Missouri baseball is turning heads with their hot start to the 2017 season. Taylor Stadium was buzzing over the weekend as Tigers fans came out in full force for opening weekend, rooting Missouri on to a series sweep over Illinois-Chicago to extend its win streak to 10 games.
On Monday, the team’s achievements received national recognition. In the March 6 edition of the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division I Poll, an independent baseball website that releases a weekly ranking of its top 30 teams, the Tigers came in at No. 26. Despite not being ranked in USA Today’s top-25 baseball poll, the Tigers took a big step, earning the 35th-most votes on the week.
After a season-opening loss on Feb. 17 to Eastern Michigan, the Tigers have ripped off 10 consecutive wins en route to a program-record-tying 10-1 start to the season.
The Tigers’ offense has been producing at an incredibly high clip, leading the Southeastern Conference in doubles, ranking second in batting, slugging percentage and on-base percentage and third in runs and total bases. Mizzou’s team on-base plus slugging after 11 games is .950, with a team batting average of .340, the second-best mark in the conference.
The statistics are impressive, but what really has put the Tigers in a position to win so often in the early part of this season is a non-empirical measure — their ability to perform under pressure and to win in close games. They are 6-0 in games decided by two or fewer runs and 4-0 in one-run games. On Sunday, the Tigers exemplified their ability to produce under pressure, driving in five runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning and winning the game on a walk-off home run from freshman Kameron Misner.
“I think we’ve done some things that we should do when it comes to the record,” Bieser said after Mizzou’s 7-2 victory Friday. “I figured that if we are playing the game the way we are supposed to be playing it that we should have a solid record this time of the year.”
The Tigers’ schedule will be even more favorable leading up into SEC play, which starts March 17 at Alabama. On Tuesday, the Tigers will host Eastern Illinois, who will enter with a win-loss record of 1-9. This is followed by a matchup with 4-6 Western Carolina, a team that has lost five games to ranked teams in 2017. Over the weekend, the Tigers will then host Appalachian State, who has dropped just six of their first 11 games.
Mizzou baseball has parlayed some early-season strong play combined with a soft schedule into national attention. There’s a lot of good to talk about with this team, and with a favorable schedule ahead, the wins could continue to pile up. The question now is whether the Tigers will be able keep up their strong play once SEC play opens and opponents get tougher.
_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_