In beginning the Big 12 Conference portion of its schedule, the Missouri baseball team has had to deal with quite the tough draw.
The Tigers are 1-5 in their last two series, including being swept at home this past weekend. But the skid doesn’t tell the whole story, as Missouri has been neck-and-neck with their opposition every game.
Following a 2-5 start to the season, the Tigers blazed through their 18-game home stand with a 13-5 record, including a 10-game winning streak.
But the team has recently hit a roadblock. They just came off series against two of the best teams in the Big 12 and the country, Texas A&M and Baylor.
The Aggies are currently ranked No. 5 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 coaches’ poll and have a loaded roster, including a pair of likely first-round picks in five-tool outfielder Tyler Naquin and pitcher Michael Wacha, with his dominant fastball-changeup combo.
No. 18 Baylor entered and exited Columbia on a historic hot streak last weekend. The Bears have won 14 straight games and are 12-0 in the Big 12. They have even assigned a mascot to the streak, much like how many tied the St. Louis Cardinals’ World Series run in October with the Rally Squirrel.
After a beaver began to crawl out of the Brazos River and hang out by Baylor Ballpark, the team adopted the mantra of “Feed the Beaver,” Baylor players told The Baylor Lauriat. The Waco, Texas, native rodent even has a Twitter account, [@Baylor_Beaver](https://twitter.com/#!/Baylor_Beaver).
Therefore, it was not surprising that the Tigers got knocked around in those two series. But their recent record presents a pessimistic view of their play.
Every game down in College Station, Texas, was decided by one run and, excluding Saturday’s contest, each loss in the Baylor series was by two runs.
“We’re keeping it close, but these are games that we need to be winning, because I think we’re just as good as these teams we’re playing,” senior third baseman Conner Mach said.
Coach Tim Jamieson made an effort to spark the offense by tinkering with the lineup for Saturday’s game. He stuck junior shortstop Eric Garcia, who boasts a .297 slugging percentage, in the cleanup spot and putting sophomore Michael McGraw at first base, a spot that has normally been occupied by junior Gavin Stark.
The changes worked well, as Missouri banged out 14 hits, two more than the previous two games combined. The bullpen was the main culprit in that loss, as Baylor put up 10 runs in the last three innings.
“I was happy with the results,” Jamieson said about the lineup changes. “… Related to the batting order? I don’t know, but we had better results today.”
Overall, the Tigers can look to the fact that this is not their only tough stretch of the season. Just as everything fell into place after early-season struggles, the same thing could happen in conference play.
“(We’re) still starting off conference (play), now kind of getting into the swing of it, getting the feel of it, the younger guys kind of know what’s going on,” senior catcher Ben Turner said.