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Should be an exciting season for the Tigers....hopefully they can get over 'regional-itus' after being Louisville's bitch last year in their final game of the season...
No. 6 Mizzou Travels to Florida for Opening Day 2008
Tigers start 2008 campaign at the Stetson Tournament in DeLand, Fla.
Feb. 20, 2008
MIZZOU AT STETSON TOURNAMENT
Date: Feb. 22-24. 2008
Location: DeLand, Fla.
Stadium: Melching Field at Conrad Park
Capacity: 2,500
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: gohatters.com
More Information: mutigers.com
Schedule:
Friday vs. UConn, 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT)
Saturday vs. Michigan St., 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT)
Sunday vs. Stetson, 4 p.m ET (3 p.m CT)
GAMENOTES IN PDF FORMAT
FIRST PITCH
Mizzou opens the 2008 season as the No. 6 ranked team in the nation according to Baseball America, its highest ever preseason ranking. The Tigers travel to Florida to open 2008, playing in the Stetson University Tournament Friday-Sunday. MU will face UConn in the season opener on Friday, followed by matchups with Michigan State and Stetson. On Monday, the Tigers will be in Orlando, Fla. to take on Central Florida.
BASEBALL AMERICA TABS MU SIXTH IN PRESEASON POLL
The Tigers are opening the 2008 season ranked No. 6 in the Baseball America Preseason Poll. The Tigers are the highest ranked Big 12 Conference team in the poll. UCLA received the top spot in the poll, followed by Arizona, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, North Carolina and Missouri. Other Big 12 teams in the poll include Baylor (No. 15), Texas (No. 16) and Texas A&M (No. 21). In 2005, Mizzou was ranked No. 10 in Baseball America's Preseason Poll, it best preseason ranking prior to this year's No. 6 mark. The Tigers ended the 2007 season ranked No. 24 after compiling a record of 42-18.
FOR OPENERS
Mizzou's 12-6 win over Florida International in last year's season opener improved its record to 8-4-1 in openers under Head Coach Tim Jamieson. That includes a 0-0 tie against San Jose in 2001, when the game was called after six innings due to poor weather conditions with no score Missouri has won its first game of the year in four of the last five seasons.
TIGERS PICKED SECOND IN BIG 12 POLL
The Big 12 Conference baseball coaches have picked Mizzou to finish second in the league, according to the 2008 Big 12 Preseason Poll. The Tigers garnered 71 points, including one first-place vote, finishing behind only Texas, who received 80 points, including eight first-place votes. The ranking is the highest for the Tigers since the start of the Big 12 Conference in 1997. Their previous best came in 2006, when the coaches voted Missouri third. Last season, MU was selected eighth in the preseason poll, but ended the year in second place.
Aaron Crow NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Mizzou junior pitcher has been named to multiple Preseason All-American teams. Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association have all selected Crow as a Preseason All-American. Crow was a first team All-Big 12 selection last season, leading the Tigers with nine wins on the year, compiling a 9-4 record with a 3.59 ERA. He struck out a team-high 90 batters on the season and had two complete games. He has also been named to the preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the nation's top player.
CROW, GIBSON EARN SUMMER LEAGUE RECOGNITION
Pitchers Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson were each listed among Baseball America's top prospects of the Cape Cod League. Crow and Gibson each spent last summer in the Cape Cod League, which remains one of the most talented leagues in summer baseball. Crow was named by Baseball America as the No. 1 prospect of the league. He had a Cape Cod best 0.67 ERA and touched 98 mph on the radar gun pitching for Falmouth. Baseball America quoted one National League scouting director as saying, "If the draft was tomorrow, Crow would go No. 1." Gibson, who also pitched for Falmouth, was rated as the third best prospect in the league. He struck out 51 batters in his eight starts, recording a 1.17 ERA.
TIGERS MAKE IT FIVE-STRAIGHT NCAA TOURNAMENTS
Mizzou is one of just 18 schools in the nation that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons. Only two Big 12 schools (MU and Texas) can make that claim. The Tigers have made NCAA Regionals in each of the last five seasons and last year hosted the school's first-ever Regional. In 2006, Mizzou advanced to the Super Regionals for the first time in school history.
COMING BACK
The Tigers have earned high preseason rankings in large part to what they have returning from a year ago. Of the 21 letterwinners from the 2007 season, 16 return in 2008, including eight of the 11 pitchers that saw playing time. The probable top four starting pitchers heading into the season all saw significant time on the mound last season, led by juniors Aaron Crow and Rick Zagone who were MU's top two pitchers last year. Sophomore Kyle Gibson spent most of last year working out of the bullpen, but will be in line for a weekend starting role this year. Junior Ian Berger spent part of 2007 as the Tigers' Sunday starter and returns in 2008. The top arms out of the bullpen from last year returning in 2008 include junior Ryan Gargano (1.73 ERA in `07), junior Scooter Hicks (six saves in `07) and sophomore Greg Folgia (26 appearances in `07). Behind the plate for MU is sophomore Trevor Coleman, who was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2007. In the infield, junior third baseman Kyle Mach is the lone returner, while senior shortstop Lee Fischer and sophomore second baseman Greg Folgia gained experience as back-up players in 2007. Four experienced outfielders return for the Tigers as seniors Jacob Priday and Kurt Calvert, junior Ryan Lollis and sophomore Aaron Senne will compete for the three spots. Priday, Lollis and Senne were regulars in the lineup last year and Calvert has played in 41 games in his two previous seasons with MU.
2K WINS
Mizzou enters the 2008 season with an all-time record of 1,997-1,282-20, putting it just three victories away from becoming the 35th program in the NCAA to reach the 2,000-win mark.
NEW SCHEDULE REGULATION IN PLACE FOR 2008 SEASON
The NCAA installed new regulation for the 2008 season which set an official start date for the baseball season. Feb. 22 is the National Opening Day in 2008. The new regulation does two things. First, it pushes back the start of the season, which will benefit teams that are not in warm-weather climates in their preseason preparation and early season scheduling. Second, with a 56-game schedule still in place, more games will be played per week, meaning teams will have weeks in which they may play as many as five games.
A LOOK AT THE `08 SCHEDULE
After opening this weekend in Florida, the Tigers will head to the West Coast for a tournament in San Diego next weekend. The tournament is hosted by San Diego University and also includes San Diego State, Cal and Cal-Poly. Games will be played at both San Diego University and San Diego State. After the eight-game road trip to open the year, the home opener for the Tigers will be March 4, when Western Illinois visits to Taylor Stadium for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. That contest kicks off a 13-game homestand to open the home schedule for Mizzou. Indiana State will be in Columbia for four games in three days, March 7-9. The following weekend, Toledo comes to Taylor Stadium for a three-game series and South Dakota State visits for a pair of games March 18-19. Mizzou closes out the opening homestand with its first Big 12 Conference series of the year as Baylor comes to Taylor Stadium March 21-23. The Tigers will spend Spring Break in Minneapolis for two games at Minnesota (March 25-26) and in Lubbock, Texas for a weekend series with Texas Tech (March 28-30). MU will have back-to-back home conference series against Oklahoma State (April 4-6) and Texas (April 11-13) followed by two-straight Big 12 road trips to Oklahoma (April 18-20) and Texas A&M (April 25-27). The Big 12 schedule will conclude for Mizzou with a home series against Kansas State (May 2-4), a trip to Kansas (May 9-11) and a three-game home set with Nebraska (May 16-18). Once again a fourth contest with Kansas is on the Tigers' schedule, as the two teams are slated to face off in a non-conference game on April 29 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The two teams were scheduled to play at Kauffman last season, but the contest was cancelled due to rain. Mizzou will also have neutral field games in O'Fallon, Mo. as it returns to T.R. Hughes Ballpark for matchups with Eastern Illinois (April 22) and Southern Illinois (April 23). A home-and-home series with Missouri State is again on the slate with MSU coming to Taylor Stadium on April 9 and the Tigers traveling to Springfield on May 7. Other non-conference games scheduled include a second matchup with Western Illinois (April 1) and games against Lincoln (April 2), William Woods (April 16) and Creighton (May 6). The Big 12 Tournament is May 21-25 in Oklahoma City, Okla. with the NCAA Regionals beginning on May 30. The College World Series gets underway on June 14 in Omaha.
ALL-ACCESS
Video webcast for all Missouri Baseball home games in 2008 will be 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.
ON THE AIR
Once again, KTGR 1580-AM will be 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 will return for his 17th season of calling Tiger Baseball and will be joined in the booth by Hudson Guthrie, who enters his first year on the Tiger broadcast team.
MIZZOU ON TV
Two of the Tigers' 2008 games have been selected to be televised. The Mizzou Sports Network has announced it will air the middle game of MU's series against Oklahoma State on April 5 at Taylor Stadium. The game can be seen on FSN Midwest and MetroSports. First pitch has been moved to 4 p.m. to accommodate the television schedule. Missouri's series finale at Texas A&M on April 27 will be broadcast on FSN as part of the network's television contract with the Big 12 Conference. That game will start at 1 p.m. in College Station, Texas. The possibility does remain for networks to add more games to the television schedule.
UP NEXT
Next week, Missouri will be on the West Coast as it travels to San Diego for the University of San Diego Tournament. The Tigers will have contests with Cal, San Diego State, San Diego and Cal-Poly as part of the tournament. Following that, MU will open its home schedule, facing Western Illinois at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4 at Taylor Stadium.
TIGERS FOR TIGERS
Mizzou Athletics is teaming up with Auburn and Clemson Universities to save and protect wild tigers. You can help support "Tigers for Tigers" by making a donation to the World Wildlife Fund. For more information visit tigers.missouri.edu. Help Mizzou with the "Tigers for Tigers" challenge and save the tigers species.
No. 6 Mizzou Travels to Florida for Opening Day 2008
Tigers start 2008 campaign at the Stetson Tournament in DeLand, Fla.
Feb. 20, 2008
MIZZOU AT STETSON TOURNAMENT
Date: Feb. 22-24. 2008
Location: DeLand, Fla.
Stadium: Melching Field at Conrad Park
Capacity: 2,500
Radio: KTGR 1580-AM
Live Audio: KTGR.com
Live Stats: gohatters.com
More Information: mutigers.com
Schedule:
Friday vs. UConn, 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT)
Saturday vs. Michigan St., 1 p.m. ET (Noon CT)
Sunday vs. Stetson, 4 p.m ET (3 p.m CT)
GAMENOTES IN PDF FORMAT
FIRST PITCH
Mizzou opens the 2008 season as the No. 6 ranked team in the nation according to Baseball America, its highest ever preseason ranking. The Tigers travel to Florida to open 2008, playing in the Stetson University Tournament Friday-Sunday. MU will face UConn in the season opener on Friday, followed by matchups with Michigan State and Stetson. On Monday, the Tigers will be in Orlando, Fla. to take on Central Florida.
BASEBALL AMERICA TABS MU SIXTH IN PRESEASON POLL
The Tigers are opening the 2008 season ranked No. 6 in the Baseball America Preseason Poll. The Tigers are the highest ranked Big 12 Conference team in the poll. UCLA received the top spot in the poll, followed by Arizona, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, North Carolina and Missouri. Other Big 12 teams in the poll include Baylor (No. 15), Texas (No. 16) and Texas A&M (No. 21). In 2005, Mizzou was ranked No. 10 in Baseball America's Preseason Poll, it best preseason ranking prior to this year's No. 6 mark. The Tigers ended the 2007 season ranked No. 24 after compiling a record of 42-18.
FOR OPENERS
Mizzou's 12-6 win over Florida International in last year's season opener improved its record to 8-4-1 in openers under Head Coach Tim Jamieson. That includes a 0-0 tie against San Jose in 2001, when the game was called after six innings due to poor weather conditions with no score Missouri has won its first game of the year in four of the last five seasons.
TIGERS PICKED SECOND IN BIG 12 POLL
The Big 12 Conference baseball coaches have picked Mizzou to finish second in the league, according to the 2008 Big 12 Preseason Poll. The Tigers garnered 71 points, including one first-place vote, finishing behind only Texas, who received 80 points, including eight first-place votes. The ranking is the highest for the Tigers since the start of the Big 12 Conference in 1997. Their previous best came in 2006, when the coaches voted Missouri third. Last season, MU was selected eighth in the preseason poll, but ended the year in second place.
Aaron Crow NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Mizzou junior pitcher has been named to multiple Preseason All-American teams. Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association have all selected Crow as a Preseason All-American. Crow was a first team All-Big 12 selection last season, leading the Tigers with nine wins on the year, compiling a 9-4 record with a 3.59 ERA. He struck out a team-high 90 batters on the season and had two complete games. He has also been named to the preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the nation's top player.
CROW, GIBSON EARN SUMMER LEAGUE RECOGNITION
Pitchers Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson were each listed among Baseball America's top prospects of the Cape Cod League. Crow and Gibson each spent last summer in the Cape Cod League, which remains one of the most talented leagues in summer baseball. Crow was named by Baseball America as the No. 1 prospect of the league. He had a Cape Cod best 0.67 ERA and touched 98 mph on the radar gun pitching for Falmouth. Baseball America quoted one National League scouting director as saying, "If the draft was tomorrow, Crow would go No. 1." Gibson, who also pitched for Falmouth, was rated as the third best prospect in the league. He struck out 51 batters in his eight starts, recording a 1.17 ERA.
TIGERS MAKE IT FIVE-STRAIGHT NCAA TOURNAMENTS
Mizzou is one of just 18 schools in the nation that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons. Only two Big 12 schools (MU and Texas) can make that claim. The Tigers have made NCAA Regionals in each of the last five seasons and last year hosted the school's first-ever Regional. In 2006, Mizzou advanced to the Super Regionals for the first time in school history.
COMING BACK
The Tigers have earned high preseason rankings in large part to what they have returning from a year ago. Of the 21 letterwinners from the 2007 season, 16 return in 2008, including eight of the 11 pitchers that saw playing time. The probable top four starting pitchers heading into the season all saw significant time on the mound last season, led by juniors Aaron Crow and Rick Zagone who were MU's top two pitchers last year. Sophomore Kyle Gibson spent most of last year working out of the bullpen, but will be in line for a weekend starting role this year. Junior Ian Berger spent part of 2007 as the Tigers' Sunday starter and returns in 2008. The top arms out of the bullpen from last year returning in 2008 include junior Ryan Gargano (1.73 ERA in `07), junior Scooter Hicks (six saves in `07) and sophomore Greg Folgia (26 appearances in `07). Behind the plate for MU is sophomore Trevor Coleman, who was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2007. In the infield, junior third baseman Kyle Mach is the lone returner, while senior shortstop Lee Fischer and sophomore second baseman Greg Folgia gained experience as back-up players in 2007. Four experienced outfielders return for the Tigers as seniors Jacob Priday and Kurt Calvert, junior Ryan Lollis and sophomore Aaron Senne will compete for the three spots. Priday, Lollis and Senne were regulars in the lineup last year and Calvert has played in 41 games in his two previous seasons with MU.
2K WINS
Mizzou enters the 2008 season with an all-time record of 1,997-1,282-20, putting it just three victories away from becoming the 35th program in the NCAA to reach the 2,000-win mark.
NEW SCHEDULE REGULATION IN PLACE FOR 2008 SEASON
The NCAA installed new regulation for the 2008 season which set an official start date for the baseball season. Feb. 22 is the National Opening Day in 2008. The new regulation does two things. First, it pushes back the start of the season, which will benefit teams that are not in warm-weather climates in their preseason preparation and early season scheduling. Second, with a 56-game schedule still in place, more games will be played per week, meaning teams will have weeks in which they may play as many as five games.
A LOOK AT THE `08 SCHEDULE
After opening this weekend in Florida, the Tigers will head to the West Coast for a tournament in San Diego next weekend. The tournament is hosted by San Diego University and also includes San Diego State, Cal and Cal-Poly. Games will be played at both San Diego University and San Diego State. After the eight-game road trip to open the year, the home opener for the Tigers will be March 4, when Western Illinois visits to Taylor Stadium for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. That contest kicks off a 13-game homestand to open the home schedule for Mizzou. Indiana State will be in Columbia for four games in three days, March 7-9. The following weekend, Toledo comes to Taylor Stadium for a three-game series and South Dakota State visits for a pair of games March 18-19. Mizzou closes out the opening homestand with its first Big 12 Conference series of the year as Baylor comes to Taylor Stadium March 21-23. The Tigers will spend Spring Break in Minneapolis for two games at Minnesota (March 25-26) and in Lubbock, Texas for a weekend series with Texas Tech (March 28-30). MU will have back-to-back home conference series against Oklahoma State (April 4-6) and Texas (April 11-13) followed by two-straight Big 12 road trips to Oklahoma (April 18-20) and Texas A&M (April 25-27). The Big 12 schedule will conclude for Mizzou with a home series against Kansas State (May 2-4), a trip to Kansas (May 9-11) and a three-game home set with Nebraska (May 16-18). Once again a fourth contest with Kansas is on the Tigers' schedule, as the two teams are slated to face off in a non-conference game on April 29 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The two teams were scheduled to play at Kauffman last season, but the contest was cancelled due to rain. Mizzou will also have neutral field games in O'Fallon, Mo. as it returns to T.R. Hughes Ballpark for matchups with Eastern Illinois (April 22) and Southern Illinois (April 23). A home-and-home series with Missouri State is again on the slate with MSU coming to Taylor Stadium on April 9 and the Tigers traveling to Springfield on May 7. Other non-conference games scheduled include a second matchup with Western Illinois (April 1) and games against Lincoln (April 2), William Woods (April 16) and Creighton (May 6). The Big 12 Tournament is May 21-25 in Oklahoma City, Okla. with the NCAA Regionals beginning on May 30. The College World Series gets underway on June 14 in Omaha.
ALL-ACCESS
Video webcast for all Missouri Baseball home games in 2008 will be 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.
ON THE AIR
Once again, KTGR 1580-AM will be 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 will return for his 17th season of calling Tiger Baseball and will be joined in the booth by Hudson Guthrie, who enters his first year on the Tiger broadcast team.
MIZZOU ON TV
Two of the Tigers' 2008 games have been selected to be televised. The Mizzou Sports Network has announced it will air the middle game of MU's series against Oklahoma State on April 5 at Taylor Stadium. The game can be seen on FSN Midwest and MetroSports. First pitch has been moved to 4 p.m. to accommodate the television schedule. Missouri's series finale at Texas A&M on April 27 will be broadcast on FSN as part of the network's television contract with the Big 12 Conference. That game will start at 1 p.m. in College Station, Texas. The possibility does remain for networks to add more games to the television schedule.
UP NEXT
Next week, Missouri will be on the West Coast as it travels to San Diego for the University of San Diego Tournament. The Tigers will have contests with Cal, San Diego State, San Diego and Cal-Poly as part of the tournament. Following that, MU will open its home schedule, facing Western Illinois at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4 at Taylor Stadium.
TIGERS FOR TIGERS
Mizzou Athletics is teaming up with Auburn and Clemson Universities to save and protect wild tigers. You can help support "Tigers for Tigers" by making a donation to the World Wildlife Fund. For more information visit tigers.missouri.edu. Help Mizzou with the "Tigers for Tigers" challenge and save the tigers species.
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