska. Gray drove in nine runs, with a home run, a triple and two doubles on the week. The week started with Gray matching a career-high with four hits against Eastern Illinois on April 28. He was 4-for-4 with a double and two RBI against EIU. He followed that with a three-hit performance in the series opener at Nebraska, driving in two more runs on a single and a triple. He drove in one on an RBI single in game two against the Huskers, then closed the week by driving in four runs in a 2-for-5 outing against Nebraska. He had a two-run homer in the seventh and drove in two on a double in the eighth. Gray had a slugging percentage of .944 in the four games.

SENNE EYES CYCLE
On April 24, Mizzou junior Aaron Senne was just a single shy of hitting for the cycle. Senne was 3-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored in the series opener against Texas Tech. Senne drove in the first run of the game on a double in the first inning. He led off the bottom of the fifth inning with his first home run of the year. Senne then delivered an RBI triple in the seventh inning. Senne hit .467 in the three-game series with TTU. Senne hit his second home run of the season on April 28 against Eastern Illinois. He is third on the team with a .307 average on the season with 34 RBI. Senne also leads the Big 12 with 41 walks on the season and ranks fourth with 15 doubles. Last season, he had a team-best .347 batting average and had 13 home runs and 67 RBI.

LOLLIS LEADS THE TIGERS AT THE PLATE
Senior Ryan Lollis has a .293 average and has 45 RBI heading into the weekend. Lollis drove in four runs in last Sunday's game against Kansas, with a single, a double and a triple. On April 26, he went 4-for-5 and drove in five runs, while scoring three times in the series finale against Texas Tech on April 26. He had six-game hitting streak snapped against SLU on April 1. During that six-game hitting streak, Lollis was 10-for-25 (.400). He had an eight-game hitting streak from Feb. 22-March 6. Lollis has had two three-hit games this season (against Gonzaga on Feb. 22 and against Western Illinois on March 4). He has 13 doubles and four triples. Lollis has four home runs on the year, hitting his first against Gonzaga on Feb. 22. He hit a two-run home run against UI-Chicago on March 25, going 2-for-4 with three RBI in that game. His third homer came on April 7 against Minnesota.

ON THE AIR
KTGR 1580-AM is the radio home of the Tigers. All of Mizzou's regular season and postseason games will air on KTGR 1580-AM in Columbia. The games can also be heard online at KTGR.com. Tex Little is in his 19th season of calling Tiger Baseball and is joined in the booth by Hudson Guthrie, who returns for his second year as part of the Tigers' broadcast team.

ALL-ACCESS
Video webcast for all Missouri Baseball home games in 2009 is available at mutigers.com as part of Mizzou All-Access. 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.

UP NEXT
Mizzou will head to Oklahoma City next week for the Big 12 Conference Championship. The tournament will start on Wednesday, May 20, and continue through the Championship Game on Sunday, May 24 at Bricktown Ballpark.