The Mizzou baseball team will open the season this weekend (Feb. 18-20) in Los Angeles, CA, against USC, Cal-Poly and North Carolina. Mizzou joins North Carolina as the only teams in the tournament field to finish with a record above .500 a season ago.
Mizzou, despite returns 18 letterwinners to its roster in 2011, were picked to finish last in the ten team Big 12 conference.
Among the returning players, junior outfielder Ryan Gebhart is the Tigers’ top returning hitter (.328) while senior outfielder Jonah Schmidt had the most home runs (seven) and RBIs (33) in 2010 among returning players this season.
The Tigers also return 10 pitchers to their roster in 2011, highlighted by a pair of lefties. Junior Kelly Fick (2-2, 3.47 ERA) and senior Phil McCormick (6-1, 4.40 ERA). McCormick also led the Tigers with 36 apperances last season, a single-season Mizzou record.
The Tigers open with two games today starting with Cal-Poly at noon and USC tonight at 8:30.
