I think I get the chance for a shorter musings this week, and none too soon given my work schedule this coming week. Anyway, no basketball this week, wrestling wrapped up and the diamond sports continued to kick some serious tail. Let's see how Mizzou did for the week as we transition now into the first full week of spring.
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Baseball:
Let's start here...here are the lines from each of the last three weekends for Crow, Berger and Gibson
20.1 innings 12 hits 3 runs (2 earned) 5 walks and 23 strikeouts against Indiana State
25 innings 15 hits 1 run (earned), 2 walks and 35 strikeouts against Toledo
25 innings 7 hits 0 earned runs, 8 walks and 27 strikeouts against #14 Baylor
So...for the grand total...
70.1 innings, 34 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, 15 walks and 85 strikeouts. Gibson is clearly bringing the group down, as Berger and Crow have not given up an earned run I believe in 50.1 innings.
Just....insane...almost a 6:1 K/BB ratio and an ERA of 0.38...yes...you read that right.
And really, I guess I need to nit-pick here to talk myself out of booking reservations for Omaha now, so here is my nit-pick for the week and the espcially the weekend.
#1 - Walks came up a bit.
#2 - 25 LOB for the three games.
Clearly #1 is just pointing out something from the stats. Obviously it never came real close to affecting us for the weekend. #2 however worries me just a tad. Tough to do I realize when your team still scored 22 runs for the weekend against a perenial Big XII power, but leaving 8 to 9 on each game is not desired. I know a lot of times in the past two games there were some 2 out partial rallies that ended with no runs, but just something the team will want to try to shore up a bit.
But again, NIT PICKING. The team is now 18-2, 3-0 in the Big XII and has won 13 in a row. They will head north this weekend for an interesting opportunity. The chance to play on field turf and in a dome during their two games against the Golden Gophers. Minnesota is 9-8, having just swept South Dakota State by a total score of 11-7 (Mizzou swept the same team 22-5 with staff pitching). Will be interesting to see who takes the mound for them. Moving on to the weekend, Mizzou will stay on the road for their first Big XII road action against 2-4 (11-10) Texas Tech. Tech lost 2 of 3 to aTm and 2 of 3 to Texas (including a 22-6 game...strange). Should be an exciting week with Mizzou having to move up most of the polls and looking to keep this great run going.
Softball:
Well, the winning streak was broken during the week against Bradley, but the ladies recovered in style taking the other three games of the weekend, including their first two games against Big XII opponents in Okie State. Now sitting at 30-7, Mizzou did fall to Bradley 5-4 before coming back to beat the Braves 6-0 in the nightcap. Then on to the weekend (Softball series are two games to baseball's three games) and Mizzou got a nice start to the conference season with two easy wins against the Lady Pokes by a combined score of 12-1 inclduing a run-rule Friday game.
Stacy Delaney just did not have it on Wednesday in the opener against Bradley and Hainey came in to clean it up. Jen Bruck continued to look pretty strong coming back in the nightcap with the shutout. Delaney came back very strong on the weekend against Okie State, with Kathryn Poet powering the win in game 1 with a grand slam and Amanda Renth doing all that was needed in game two with a couple of RBI's.
This weekend, a road trip for the Tigers as they head to San Antonio for two games against UT-SA, who are 15-12 and have a win over Texas to their credit. This weekend, the Tigers will stay in Texas to take on the Aggies, who are 3-0 in conference and the only other team in the conference with more than 30 wins (31-6). Could be statement time for the Tigers...they keep it going this weekend and they will make a VERY strong move towards the top of the conference.
Wrestling:
Lots of posts for the wekeend on wrestling...I think at this point I plan to get my post season thoughts up here in a few days...so be on the lookout for that.
Gymnastics:
Home finale for the Tigers this past weekend as the ladies took on ranked Arizona State. The Tigers came away with a VERY close win over the Sun Devils, but just .125 Mizzou scored 195.625, a good score but still not showing a development as the season has moved along. My guess is that this score will drop the Tigers back just a little in the national rankings, where they currently sit at 16th.
Junior Adrianne Perry did put up another very solid number in winning the all-around with a 39.375, which included a 9.925 on the floor exercise. Sarah Shire put up a 9.9 on the vault to win it while Alicia Hatcher won the bars event. Mizzou is still struggling to put together an event with 6 nailed routines or a full match with 24 hit routines. They will need to snap out of it pretty soon, as scores in the 195's will very likely not move them along in post season competition.
Coming up next for the Tigers will be Big XII Championships in Norman, OK next weekend. The Big XII is a tough conference and while Mizzou has the potential to make a lot of noise, they will need to step up just a bit to do so.
Golf:
The ladies were down in Austin and only got to play 2 rounds of a 3 round tournament. They shot pretty well on the first day with a 320, but followed that up with a 340 to end up coming in 14th place. Had they matched the 320, they would have come in 4th to give you an idea of how well they shot the first day.
Julia Potter finished 13th and was the high finisher for the ladies, finishing 7 strokes back. Maddie Augustsson was one back of her, but then a large drop off with the other three ladies who competed for the Tigers.
Coming up next for the ladies will be the Mountain View Classic down in Tuscon, AZ next week.
Swimming:
Junior Kendra Melnychuk is a two-time All-American from 2008, finishing 11th in the 3 meter and becoming the first Mizzou diver to finish in the top 10 with her 10th place finish in the platform diving. The junior from Canada overcame a tough start in the preliminaries which kept her out of the Championship competition and moved her to the consolation side. Once there, she clearly recovered quite nicely and achieved a wonderful milestone for herself, the diving and entire program.
The women's season is now done, while the men will be in the DC area this coming week to perform at the NCAA's. I believe Mizzou will send two more divers out there, but no others as I do not believe any other swimmers were chosen to make the competition.
Track
Well...it said we were competing at Wake Forest this past weekend, but I went through the page of results and did not see a single Mizzou athlete on it, which leads me to believe we did not participate down there. That means the outdoor season will open for the Tigers next weekend at home at the Missouri Relays.
Random Thoughts:
* The Devils (New Jersey, not Duke, though they did as well) stumbled this week, scoring only three goals in three games and losing all three, while giving up a touchdown to Pittsburgh as the Pens took over the division lead. While he does have 40 wins on the season, I fear Broduer is getting tired...which is why the Devils went out and got a real backup who...well...has barely played. Only a handful of games left on the regular season. New Jersey will make the playoffs, but there is going to be a big difference in where they are seeded, as 1 point could separate them from 1st and 4th.
* Stephen Curry...you are insane
* kansas, you could not have an easier road to the Final Four...
* Tough to say who looked great coming through the 1st weekend of the tourney...I guess UNC since they never looked tested. UCLA and Memphis both struggled for their win, while kansas looked fine (I guess, I never actually saw them play either game). Louisville looked good as well, so did Wazzu from what I hear (but never really saw play)
* Funny how great the 12/13 upsets are, except the #1 teams (UCLA and kansas, my two LEAST favorite #1's) benefit from that.
* Strange month of March in St. Louis. 80 degrees one Sunday. 10 inches of snow. 5-6 or more inches of rain and then a little Easter snow yesterday.