While No. 5-ranked Nebraska enters this weekend's final Big 12 Conference series at No. 12 Missouri clinging to faint hopes of winning the league's regular-season title, there's no doubt that the Tigers have plenty of motivation of their own.
The Huskers (39-8-1, 15-5-1 Big 12) head into Friday's 6:30 p.m. series opener against Missouri (34-17, 13-11) trailing Big 12 leader Texas A&M by 1 1/2 games. Nebraska needs to win the Missouri series and get help from Texas this weekend against the Aggies to have a chance to claim its fourth conference regular-season title in the past eight years.
However, in the big scheme of things, Missouri could have even more motivation. The Tigers still have a chance to catch Oklahoma State for third place in the league standings and are looking to strengthen their NCAA Tournament resume in hopes of hosting a regional tournament in Columbia, Mo.
"I think it's big for us because we're still trying to get ourselves into better position in the conference," Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said Thursday. "Certainly, for us to finish third is kind of unrealistic at this point, but we want to solidify our fourth spot, we want to solidify our spot in the NCAA Tournament and I think it's an opportunity to get hot at the end of the year against a very good baseball team."
In the preseason, Missouri was picked to finish either first or second in the Big 12 in most preseason polls and the Tigers have been as high as No. 2 in the national rankings. However, Jamieson's club has struggled at times in Big 12 play, despite returning 16 of 21 letter-winners from last year's team that reached the NCAA regional final.
Missouri is coming off a series win over Kansas and looking to build momentum for the postseason.
"We feel like we're starting to play a little bit better than we were a couple of weeks ago, but I think it's an opportunity to go into the conference tournament with a great deal of confidence and to go into the postseason with a great deal of confidence," Jamieson said. "I think for Nebraska, I'm pretty confident they're already going to be a host and they're already going to be a national seed with the success they've had through the year, but they want to keep that momentum going."
Nebraska coach Mike Anderson isn't taking anything for granted. The Huskers bounced back from a 6-3 loss in 16 innings to Texas A&M last Friday and then swept the Aggies 9-8 and 13-10 with a pair of comeback wins Sunday before beating Creighton 8-1 Tuesday night at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.
While Jamieson and several media types might believe that Nebraska has a national seed wrapped up, Anderson doesn't want his team to let up.
"Obviously, we're going down to Missouri and looking forward to playing a quality team," Anderson said. "I think our kids our excited that they've put themselves in a good position to finish the year and hopefully we can finish off the conference race in a good way."
In order to be a regional host, Jamieson said he thinks Missouri doesn't have much margin for error.
"You'd think that if we could win the series, get the championship game of the conference tournament and possibly win the conference tournament that possibly four teams from the Big 12 would be considered for host sites, but I think all that has to happen.
"I think our RPI is really hurting us right now with the host situation and I think we've got to be able to win a lot of games against good teams to bump up our RPI. I don't know how high it can go, but certainly, if we get close to the 40-win mark, we've been in the top 15 all year -- top 10 most of the year -- there are a lot of reasons why we would (host), but I think it's going to take a great effort."
One of the league's best pitching matchups takes center stage Friday night as Nebraska senior right-hander Johnny Dorn (5-1, 2.65 ERA) and the Huskers will try to take on Missouri starter Aaron Crow. The Tiger right-hander is 11-0 with a 2.82 ERA, leads the Big 12 in strikeouts (103) and has three shutouts on the year.
Missouri's staff also includes Kyle Gibson, who is 9-1 with a 3.59 ERA.
"Obviously, we know that's going to be difficult facing one of the best pitchers in the country and one of the best pitching staffs in the country," Anderson said. "We know there's a lot of work to be done and we have a tremendous amount of respect for Tim Jamieson and the Missouri Tigers."
Missouri's offense is also formidable, led by designated hitter Jacob Priday and outfielder Aaron Senne. Friday is batting .339 with a league-best 15 home runs and 56 RBIs, while Senne leads the Tigers in batting average (.356) and has 13 homers and 59 RBIs.
As a team, Missouri is batting .300 with five starters hitting above the .300 mark. The Tigers have also drawn 250 walks and been hit by pitches 88 times this season.
Series notes
- Sunday's start time was changed to 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net. Saturday's game is set for 2 p.m.
- Nebraska senior catcher Mitch Abeita takes a team-best 17-game hitting streak into the series. It marks the longest hitting streak by a Husker since Luke Gorsett's 19-game hitting streak in 2006.
- Since spelling injured starter Craig Corriston at first base, Tyler Farst is batting .348 with an on-base percentage of .464.
Big 12 Standings
Big 12 Overall
Texas A&M 19-5-0 42-11-0
Nebraska 17-6-1 39-9-1
Oklahoma State 16-8-0 38-14-0
Missouri 13-11-0 34-17-0
Texas 12-12-0 31-19-0
Baylor 10-14-0 30-22-0
Kansas 9-14-0 30-24-0
Oklahoma 8-15-1 31-21-1
Kansas State 8-16-0 24-27-0
Texas Tech 7-17-0 23-29-0
Tuesday, May 13
Dallas Baptist 8-8, Texas Tech 4-9
UT-Arlington 16, Texas A&M 8
Baylor 7, Texas State 2
Oklahoma State 14, Western Illinois 1
Nebraska 8, Creighton 1
Wednesday, May 14
Baylor 11, Stephen F. Austin 0
Texas 18-14, Alabama A&M 0-3
Friday, May 16
Kansas State at Kansas, 6 p.m.
Texas A&M at Texas, 6 p.m. (FCS)
Baylor at Texas Tech, 6:05 p.m.
Nebraska at Missouri, 6:30 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 17
Baylor at Texas Tech, 2 p.m.
Nebraska at Missouri, 2 p.m.
Kansas at Kansas State, 6:30 p.m.
Texas at Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, 7:35 p.m.
Sunday, May 18
Baylor at Texas Tech, 1 p.m.
Texas at Texas A&M, 1 p.m.
Kansas at Kansas State, 2 p.m.
Nebraska at Missouri, 2 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, 4 p.m.
Baseball America Top 25
Rank Team Record
1. Miami FL (41-6)
2. North Carolina (42-9)
3. Arizona St (40-9)
4. Florida St (43-8)
5. Nebraska (38-9)
6. Rice (39-11)
7. Georgia (33-17)
8. CS Fullerton (32-17)
9. Texas A&M (42-10)
10. Oklahoma St (35-12)
11. San Diego (39-15)
12. UC Irvine (33-13)
13. California (32-16)
14. Stanford (29-18)
15. Missouri (34-17)
16. LSU (35-16)
17. Michigan (38-11)
18. St Johns (39-11)
19. Vanderbilt (37-15)
20. NC State (35-16)
21. Kentucky (38-14)
22. Wichita St (38-14)
23. Coastal Carolina (41-11)
24. TCU (35-16)
25. Tulane (36-15)
Collegiate Baseball Top 30
Rank Team Record Pts Last rank
1. Miami FL (41-6) 495 1
2. North Carolina (42-9) 492 2
3. Arizona St (40-9) 490 3
4. Florida St 43-8) 489 4
5. Rice (39-11) 488 5
6. Nebraska (38-9-1) 485 7
7. Texas A&M (42-10) 484 6
8. Georgia (33-17-1) 480 8
9. San Diego (39-15) 479 9
10. Oklahoma St (37-14) 476 10
11. CS Fullerton (32-17) 473 12
12. Missouri (34-17) 470 14
13. California (32-16-2) 468 18
14. Stanford (29-18-2) 466 11
15. Michigan (38-11) 463 19
16. LSU (35-16-1) 460 23
17. Vanderbilt (37-15) 453 16
18. South Carolina (34-18) 451 13
19. Wichita St (38-14) 449 15
20. St Johns (39-11) 447 20
21. NC State (35-16) 446 17
22. New Orleans (38-13) 444 29
23. Kentucky (38-14) 443 nr
24. Tulane (36-15-1) 440 28
25. Georgia Tech (36-15) 438 25
26. Coastl Carolina (41-11) 436 26
27. UC Irvine (33-13) 434 27
28. Virginia (34-17) 430 24
29. Southern Miss (37-15) 429 nr
30. Washington (31-17) 427 30
