HUGE weekend

This is a big weekend for the Tigers against conference leaders Texas A&M. This should be an interesting battle with the Tigers giving up the most hits per 9 innings and the Aggies leading the conference with a .330 batting average. The Tigers split a pair of mid week games, defeating Eastern Illinois and losing to Souther Illinois. Potential Sunday starter Rick Zagone looked good against Eastern and hopefully is returning to his 2007 form. Note: The Aggies have won 12 straight conference games. A sweep is unlikely, but two out of three would send a huge message.

Probables (From A&M athletic site)
FRIDAY

A&M - #30 Brooks Raley (Fr., LHP, 5-0, 3.11 ERA)
MU - #43 Aaron Crow (Jr., RHP, 9-0, 2.37 ERA)

SATURDAY

A&M - #50 Barret Loux (Fr., RHP, 2-1, 5.00 ERA)
MU - #44 Kyle Gibson (So., RHP, 6-0, 3.09 ERA)

SUNDAY

A&M - #13 Clayton Ehlert (So., RHP, 5-2, 3.21 ERA)
MU - TBD (Im guessing a combination of Rick Zagone and maybe Berger if Zagone runs into trouble)


Hitter to watch

Dane Carter is the Big 12 conference leading hitter. He is hitting .428 with 6hr and 46 rbis and also leads the country in triples with 8

Most recent line up against Baylor

Colligan, Kyle cf
Stouffer, Blake 2b
Carter, Dane 3b
Duran, Jose ss.
Anders, Luke 1b
Brown, Darby dh.
Ruggiano, Brian rf
Feltner, Ben lf
Gonzalez, Kevin c

Key Series to watch this weekend

Nebraska @ Baylor
Oklahoma St vs. Kansas

Mizzou/Big 12 update

The Mizzou baseball team took 2 out of 3 this weekend from OU and took the series in Norman for the first time since 1971. However Sunday's game was terrible. Getting run ruled against a bad OU did not look good and neither did any Mizzou pitcher who went this weekend. They needed a sweep, but the series victory is nice.

Mid week games

Eastern Illinois at Mizzou
Southern Illinois vs. Mizzou

Next weekend

Against conference leading Texas A&M on the road which should be a great series. Expect a preview Thursday or Friday.

Conference Standings

Its getting to that time of year where each week ill take a look at conference standings and teams that have a chance to win the Big 12. Next to each team are their remaining Big 12 series.

Texas A&M (15-3) vs. Mizzou, @ Nebraska, vs. Texas
Nebraska (13-4-1) @ Baylor, vs. A&M, @ Mizzou
Oklahoma St (11-7) vs. Kansas, vs. Texas Tech, vs. OU
Mizzou (9-6) @ A&M, vs. Kansas St. @ Kansas, vs. Nebraska


Right now it looks like OSU could end the season strong with their remaining nine big 12 games at home. Their offense is hitting the ball extremely well right now.

From Big12sports.com

CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT

The Big 12 introduced a two-division, pool play format for the championship in 2006. Each of the eight teams competing is guaranteed a minimum of three games.

Results from the league's 27-game round-robin conference schedule will determine the eight seeds for the Championship. Seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 will compete in pool play on one side of the bracket, while seeds 1, 4, 5 and 8 will play in the other. The two teams with the best record within their bracket will advance to the Championship game, with the winner earning the Big 12's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship. Head-to-head competition will break ties within each bracket. In the event of more than two teams being tied for the top spot within a bracket, the highest seeded team will advance to Sunday's winner-take-all Championship game.

Under current format

(1,4,5,8) Mizzou , A&M, Texas, and KST
(2,3,6,7) Nebraska, OSU, Baylor, and Kansas

OU and Texas Tech are currently on the outside looking in

OU preview

Oklahoma (3-8, 24-13-1)

Last week was a good week for the Tigers and the bats. It started with a win at Missouri St and then bringing the steel I guess to Texas. It was a great series and seems like the bats are back in line, now they just need to get out of their slump where one pitcher struggles and the other two pitch decently.  Two weekends ago it was Gibson against OSU and last weekend it was Berger against Texas. Maybe this weekend against struggling OU team in conference will be just what the doctor ordered. I would also like to congratulate Jacob Priday on his great week and being named national player of the year. Note to the Big 12 for the rest of the season, Kyle Russell may have found his power stroke. He hit four hrs in the series last weekend and none of them were cheap shots. 

Expected pitching match-ups for the weekend

Friday

Crow vs. Jeremy Erben (1-0 4.61, 41.0IP, 31k, 21BB)

Saturday

Gibson vs. Andrew Doyle (5-3, 3.07, 58.2IP, 43K, 11BB)

Sunday

Berger vs. TBA (C.J. Blue pitched the Sunday game last week)

Closer-Jake McCarter has 9 saves with a 5.32 ERA which looks like line Joe Borowski would have.

OU was swept in their series against A&M last week and I think the Tigers need to do the same as well. They are a series behind Nebraska and A&M so they still have a chance to win conference but a sweep would help their chances. 

Most recent OU lineup

Aljay Davis(9-10)

Matt Harughty (8-12SB)

Mike Gosse (.364, 5 hr, 28rbis)

J.T. Wise

Jarod Freeman

Jamie Johnson (12-13SB)

Tyson Seng

Aaron Baker

Casey Johnson

C.J. Blue 

Texas Longhorns series preview

Texas (7-5, 3rd in Conference 22-10 overall)

Last meeting-Mizzou won the series last year in Texas

This is a battle of the two teams that were pre-season picked 1 and 2 in conference, but both are somewhat struggling conference play.  Texas won their last series against OU by beating two out of three while Mizzou lost two of three to OSU. Mizzou could really use a big weekend to move up to third place in conference by winning two of three. The hitting seems to be slowly coming back, scoring eight runs in their win against Missouri St. and six in the loss to OSU last Sunday. One thing that Mizzou will have to beside shutting Texas's offense down is to play better defense. It is something the team has been struggling with since the Minnesota series. The defense along with the weak offense hurt them in Ian Berger's start last Saturday. 

Probable pitching match ups for the weekend

Friday-Austin Wood (2-2, 4.46 era) vs. Aaron Crow (7-0 .69)

Saturday-Brandon Workman (4-1, 3.19 era) vs. Ian Berger (3-1, .81 era)

Sunday-Chance Ruffin (3-2, 1.73) vs. Kyle Gibson (5-0, 2.84 era)

Wood-What I get from looking at Wood's stats is that is a soft tossing lefty that has good control and probably works the corners. He has 11 BB and 23SO in 36.1 IP.

Workman-Power pitcher with 42SO in 37IP. Workman also has very good control with only 11BB in 42.0IP

Ruffin-Made most of his appearance out of the bullpen this year with this being only his fourth start. 

lineup from last game

Michael Torres

Travis Tucker

Jordan Dunks

Russell Moldenhauer

Brandon Belt

Kyle Ryssell

Preston Clark

Cameron Rupp

David Hernandez 

Oklahoma St. Cowboys

Oklahoma St. Cowboys 4-5 in Conference 18-8 overall

Expected Starting Pitchers (last weekends starters against A&M)

Andrew Oliver (2-1 3.08 era)-Tonight 19BB in 38 innings pitched and 30 hits averages a K an inning

Tyler Lyons-Saturday (4-2 3.38) 38 hits in 40ip but also 39ks 

Tyler Blandford-Sunday (3-2 5.85) 11 walks in 32.1 IP

Closer

Jody Mercer (0-1, 5sv, 2.45 era). Mercer is also a position player and a pretty good one at that. He is hitting .345, 5hr, 29rbis. 

Offense

The team average is .319, so OSU has hit the ball well on the season. I dont expect that to continue with the Tiger starters. All three starters pitched very well against Texas Tech last year.  The bullpen will have to step up this weekend. They cant expect the Tiger starters to go 8 or 9 innings each time out. So I expect a big weekend out them if they are going to win this series from OSU. 

Hitters to watch

Donnie Webb-.378 1hr 19rbis 8-8 SB 16 SO in 90 AB

Rebel Ridling-.336 7hrs 26rbis 26 in 110AB

Matt Hague- .362 4hr 29rbis 14S0 in 105 AB

These hitters are an example of an OSU that from the numbers does not appear to strike out much and have good at bats. They have as a team 909abs and only 184SO. So they should put the ball in play. 

Most recent lineup

Michael Dabbs RF

Jordy Mercer SS

Matt Hague DH

Rebel Ridling 1b

Donnie Webb CF

Tyrone Hambly 3b

Dylan Brown LF

Luis Flores C

Thomas Belza 2b

If the Tigers can get the bats going again and the bullpen gets its act together I see no reason why the Tigers cant take 2 out 3.

Tigers funk

The Mizzou Tigers are definitely in a funk, but it should not worry fans. Even though the bullpen did not pitch very well this weekend, I am not worried about them. For the most part it is a young bullpen that just needs to get their feet wet in Big 12 play. Its something that comes with the territory of young pitchers, they are going to struggle. The hitters have also been in a little bit of a hitting funk. Minus the game on Sunday, the Tigers have not hit the ball well at all.  Hitting is contagious so all it takes is one guy to get it started and they should bounce back. Lets hope the Tigers funk ends tonight with a big win over Lincoln University. For the casual Tigers fan, this is still one of the best teams in the Big 12, so fear not, they will come to form. Expect to get an OSU scouting report tonight or tomorrow at some point.