According to USCTrojans.com there has been a major schedule change for the USC Tournament this weekend. MU's 3-game opening weekend appears to have been cut to 2 games only, both on Friday. The Tigers will apparently NOT be playing North Carolina, the only ranked team in the tournament. The revised schedule is as follows:

Due to impending rain in the Los Angeles area this weekend, the times for the USC Baseball Tournament at Dedeaux Field have been revised. All times are subject to change and fans are advised to go online at usctrojans.com for any changes in this weekend's schedule:

Friday (February 18)
Cal Poly vs. Missouri - 10 a.m.
Cal Poly vs. North Carolina - 2 p.m.
USC vs. Missouri - 6 p.m.

Saturday (February 19)
USC vs. North Carolina - 7 p.m.

Sunday (February 20)
Cal Poly vs. North Carolina - 10 a.m.
USC vs. Cal Poly - 3 p.m.

If Saturday's game is rained out, USC and North Carolina would play at 3 p.m. on Sunday with USC and Cal Poly then playing at 7 p.m.

Today is the last day of the Early Signing Period for National Letters of Intent.   I've managed to pull together a list of Mizzou Baseball recruits -  looks like a great recruiting class.

Garrison McLagan, LHP, Columbia, MO (will graduate at the end of this semester and join the Tigers in January, 2009)

Cody King, RHP/SS; Kirksville, MO

Dane Opel, OF; Edwardsville, IL

Brannon Champagne, OF/C; St. Charles West, MO

Ryan Crowley, LHP/1B; Morton, IL

Kale Gaden, C/OF; Stillwater, OK

Eric Anderson, RHP/IF; Highlands Ranch, CO (Mountain Vista HS)

Eric Garcia, SS; Pflugerville, TX (Hendrickson HS)

Andy Heifner, 3B/RHP; St. Charles West HS, MO

Blake Brown, OF/P; Bloomington, IL (Normal West HS)

Details at the NEW LOCATION of SimmonsField.com:  http://simmonsfield.blogspot.com/  (The link here at RockMNation is OUT OF DATE!!!!)

(Ed. Note: Not anymore.)

To fans at many other college baseball powerhouses (Texas, Mississippi, and the like), today's home opener crowd would be very disappointing: only 696 in attendance.
But take a look at the average attendance figures for the past few seasons:

2007. 645 (not counting post-season)

2006. 885

2005. 707

2004. 637

2003. 513

696 fans showed up on an extremely cold Saturday afternoon in early March, the temperature at game time around 32-33 degrees and a high during the game of 35 (and we all know that it's consistently 5-10 degrees colder inside Taylor Stadium than anywhere else in Columbia).
That's more than the average attendance last season.

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Aaron Fitt, Head College Baseball writer for Baseball America is blogging live from the San Diego tournament this weekend.  He also has a lot to say about the tournament and about Missouri in his Weekend Preview.

A quote:

"Their offense was a little short for a top 10 team I thought, but it's a very good team and they have a plan at the plate. A big part of that plan is getting hit by a pitch—they will take it," said a coach from one of the other four schools that played Missouri. "They just stand in there and take it—even some of the pitches were strikes, at least I thought so, and their guys were right on top of the plate and took it. That's a big part of how they scored their runs."

Of course, the Tigers have also drawn 24 walks, helping them compile a team on-base percentage of .458. That has helped them score 39 runs through four games despite hitting only one home run.

"People will look at our numbers and say we didn't swing it really well, but we still scored 10 runs a game getting hit all those times," Jamieson said. "We really preach it. Most of our guys stand pretty close to the plate, and we don't want our guys to get out of the way. It's demoralizing with two strikes for a pitcher to hit a guy. A lot of guys would have ducked out of the way, but ours don't move."

The annual First Pitch Celebration was held this past Saturday night at the local Holiday Inn Executive Center.  It was a great time of seeing former players, meeting new players, and reaquainting myself with players' families and fans.

The most exciting news offered by Tim Jamieson in his comments to the crowd was the announcement of a proposed stadium expansion/upgrade.  Prompted by the SRO crowds at last June's Regional, this proposed facilities upgrade would add more permanent seating, better office areas, and improved amenities for the ballplayers - a definite need for recruiting purposes. No specific time table was put on the project, which has yet to be officially approved.  But rumors among the crowd were that some changes had recently been made to the basic plans, and that construction could potentially begin as soon as next off-season.

Architects' renderings and drawings were on display at the event - I resisted the temptation to walk off with a copy or two (if some turned up missing, I didn't do it).  But here is a summary of the plans, according to the copious notes and scribbles I took:

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Intrasquad Black & Gold series, best of 5. This is a great opportunity to see new players, see what positions the coaches are taking a look at players.

· Oct. 18, 6 p.m.: Fall World Series, Game 1
* Oct. 19, 6 p.m.: Fall World Series, Game 2
* Oct. 21, Noon: Fall World Series, Game 3
* Oct. 22, 6 p.m.: Fall World Series, Game 4 (if necessary)
* Oct. 23, 6 p.m.: Fall World Series, Game 5 (if necessary)

And no, they usually don't play out the series if one team gets 3 wins early.

Through well placed and shadowy sources I've obtained a copy of the unofficial but complete 2008 Mizzou Baseball schedule.  The schedule in its entirety can be seen at SimmonsField.com.

The schedule looks like an exciting one, and a step up from the past few years in terms of schedule strength.  Read on for analysis of this year's "intended strength of schedule".

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If you're looking for something to do on Friday evening while waiting for whatever MU sporting event might happen to be taking place on Saturday night, stop by Taylor Stadium for the annual Black & Gold Scout's Day Game.

This is an intrasquad game that's held every fall.  The NCAA rules allow a baseball program to hold a "Scout's Day" game for the scouts to come and see the players.  If it's like it has been in the past, each pitcher on the roster will see 1 inning of work, regadless of how well he does, and each position player will play for a while in the game.  It's a good opportunity to get a first look at this year's squad, including Aaron Crow, who Baseball America named this week as the #2 college junior prospect for the 2008 Draft.

MU Baseball will also have their Mizzou Fall World Series, a best-of-5 intrasquad series, which begins October 18th.   Detailed scheduled at MUtigers.com and SimmonsField.com.