Olympic Sports Catch Up: Rory’s Version pt. 5

After a hectic week, let’s catch up! P.S. Mizzou is still a golf school!

Learning from the best, Karen Steger, of course, welcome to my very own edition of an Olympic Sports Catch Up!

Like her, I’ve broken down each of the sports below and will be sharing recent results, fun/relevant info, upcoming matches, and any writing our talented crew has done. If there’s relevant social media posts or MU Tigers news, I’ll share that as well.

Because I cover golf and tennis currently, and am a Major League Baseball enthusiast, I will focus on those sports specifically.

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Women’s Golf

• After a third place finish last week, the Tigers continued to excel at the SEC Championships
• The team scored a 54-hole score of 869. A RECORD BEST total score at the event
• The previous best score was 875 which was set in 2021
• The team finished the event in 13th place, ending above #21 Vanderbilt, #36 Oklahoma and #55 Georgia
• Fleur van Beek hit four birdies on the final day to finish the tournament in 48th place
• Alexandra Berglund landed in 43rd place. Her 216 final score is the lowest recorded by a freshman since 2017
• Melanie Walker also ended in 43rd place
• This was the first time three Tigers finished the SEC Championships in the top-50 since 2019
• The final two Tigers, Ffion Tynan and Addie Dobson, came in a tie for 57th place
• We await to see if they will be a part of an NCAA regional.

Men’s Golf

• After their tournament win last week, the Tiger men finished eighth at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship hosted by Mississippi State
• On the final day of the tournament, the team improved by two spots
• After a rocky start to the event, Trent Mierl climbed 19 spots thanks to shooting an even-par and carding four birdies
• Veikka Viskari and Virgilio Paz ended in a tie for 29th, the best of the Tiger group
• Brock Snyder ended in 45th, Trent Mierl in 52nd and Trevor Mierl in 58th
• #3 Ole Miss won the tournament with a record-breaking score of -39, the Tigers scored a +24

• Next Up: It’s now postseason time for the men! The Tigers will head to St. Simons Island, Georgia for the SEC Championships starting on April 23.

Tennis

• The Tigers closed the regular season ranked at #74

• While the Tigers won a singles match, the team dropped the match 4-1 against Tennessee
• Inah Canete earned the individual point when she beat the #36 ranked player in the nation
• Zoe Lazar won her first set but the match went unfinished
• Head Coach Bianca Turati was still proud of team efforts.

“It was such a close match today against a top-10 team,” said Turati. “We performed well, especially in singles. When Tennessee clinched the match, we were up on two courts, Zoe at #5 and Andrea at #6. Korina fought hard and came up short in the third set—a fantastic performance by Inah today, who beat the 36th-ranked player in the country. We are progressing, and the team is determined to finish the season strong.”

• Later in the weekend, the Tigers split their doubleheader on Senior Day
• The team lost 4-0 to #38 Kentucky and won 4-0 against Lindenwood
• Against Lindenwood, Brumfield/Roso and Artimedi/Canete scored the doubles points while Brumfield, Bashir and Roso secured the singles points
• The Tigers also opened the SEC Tournament on April 16th
• Unfortunately for the team, it did mark the end of the season
• It started well for the Tigers as they grabbed the first singles set. Canete once against beat a ranked player
• Turati commented on the season as a whole:

“As for the season, I am incredibly satisfied. We achieved so much with this group. We showed we can be very competitive in the toughest conference in the country. We upset Florida for the first time in history. We were nationally ranked for several weeks. And that’s such great progress. I want to thank Silvia for her incredible work. She made such a strong impact on the team, and working with her every day is a pleasure. Great coach and an awesome person. And, of course, I want to thank the whole team for their work and commitment and for representing Mizzou with pride.”

Soccer

Mizzou Soccer is in the middle of their spring soccer schedule. They’ve already faced kansas, Missouri S&T, Southern Indiana, and Central Missouri, though there don’t appear to be any scores or stats available from these games.

Coach Golan has been awarding “Take the Stairs” winners after each game, however, and the most recent one for April 15 went to goalkeeper Kate Phillips “for her top notch performance in last week’s match against Central Missouri.” The prior week (Apr 9) it went to Mia Yang for a “week of consistent defending and smart decisions on the ball against Southern Indiana.” After the kU game on March 9th (announced 3/31), the award went to Brianna Buels, who “made significant contributions in our first spring game.”

On the news front, last month it was announced that assistant coach Andy Stoots would be leaving to take over the head coaching gig at Ball State.

NEXT UP: The Tigers will finish off their spring schedule with a match at home on April 26 after their weekend matchup with Nebraska was canceled.

Baseball

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL IS IN SEASON!!

With the season now here, it’s time for me to nerd out for a second. Perhaps my new favorite addition of the Olympic Sports Update: “Rory nerds out of over baseball”

Let’s check in on the four alums around the league!

Pete Fairbanks (Tampa Bay Rays): The relief pitcher opened the season strong, securing a win and a save, sporting a 0.00 ERA. Fairbanks has remained consistent, sporting a 1.50 ERA over six innings. Through six games he has also struck out seven.

Kameron Misner (Tampa Bay Rays): Through 43 at-bats this season, Misner is hitting .395 with three home runs and ten RBI’s, maintaining success at the plate since Opening Day.

Tanner Houck (Boston Red Sox): After a strong start to the season, Houck had a rough going against the Tampa Bay Rays. Over 2.1 innings, the starter allowed eleven runs, allowing ten runs and only striking out one.

Max Scherzer (Toronto Blue Jays): In the offseason, Scherzer signed a one-year, 15 million dollar contract with the Blue Jays. Injuries have plagued the starter for seasons and he was placed on the injured list after just three innings in his debut this year. The Blue Jays also recently announced Scherzer is still feeling soreness and will have another doctor’s appointment soon.

But let’s get back to Mizzou baseball…

• Mizzou Baseball Series Preview: Tigers Host New SEC Member Oklahoma in Columbia

Welp…Mizzou is still looking for that first conference win. Against an 1-11 (SEC) Florida team, the Tigers dropped all three rounds to the Gators.

The Tigers are coming off a midweek slugfest win against Missouri State. Oklahoma also won their midweek matchup.

• Mizzou Baseball out-slugs Missouri State in midweek win

As mentioned, Mizzou faced the Florida Gators last weekend. It wasn’t pretty.

• Mizzou Baseball’s streak continues, swept by Florida

Matthew mentions early on, “Mizzou Baseball entered Gainesville with high hopes, facing a Florida team that had experienced similar struggles in SEC play and provided a realistic chance to break a program-record losing streak to begin conference play.”

Gustafson also notes, “each close loss is a key opportunity lost, bringing the team closer to that mark.”

Majority Rules

• Take a peek at last week’s episode! Diamond sports continue to struggle, but the group still has fun updates to give across Olympic Sports! We’ll be back next week with a brand new ep!