For the Missouri baseball team, there’s no place like home.
After a disappointing 2-5 start to the season, the Tigers will be playing their first home game 6 p.m. Firday, hosting the University of Illinois- Chicago. They will try to continue the home success they enjoyed in 2010, when the team finished a stellar 18-9 at Taylor Stadium.
To do that, though, they will need sophomore outfielder Blake Brown to continue his sizzling start to the 2011 season. Brown leads the Tigers with a .444 batting average, and also holds team highs in hits (8), RBIs (5), and stolen bases (4). Quite simply, he’s done it all for the Tigers thus far, and continues to make the most of his increased playing time in his sophomore season.
Even with Brown’s hot bat, the Tigers haven’t been able to overcome large deficits in the first two weekends of the season. Missouri has given up an average of 8.7 runs per game, a number that will need to go down if the Tigers want to make a significant run in the Big 12. They will be leaning heavily on starters Jeff Scardino, Rob Zastryzny and Matt Stites to keep the Tigers’ bats within striking distance.
Scardino, a senior, will bring much-needed experience to a young pitching staff. The Tulsa native gave up only one earned run while striking out six in eight innings last Saturday, propelling Missouri to a 4-2 win over Charlotte. Scardino, as well as coach Tim Jamieson, will be hoping for a similar effort this weekend against UIC.
Alongside Scardino in the Tigers’ rotation is Rob Zastryzny, a highly touted freshman who has not disappointed thus far. The 6-foot-3-inch lefty was named a second-team All-American in his senior season at Calallen High School in Corpus Christi, Texas, after compiling a 17-1 record with 198 strikeouts and a microscopic 0.20 ERA. That success has carried into his first two college starts, as Zastryzny has thrown a team-high 10.2 IP and amassed a 3.38 ERA. Jamieson can only expect Zastryzny to continue improving as he gains experience throughout the 2011 season.
But where Zastryzny lacks in experience, senior reliever Phil McCormick more than makes up for it. McCormick pitched in 36 games for the Tigers last season, setting a school record for appearances. That trend seems to have carried into 2011, as McCormick has appeared in five of Missouri’s first seven games this season. Moreover, not only has he been consistent, he’s also been effective. In last weekend’s series against Charlotte the southpaw pitched a total of six innings, giving up only one unearned run while striking out six. If he continues at this pace, McCormick might be in line to set his season appearances record once again.
Missouri will need all of these players to be clicking this weekend against University of Illinois-Chicago as well as in the looming Big 12 schedule. Jamieson, now in his 17th season as coach, is four wins away from the vaunted 550-win plateau.
Jamieson comes into Friday with a 546-387-2 career record, the second most wins in school history (behind Gene McArtor). With a 4-game series scheduled for this weekend, there’s a slim chance that Jamieson could reach that milestone by Sunday night. However, if Blake Brown continues to hit, the starting staff fulfills its potential and Phil McCormick eats up innings, that goal may be within reach.
