Missouri Tigers Lose Heartbreaker To Texas A&M In Big 12 Baseball Championship

Texas A&M second basemen Andrew Collazo hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning Sunday afternoon at Red Hawks Field in Oklahoma City, lifting the Aggies to an emotional 10-9 victory over the Missouri Tigers.

Missouri has built an early 6-0 lead after just two innings, highlighted by key hitting up and down the roster. Tigers two through four hitters Brannon Champagne, Eric Garcia, and Jonah Schmidt went a combined 6-for-6 in their first two plate appearances, accounting for all six RBI's.

After getting through the first two innings unscathed, Mizzou starer Eric Anderson ran into trouble in the third inning allowing five runs in the third. What really hurt the Tigers were four of the runs were unearned as they came after Collazo reached base on an error. After Tyler Naquin and Krey Bratsen flew out for A&M, four more Aggies would come around to score.

Texas A&M would then go on to take a 7-6 lead in the fourth after Matt Juengel singled to score Collazo. The Aggies had tied the game on a Bratsen sacrifice fly.

Mizzou tied the game at 7 in the sixth inning courtesy of left fielder Conner Mach's fourth home run of the season.

After the Aggies took a 8-7 lead, Mizzou countered with two runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 9-8 lead. The inning began with both Garcia and Schmidt reaching base. Garcia scored on Blake Brown ground out, and Schmidt eventually gave the Tigers a lead with on a Jesse Santo single.

Texas A&M once again tied the score in the bottom of the ninth when pinch runner Scott Arthur stole second and scored on Gregg Alcazar pinch-hit single.

That set the stage for Collazo's game winning home run, his first of the season. Dusty Ross (3-5) took the loss for Missouri, as the Tigers finish the season with a 27-32 record. Texas A&M improved to 42-18, winning their third Big 12 Conference tournament title in the past five seasons. The boxscore from today can be viewed here.

Mizzou players Mach, Schmidt, and pitcher Kelly Fick were all named to the all tournament team, while A&M's Collazo was named the captain.

Big 12 Championship: Missouri Shocks Texas, Advances To Championship Game

The no. 8 seed Missouri Tigers defeated the no. 1 seed Texas Longhorns 2-1 in the Big 12 Championship tournament for the second time to advance to the title game on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Coming into the tournament as the last-place seed you wouldn't have thought the Missouri Tigers (26-31) would make a whole lot of noise in the Big 12 Championship at RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. But they have made their presence felt as they defeated the Co-Regular season Big 12 champion Texas Longhorns (43-14) twice to advance to the title game on Sunday.

Missouri starting pitcher Kelly Fick went seven innings giving up just four hits, walking none and striking out three. Phil McCormick picks up the save for Missouri, pitching the final 1.2 innings with four strikeouts and not allowing a hit.

Jesse Santo's two-out RBI double in the 2nd inning gave the Tigers the 1-0 lead, scoring Jonah Schmidt who led off the inning with a single. Blake Brown's leadoff homerun in the 7th inning gave the Tigers the 2-1 lead and proved to be the game-winner for a Missouri Tigers team that shocked most of the crowd at RedHawks field that wasn't wearing black and yellow.

After losing to Texas in the morning game 6-1, the Missouri Tigers would not give-in and they fought to earn the right to play for a championship after a sub-par regular season. They are playing their best baseball at the right time.

The Tigers will take on the Aggies of Texas A&M for the Big 12 Championship Sunday afternoon at 1pm. The Tigers won two of three regular season games with the Aggies.

Big 12 Championship: Texas A&M Defeats Kansas State, Heads to Sunday's Title Game

In easily the most exciting game so far of the Big 12 Championship, Texas A&M defeats Kansas State 9-8 Saturday afternoon in 11 innings to earn their shot at a Big 12 Championship title.

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the 11th inning, Aggies catcher Kevin Gonzalez singled to third base and scored Matt Juengel to get the walk-off win and send the Aggies to the Big 12 title game.

Kansas State led the game 8-4 headed into the bottom of the 8th inning when Matt Juengel and Jacob House started the inning off with back-to-back singles for the Aggies off Wildcats pitcher Jared Moore. Kayvon Bahramzadeh came in to relieve Moore and things did not get any better for the Wildcats. Gregg Alcazar drew a walk to load the bases for the Aggies so Kevin Gonzalez could rope an RBI single scoring Juengel. Another run came in on a wild pitch that was followed up with another walk before James Allen came in to relieve Bahramzadeh. A walk by Allen and a fielders' choice scored two more runs to tie the game for the Aggies headed into the 9th inning.

Kansas State led the game for most of the way as Kent Urban blasted a home-run for the Wildcats in the 4th inning to give them the 1-0 lead, and start a five-run inning for the Cats. Chase Graskewicz's two-RBI double opened the game for Kansas State as they took a 5-run lead to the bottom of the 4th inning.

Krey Bratsen led off the 4th inning with a walk before Juengel singled for the Aggies, Jacob House then walked on four-straight pitches. This set up Adam Smith to single in two runs to make the score 5-2 at this point and get Texas A&M back into this game.

Matt Juengel and Jacob House combined to go 5-11 with five runs scored for the Aggies as their three and four hitters set the tone for the rest of the lineup.

It was the seven walks issued by Kansas State pitching that was the difference in this game. Texas A&M took advantage of these mistakes and they are playing for a Big 12 title because of it.

Chase Graskewicz, Tanner Witt and Jason King all had multi-hit games for Kansas State. Kansas State now has to wait to hear whether they did enough to continue on in post-season play. The NCAA selection show will be broadcast on ESPN on Monday at 11:30 CT.

Texas A&M will play the winner of the Missouri-Texas game scheduled for 4:00 Saturday for the Big 12 championship Sunday at 1pm.

Big 12 Baseball Championship: Texas Beats Missouri And Forces Game Two

The Texas Longhorns beat the Missouri Tigers 6-1 Saturday morning to force a second game between the two teams at 4:00pm on Saturday.

The winner of this game will play for the Big 12 title on Sunday afternoon.

Texas used four different pitchers that combined for 13 strikeouts of Missouri hitters while giving up just five hits on the day.

Texas was paced offensively by their leadoff hitter, Brandon Loy, who finished the game 3-4 with two RBI’s and two runs scored. Leading 3-1 in the seventh inning the Longhorns got a single run on back-to-back doubles by Paul Montalbano and Jonathan Walsh. Loy’s RBI double in the 8th inning triggered the next two runs for the Longhorns and put the game out of reach for Missouri.

Missouri still has an opportunity to play for a Big 12 title if they can beat Texas at 4:00pm on Saturday. Kansas State and Texas A&M play at 12:30 with the Wildcats needing to win to force a game two Saturday night. Texas A&M could punch their ticket to the title game with a victory.

Saturday's Schedule For The Big 12 Championship Tournament In Oklahoma City

The Missouri Tigers are just one win away from playing for a Big XII Championship. They came into this tournament as the no. 8 seed and opened the championship with a upset-victory over the no. 1 seed Texas Longhorns. They will have to beat the Longhorns again if they want a shot at the title. Missouri will face Texas at 9am on Saturday morning at RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. If Texas wins, these two teams will play again at 4:00pm Saturday afternoon for a spot in the championship game scheduled for Sunday at 1pm.

Texas A&M and Kansas State will face-off at 12:30 pm with the Aggies needing just one win to advance to Sunday’s title game. The Wildcats need to beat Texas A&M twice in order to get their shot at a title on Sunday. If the Wildcats win the first game these two teams will play again at 7:30pm on Saturday night.

Big XII Baseball Championship: Texas Eliminate Oklahoma State And Kansas State Eliminates Oklahoma

It was not a particularly good day if you are a college baseball fan in Oklahoma. Both the Sooners and Cowboys were eliminated from the Big XII Championship on Friday in Oklahoma City.

Texas got a solid performance from their starter, Cole Green, who went six innings and gave up just three runs against an Oklahoma State team that came into the game hitting .295 as a team, good for second in the Big XII. Texas got the easy victory by a score of 9-3 before just under 5,000 fans at RedHawks field. Texas coach Augie Garrido said it all started with their pitcher, via big12sports.com

"He didn’t waver, flinch or change," Augie Garrido said. "He kept attacking the glove. It showed everybody on the field that he was going to pitch a fearless game no matter what happened."

Texas didn't seem to have much trouble at the plate either as they pounded out 13 hits against Oklahoma State pitchers. Every Longhorns hitter had at least one hit with the exception of their cleanup hitter, Erich Weiss, who finished the game 0-2 with two walks and two runs scored.

Kansas State pulled out a thriller in the nightcap against the Oklahoma Sooners as the Wildcats won 4-3 in a game that had two critical plays that fell their way.

With the bases loaded in the top of the 6th inning the Oklahoma Sooners shortstop Caleb Bushyhead hit into an inning-ending double play because of an interference call at second base that kept the game scored at 4-2 up to that point.

In the top of the 7th inning after Oklahoma had already scored once to bring the score to 4-3, with one out and a runner on second base, Oklahoma pinch-runner Eric Ross was thrown out trying to steal third base by Kansas State catcher Dan Klein. There was only one out at the time with the tying run in scoring position already with the Co-Big XII RBI's leader at the plate for Oklahoma in Garrett Buechele.

It was a welcomed site for Wildcat fans to see the number three hitter for Oklahoma batting with two outs and nobody on in the 7th inning after this questionable play-call.

Kansas State's two, three, and four hitters were a combined 6-10 with all four runs scored on this night. Kent Urban, Nick Martini, and Jason King led the Wildcats to this victory and the opportunity to continue their season on Saturday. Kansas State won all four games against Oklahoma this season, including twice now in this Big XII Championship.

Big XII Baseball Championship: Missouri Wins Again And Kansas State Falls to Texas A&M

Eric Garcia had a night to remember in Oklahoma City on Thursday night for the Missouri Tigers. Garcia's one-out walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning plated Andrew Thigpen, who started the inning off with a single, to give the Tigers the 5-4 victory against Oklahoma State on day two of the Big XII Championship.

The Tigers are 2-0 in the Championship and look to continue this roll they are on as they know that their only chance at a regional birth is a Big XII Championship.

"I’m really proud of these guys, not just this weekend, but the last five or six weeks," said Missouri coach Tim Jamieson.

Oklahoma State will now face Texas on Friday afternoon while Missouri has a much-earned day off. The winner of the Texas vs. Oklahoma State game will face Missouri on Saturday.

Kansas State fell to Texas A&M 4-1 in the nightcap at RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. Just like Missouri, Texas A&M will now have the day-off on Friday and they will face the winner of the Kansas State vs Oklahoma game set for Friday.

The Wildcats' inability to find an answer for Texas A&M starter Michael Wacha proved to be the difference in this game. Wacha threw eight innings surrendering just one-run on five hits, while striking-out seven.

Kansas State starter Matt Applegate was pulled in the third inning after surrendering three runs on five hits and leaving the bases loaded for Kansas State reliever Justin Lindsey. Lindsey struck out Kevin Gonzalez before getting Brandon Wood to ground into a fielders choice to end the inning to keep the Wildcats in the game. Lindsey kept the Wildcats close as he went 5.2 innings giving up no runs on just four hits. But Macha proved to be too much for the Wildcats.

"It was pretty simple, Michael Wacha pretty much dominated tonight," said Kansas State coach Brad Hill.

Texas will face Oklahoma State at 3:15 on Friday afternoon while Kansas State will face Oklahoma at 7:00 Friday night at RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. These are win-or-go-home games for all four of these teams as they look to keep hope alive for a Big XII Championship. You can watch all of these games live through the Big XII website.

Big XII Baseball Championship: Kansas State And Missouri Both Winners On Day One

The No. 8 seed Missouri Tigers pulled off a thrilling victory Wednesday afternoon as they beat the top-seeded Texas Longhorns 6-4 in Oklahoma City in the first round of the Big XII Championship.

The No. 6 seed Kansas State Wildcats pulled off a victory in the nightcap as they took down the No. 3 seed Oklahoma Sooners 5-4. Both wins were the only upsets in the first round of games at the RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. The No. 4 Oklahoma State Cowboys beat the No. 5 Baylor Bears 6-2 in game one of the tournament and No. 2 Texas A&M beat No. 7 Texas Tech 10-5 in game three.

Missouri's three-run sixth inning proved to be the difference in their upset of the Longhorns. With two-outs and nobody on-base the Tigers rallied for those three runs triggered by a Jonah Schmidt three-RBI double. Schmidt went 2-5 with four RBI's on the day to help lead the Tigers to the upset victory.

Kansas State scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winner in the top of the ninth inning on a two-out RBI-single from Ross Kivett. Kivett led the Cats going 4-5 with 2 RBI's and a stolen base.

Missouri will take on Oklahoma State at 4:00 on Thursday afternoon while Kansas State will take on Texas A&M at 7:30pm.

The second game of these double-elimination tournaments are the most critical for teams setting themselves up for a championship-run. The road gets a little bumpy for teams that have to fight their way through a losers bracket in a win-or-go-home mode. Both the Wildcats and Tigers are needing a strong-showing in this championship in order to have a chance at a regional birth. Their roads will become much smoother if they can pull off victories Thursday.

Kansas State, Missouri Find Way In, While Kansas Is on Outside for Big 12 Baseball Championship

It’s been an up-and-down baseball season for the Kansas State Wildcats and Missouri Tigers, but both managed to slip into the field of eight for this week’s Big 12 Baseball Championship.

For the Kansas Jayhawks, however, it was a tale of two seasons. The Jayhawks dropped 11 of its final 12 games, including a season-ending sweep to Sunflower rival Kansas State that plummeted KU to the bottom of the league and left the team from Lawrence witr a miserable 9-18 record and out of the postseason conference tournament.

At the midseason point, the Jayhawks were 8-7 in Big 12 play and appeared to be in fairly good shape for one of the eight spots in the conference championship. Missouri, on the otherhand, opened the conference season with seven consecutive loses and stood at 3-10 at the halfway mark. That’s when things finally started to kick in for coach Ehren Earlywine’s Tiger squad. Mizzou went 8-6 over its final 14 league games to turn its season around and secure the final spot in this year’s conference championship.

The good news for Missouri fans is that their team made the conference tournament field after it appeared early on in the season that the Tigers would be on the outside looking in when tournament time rolled around. The bad news is that MU’s opening-round game in the championship is against No. 1 seed Texas, which beat the Tigers in two of three games earlier in the season.

Kansas State’s opening game opponent will be third-seeded Oklahoma, who the Wildcats won two of three against in April.

At the risk of crossing over into pundit territory, it is important to point out that the biggest hurdle for Kansas State and Missouri was making the field for the conference tournament. Once you’re in, anything is possible in a short series of games, and especially for teams that produce great pitching.

Let the games of the second season begin.

Big XII Baseball Tournament: Round One Scheduling

The regular season is now officially over and the seeding is set for the Big XII championship tournament that starts Wednesday in Oklahoma City. The eight teams in order of seeding are Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Missouri.

The #8 Missouri Tigers will face the #1 Texas Longhorns at 12:30 on Wednesday while the #6 Kansas State Wildcats will face the #3 Oklahoma Sooners at 7:30 Wednesday night. All games will have live video streamed from the Big XII website.

The Tigers and Wildcats will both need great showings in the tournament in order to have a chance at being chosen for the NCAA regionals that begin next week.

Big XII Baseball Tournament: Kansas State and Missouri Earn Spots

Kansas State and the University of Missouri have both earned spots in next weeks' Big XII baseball championship tournament held at the Oklahoma City RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. Kansas State got the series win against Kansas to knock the Jayhawks out of the race and earn the last spot in next weeks championship tournament. The game Sunday night in Lawrence between Kansas and Kansas State will determine the final seeding for the qualifying teams.

The tournament runs Wednesday, May 25th through Sunday, May 29th. The teams that will be chasing the conference championship this year are co-regular season champions Texas and Texas A&M, and joining them are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Missouri and Kansas State.

Texas A&M won the 2010 conference championship by defeating Baylor 5-3 in 10 innings. The conference tournament this season will feature some of the best baseball teams in the country as Texas (5), Oklahoma (8) and Texas A&M (11) are all currently ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. Texas A&M leads the conference in both batting average and team ERA in conference-only games as we head into this championship tournament.

Over the past few seasons we've seen players such as the Kansas City Royals' outfielder Alex Gordon (Nebraska), New York Yankees' reliever Joba Chamberlain (Nebraska), Colorado Rockies' closer Huston Street (Texas), Detriot Tigers' starter Max Scherzer (Missouri), and the Minnesota Twins' starter Brian Duensing (Nebraska) come from playing in this tournament to playing in the big leagues just a few seasons later.