Missouri sports face busy weekend

MU sports teams begin spring seasons.

By JJ Stankevitz

Published Feb. 23, 2009

Baseball opens with losses

The Missouri baseball team opened its season by losing three out of four games at the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix. After winning the season opener against Nevada by a score of 12-1, the Tigers dropped their next three games, losing to Gonzaga 9-3, Nevada 8-4 and Gonzaga 13-9.

Staff ace Kyle Gibson started Missouri's first game against Nevada and threw six innings while allowing one unearned run on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts. Brad Buehler, Andrew Mueller and Ryan Gargano added a scoreless inning apiece out of the bullpen to finish out the game.

Defense was a big problem for the Tigers over the weekend, committing nine errors in four games. If Missouri expects to live up to the No. 10 preseason ranking bestowed upon them by Baseball America, the defense will have to improve.

Missouri will get a good early-season challenge Tuesday when the Tigers take on Arizona State at 7:30 pm. The Sun Devils were ranked No. 13 in Baseball America's preseason rankings.

Men's basketball moves up to No. 8 in rankings

Senior forward Leo Lyons led the Tigers against Colorado on Saturday, 66-53. Lyons, who was suspended when the teams met in Columbia, scored 13 points and snagged 15 rebounds on this match up.

With the win, Missouri moved up to the No. 8 spot nationally in the ESPN/USA Today Poll. Also, thanks to an Oklahoma loss, the Tigers now control their own destiny in the Big 12 rankings.

Gymnastics suffers second loss

After posting historic scores against Illinois on Feb. 13, No. 13 Missouri went down to Norman, Okla., last Friday hoping to use that momentum to topple conference foe No. 11 Oklahoma.

The Tigers cracked 196.000 for the second straight week but it wasn't enough to keep up with the Sooners as Missouri fell 196.375 to 196.225.

Although the team picked up its second loss of 2009, the Tigers (9-2, 0-2 Big 12) did pick up a couple of wins as their score finished above those posted by No. 18 West Virginia and Brown.

Once again, junior Sarah Shire took the all-around crown with a 39.400 for her sixth title of the season.

Senior Adrianne Perry tied for second in the all-around with a score of 39.300.

The Tigers look to stay on that pace as they host the 29th annual Cat Classic this Friday at the Hearnes Center.

Softball starts season strong

The softball team has started the 2009 season 8-0 and won its second tournament this weekend in Florida. In the five-game tournament hosted by Florida Atlantic University, the Tigers gave up only a single run.

The home opener is Wednesday with a double-header beginning at 3 p.m. against Saint Louis.