Big 12 Baseball Week Review (Week ending Monday, April 9th)
Overall Big 12 win-loss records are updated on the left sidebar. Win-loss for the week is included below.Big 12 Rankings this Week
USA Today/ ESPN Coaches' Poll: Texas, 6th; Texas A&M, 13th; Oklahoma State, 17th; Oklahoma, 24th
Baseball America Top 25: Texas, 6th; Texas A&M, 16th; Oklahoma State, 15th; Oklahoma 23rd
Collegiate Baseball Top 25: Texas, 6th; Texas A&M, 15th; Oklahoma State 22nd; Oklahoma fell out
Big 12 Weekly Awards
Andrew Brown, Nebraska - Player of the Week
Rick Zagone, Missouri and Tony Watson, Nebraska - Pitcher of the Week
The award was Watson's second of the 2007 season.
The biggest story this week? It had to be the cold. Lots of scheduling changes due to the weather, but you know that Oklahoma State had to hate playing in Lincoln, and the Longhorns had to hate it in Lawrence. Wind chills dropped into the lower 20's in Manhattan. Where's that global warming thing?
 Baylor
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3-1 | Tue., Apr. 3 Baylor 12, Houston 6 Thu., Apr. 5 Baylor 4, Oklahoma 2 Fri., Apr. 6 Oklahoma 5, Baylor 4 Fri., Apr. 6 Baylor 5, Oklahoma 2 |
Baylor beat Houston (RPI: 64) mid-week. They then take a series from ranked Oklahoma this past weekend. Despite the series win, Baylor remains at the bottom of the conference.
Baylor has TCU (RPI:69) mid-week in Waco. Next weekend they'll go to Lawrence to battle Kansas to see who remains at the bottom of the conference.
 Kansas
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3-2 | Tue., Apr. 3 Kansas State 10, Kansas 6 Wed., Apr. 4 Kansas 11, Kansas Wesleyan 4 Thu., Apr. 5 Texas 11, Kansas 6 Fri., Apr. 6 Kansas 14, Texas 6 Sat., Apr. 7 Texas 6, Kansas 5 |
Kansas loses to Kansas State mid-week in a non-conference game, beats poor Kansas Wesleyan, and then loses a series to Texas in Lawrence. The series ended up being fairly close, but Sunday's loss is the eighth one-run loss by the Jayhawks this season. Thursday's game had Texas scoring five runs at the top of the eighth. In Friday's game, Kansas scored in every inning but one.
Kansas gets Oral Roberts (RPI:63) mid-week, then Baylor comes to Lawrence for conference play next weekend.
 Kansas State
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2-2 | Tue., Apr. 3 Kansas State 10, Kansas 6 Fri., Apr. 6 Kansas State 12, Missouri 0 Sat., Apr. 7 Missouri 3, Kansas State 0 Sun., Apr. 8 Missouri 7, Kansas State 6 |
Beating Kansas is always good for the Wildcats, but then beating up on Mizzou on Friday is just as good. Too bad the Jayhawks didn't save some of that offense for their Saturday and Sunday games. Friday's win was the first time that KSU had beaten Missouri in Manhattan since 2001. Saturday, Missouri pitcher Rick Zagone had a no-hitter going until the ninth inning as Mizzou picked up a 3-0 win. Sunday's game went twelve innings after the Wildcats were one strike away from winning the game and series in the ninth when Mizzou got a triple to tie the game and go extra innings.
The Wildcats get Creighton (RPI:93) for their mid-week game, then travel to Oklahoma State for next weekend's conference games.
 Missouri
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2-1 | Fri., Apr. 6 Kansas State 12, Missouri 0 Sat., Apr. 7 Missouri 3, Kansas State 0 Sun., Apr. 8 Missouri 7, Kansas State 6 |
Lots of drama in the KSU-Mizzou series this past weekend. Missouri was shut out on Friday for the first time since last April. Mizzou pitcher Rick Zagone allowed only one hit and struck out eleven as the Tigers return the favor and blank KSU 3-0. He picked up a Big 12 pitcher of the week award for it. Then on Sunday the Tigers got a home run in their final at-bat for the second week in a row to win in twelve innings.
Missouri will get the Texas A&M Aggies at home next weekend. No mid-week games are scheduled.
 Nebraska
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3-1 | Tue., Apr. 3 Nebraska 12, Creighton 10 Fri., Apr. 6 Nebraska 5, Oklahoma State 2 Sat., Apr. 7 Nebraska 9, Oklahoma State 2 Sun., Apr. 8 Oklahoma State 7, Nebraska 5 |
The Huskers finally had a pretty good week. Not only do they beat hated rival Creighton (RPI:93) mid-week in a wild game, but then they take a series from the Cowboys and they win both Big 12 Weekly player awards. Friday's match featured a complete game from Husker hurler Tony Watson while Nebraska held Oklahoma State's big offense in check. Saturday's game wasn't without controversy as Oklahoma State had a player ejected (somebody want to put that video on YouTube?) as Nebraska held the Cowboys in check once again. Unfortunately, the Huskers couldn't hang on for the sweep. A victory Sunday would have brought us back to .500 in conference play, but it wasn't to be.
Nebraska plays Iowa (RPI:117) on Tuesday, Wichita State (RPI: 24) on Wednesday, and then goes to Norman to take on the Sooners next weekend.
 Oklahoma
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2-2 | Tue., Apr. 3 Oklahoma 13, TCU 5 Thu., Apr. 5 Baylor 4, Oklahoma 2 Fri., Apr. 6 Oklahoma 5, Baylor 4 Fri., Apr. 6 Baylor 5, Oklahoma 2 |
Oklahoma gets a nice win mid-week over Texas Christian. Then they fall down and lose a series with Baylor. Thursday's loss was the fourth straight time the Sooners opened a series with a loss. The Sooners then came back early Friday to even the series, but lose the second game and the series, dropping Oklahoma below .500 in conference play.
Oklahoma goes to Wichita State (RPI:24) on Tuesday, then gets Dallas Baptist (RPI:90) at home on Wednesday. Up next in conference play is Nebraska. A rather pivotal series for these two teams as one will climb and the other will remain below .500 in conference play.
 Oklahoma State
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1-2 | Fri., Apr. 6 Nebraska 5, Oklahoma State 2 Sat., Apr. 7 Nebraska 9, Oklahoma State 2 Sun., Apr. 8 Oklahoma State 7, Nebraska 5 |
In what can only be described as a crying shame, the Cowboys drop a series to the Huskers. No doubt they were having fun in the cold and maybe that's the excuse they'll give for Friday and Saturday losses. They avoided the sweep on Sunday (oh, wait that's where the crying shame part comes in). The series loss ended a Big 12 Conference win streak at eight. Nice of us to do that for them.
Arkansas State (RPI: 157) will get run over by the Cowboys in a two-game series mid-week and then they'll get Kansas State next weekend.
 Texas
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3-1 | Tue., Apr. 3 Texas 14, Texas-San Antonio 9 Thu., Apr. 5 Texas 11, Kansas 6 Fri., Apr. 6 Kansas 14, Texas 6 Sat., Apr. 7 Texas 6, Kansas 5 |
Texas beat up on UT-San Antonio (RPI:51) mid-week, then took a series from the Jayhawks. At least Kansas didn't get swept. Thursday's game featured 10 Texas batters coming to the plate in the eighth inning. In Friday's game, Texas allowed three home runs and seven extra-base hits. Saturday's game featured two home runs by Texas sophomore Kyle Russel. Russel has 20 homers on the season, already tying a Texas single-season record for homers (does that sound right to you?). Burnt Orange Nation has their Texas baseball report updated.
Texas gets Tech at home next weekend.
 Texas A&M
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2-1 | Tue., Apr. 3 Texas A&M 9, Texas State 4 Thu., Apr. 5 Texas A&M 7, Texas Tech 4 Fri., Apr. 6 Texas Tech 8, Texas A&M 3 |
The Aggies beat Texas State (RPI:68) mid week. The Aggies split a pair of games with the Red Raiders. They were supposed to play a double-header Friday, but it was cancelled due to weather. Apparently, Saturday was just as bad, so they did not continue the series.
The Aggies will get UT-San Antonio (RPI: 51) mid-week and then head to Mizzou for next weekend's conference series.
 Texas Tech
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1-1 | Thu., Apr. 5 Texas A&M 7, Texas Tech 4 Fri., Apr. 6 Texas Tech 8, Texas A&M 3 |
Texas Tech split a pair of games with Texas A&M last weekend. The Thursday tilt featured a five-run second inning for the Aggies to take the win. Friday's game featured Tech sophomore Roger Kieschnick going 4 for 5 with a home run and two RBI's in the Tech win.
Tech gets Hardin-Simmons for the 111th time mid-week and then head to Texas for next weekend. The Hardin-Simmons game was added to make for a couple other games that were lost to weather.