Tigers blank Jayhawks in three game set, baseball, tennis, women's swimming updates
by Mizzou Matt
COLUMBIA, MO- The University of Missouri softball team, which entered the 2012 campaign with a preseason rank of 5th nationally and 1st in the Big 12, posted 24 runs in three games over arch rival Kansas University. 24 runs, and the Jayhawks struggled to produce any offense whatsoever. The final, cumulative score was 24-0. Goose eggs across the board for KU as the Tigers, led by senior Chelsea Thomas, continued their quest for the Big 12 title on University Field.
Kansas, riding a 20-game win streak entering Friday's game, only managed seven hits in all three games. In game one, a 10-0 Tiger win, Thomas pitched 5.2 innings, only giving up one hit and striking out four. After game two was rained out and postponed to Sunday, the Tigers' offense kept rolling to a 5-0 shutout. Thomas again pitched 5.0 innings, with two hits, three walks and nine Ks. As for game three, the second of a Sunday double header, the Tigers didn't let up at all in their 9-0 win to complete the sweep. Danielle Nottelmann pitched a 6.0 inning, two hit, seven K game to win their 15th straight. The Tigers are now 20-3 overall and 3-0 in Big 12 league play.
BASEBALL
High Point came to Taylor Stadium to take on the Tiger baseball squad, who entered Friday's game on a nine-game win streak. The Tigers took every bit of the game to get past High Point as Ben Turner cranked a walkoff single in the 9th that brought in Blake Brown from second. Tigers win game one of the series, 8-7. Game two was a slightly more defensive showdown, though Brown hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning to help give the Tigers the 4-0 shutout. The win extended their streak to 11 games, their best since 2008. The winning pitcher, Blake Holovach, pitched the first complete game for the Tigers since Nick Tepesch in 2010, and the first complete game shutout since Kyle Gibson in 2009.
Game three was a streak-breaker, however. The Tigers fell to High Point 13-7 due in large part to a 7-0 lead after two innings. The Tigers (12-6) were led offensively by Brown again, as he drilled his sixth home run of the season and the fourth of this week alone.
TENNIS
The 56th-ranked Tiger tennis squad fell to the 8th-ranked Texas Longhorns, 5-2. Mizzou is now 5-6 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 conference play. The Longhorns on the other hand, improve to 9-4, 2-0.
W. SWIMMING
Mizzou women's swimming and diving finished 14th at the 2012 NCAA Championships. The Tigers' 98 points landed them their first top-15 finish in program history. Along with the record finish, seven new team records were set, and six were named as NCAA All Americans: Dominique Bouchard, Shara Stafford, Lisa Nathanson, Cassie Cunningham, and Emily Doucette all made 1st Team, while Amanda Masters' participation in the 400m medley earned her 2nd Team honors.
