It’s officially March Madness Month!

[and my one-year JSchool-iversary]

Who’s excited? We know by now that our Tigers will BE in the tourney, but WHERE and against WHOM is yet to be determined. The latest Lunardi Bracketology has Mizzou on the 8-seed line, for what it’s worth. We’re going to be having a bunch of bracket-y posts soon, so I’ll just leave that to them.

Moving on, a Sam Horn-less baseball team opened their season on Tuesday afternoon — great weather!!! — against Lindenwood, and ummm.... I don’t think demolish is a strong enough word to describe what the Tigers did to those poor Lions.

Mizzou won 17-2. SEVENTEEN TO TWO. Let’s look at how they got there, huh?

It all started with Mizzou’s 7-run second inning. Lovich doubled and then Zeisler, who was on with a lead-off walk, scored on a wild pitch. Wilmsmeyer then walked and Leach was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Colon reached on a FC, which allowed both Wilmsmeyer and Lovich to score on a throwing error. Mann then homered to left, scoring Colon and Leach, and after a Chick walk and a Bargo single, Chick scored on a sac fly by Austin. This gave Mizzou a 7-0 lead after just two innings. And they weren’t even close to being done.

In the third, Mizzou tacked on two more runs as another sac fly by Austin scored Colon, who was on 2B with a single then swiped bag. Zeisler’s walk added another run as Mann, who was on base with a walk, scored on a passed ball. In the top of the fourth, however, the Lions put some runs on the board (their only runs, mind you), plating two off of a two-run shot that drove Lucas from the game in favor of Wissler, who was able to escape from the inning unscathed, leaving two aboard.

In the fourth, the Tigers again erupted, adding 6 more runs to make it 15-2. Both Leach and Colon were hit by pitches and then advanced on a wild pitch. After Mann walked to load the bases, a passed ball allowed the runners to advance, scoring Leach. Chick then walked to re-load the bases, and a Bargo sac fly scored Colon. An Austin walk and another hit by pitch, this one to Zeisler, allowed Mann to score before a Lovich sac fly brought in Chick. A RBI single from Wilmsmeyer brought home Austin, and another by Leach scored Zeisler, making it 15-2 before a popup by J. Lovich finally ended the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth the Tigers scored their final runs — is there no mercy rule in baseball? — on a bases-loaded two-run double by Wilmsmeyer, which scored Daniels and Stevens.

Let’s take a look at those stats!!!!

THE STATS

Luke Mann: .367 BA | 1-2 | 3 R | 3 RBI | 1 HR | 2 BB

Dalton Bargo: .375 BA | 2-2 1 RBI | 1 BB

Cam Chick: 0-3 | 2 R | 2 BB

Ty Wilmsmeyer: .500 BA | 2-3 | 1 R | 3 RBI | 1 2B | 2 BB | 1 SB

Ross Lovich: .385 BA | 1-2 | 1 R | 1 RBI | 1 2B | 1 HBP

Hank Zeisler: .310 BA | 1-1 | 2 R | 2 RBI | 2 BB | 1 HBP

Trevor Austin: .333 BA | 1-2 | 1 R | 2 RBI | 1 BB

Dylan Leach: .294 BA | 1-2 | 2 R | 1 RBI | 2 HBP

Justin Colon: .320 BA | 1-2 | 3 R | 1 RBI | 1 BB | 1 HBP | 2 SB

Pitching: Nic Smith (W, 3IP, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 WP, 10 BF) | Wilmsmeyer (2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 8 BF) | Brock Lucas (0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 5 BF) | Jacob Hasty (1 IP, 2 K, 5 BF) | Daniel Wissler (0.2 IP, 1 K , 2 BF)

OVERALL: 17 R | 11 H | 14 RBI | 2 2B | 1 HR | 13 BB | 3 K | 5 HBP | 14 LOB (!!) | 4 SB

UPDATE: This came across the twitterwire on Wednesday morning and I’d be remiss not to mention it, ha.

ON TO THE LINKS! Beat the Bayou Bengals. Here’s the MUTigers preview.

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Yesterday at Rock M

• A new Dive Cuts talks about closing out the regular season
• Brandon recapped Dennis Gates’ press conference
• Nate’s new postmortem is about the defensive backs
• Josh’s new Revue features a movie made in Georgia, Zombieland!

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More Links:

Hoops

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: ‘Voice of the Tigers’ Mike Kelly cherishes 1,000-game run with Mizzou basketball radio (Dave Matter) | Gordo ranks area hoops: Missouri avoids late fade, Missouri State finishes fast (Jeff Gordon) | Tipsheet: Final week of SEC play offers NCAA Tournament seeding implications (Gordon)
• Columbia Tribune: Missouri basketball will honor 9 players on senior day. That doesn’t mean they’re all leaving (Matt Stahl) | Why Haley Troup’s career goes down as an all-time Mizzou great (Chris Kwiecinski) — posting again because it’s that good
• PowerMizzou: Listen/watch PowerMizzou Live, where Drew & Gabe chat about the last week of the regular season | Watch Dennis Gates talks LSU |
• Columbia Missourian: Frank, Judd land on All-SEC teams after standout seasons (Parker Gillam) | Missouri goes for three wins in a row, faces LSU (Jaden Lewis)
• Looks like the Every True Tiger Foundation, Mizzou’s NIL collective, is starting to work with some Mizzou men’s hoopers: Kaleb Brown (Coaching for Literacy) | Dree Gholston (Special Olympics of Missouri) | Aidan Shaw (Black Law Students Association) | Noah Carter (Special Olympics of Missouri) | Sean East II (Black Law Students Association) | Nick Honor (United Community Builders) | Ronnie DeGray III (Daydreams Foundation) | Tre Gomillion (Daydreams Foundation)
• HUGE congrats to Ashton Judd on her All-SEC Freshman Team honors!!!!

• And to Hayley Frank, who was named All-SEC Second Team! (read more at MUTigers)

Football

• PowerMizzou: How does Sam Horn’s injury affect Mizzou’s QB competition? (Jarod Hamiton)
• Columbia Missourian: Cook, Horn suit up, are limited on first day of MU spring practice (Wendell Shepherd, Jr)
• Columbia Tribune: What Eli Drinkwitz said about Mizzou football’s offense, spring practice, Jake Garcia and more (Matt Stahl)
• This is SOOOO cool. Missouri offensive student assistant (QBs) Milli Wilson will get to participate in the NFL Women’s Forum at the Combine. What an honor and a great chance for her to meet some industry people!

Other Mizzou Sports

• Softball: The polls have been updated, and the Tigers are holding steady in the 20s after a 3-2 weekend in Cali. And while you’re marveling at the team, listen to Larissa’s latest press conference.

• Baseball: Missouri baseball blows past Lindenwood in home opener (Ethan Burke, Missourian) | Tigers pound Lindenwood in home opener (Caleb Logue, PowerMizzou) | Baseball Catches Fire in Home Opening Win Over Lindenwood (MU Tigers)
• Check out their weekend highlights from their business trip to Miami

• HUGE congrats to Hank Zeisler, who earned one of College Baseball Newspaper’s National Player of the Week honors.

• Track: Congrats to Vilches, who was named All-SEC Second Team for his high jump performance (MUTigers)

• Gymnastics: LOVE this team!!!! Come see them Friday take on Alabama at Hearnes! It’s a PINK OUT!

Former Tiger News

• Quin rumors... also, didn’t we learn Mr Snider is better in the NBA than the college ranks?

• On Izzy Higginbottom, who transferred to Arkansas State in the offseason, who was named the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year! Congrats, Izz!!!

• On MPJ: When Michael Porter Jr. cooks, everybody eats. His partnership with Jamal Murray has Nuggets feasting on NBA defenses (Keeler, Denver Post)
• On Bush Hamdan:

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