2012 New Year's 9

What's to come in 2012?

1. First Pitch.  Plan now to attend the annual First Pitch celebration.  this year it's on Saturday, February 4th, at the Hampton Inn on Stadium Blvd in CoMo.
   
   
2. MU Baseball 2012 season begins on February 17th with a 3-game weekend series at Auburn.  Fitting that Mizzou opens its season against one of its future SEC rivals.  They follow that up with a 3-game weekend at San Francisco against the Dons.
   
   
3. MU Baseball's Home Season begins on March 2nd with a weekend series against Ball State.  That series begins a 19-game home stand at Taylor Stadium.
   
   
4. 2012 Mizzou Baseball Schedule Highlights:
   
   • A good weekend home series against Charlotte (2011 RPI ranked 73rd) in March
   
   • A great final Big 12 home schedule that includes Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas State and Texas
   
   • A Braggin' Rights game vs. Illinois at Busch Stadium (a thriving non-conference rivalry)
   
   • A 2-game series at Arkansas, another SEC opponent (14th in 2011 RPI)
   
   
5. The Tigers' final Big 12 regular season will conclude in perfect fashion, with a 3-game set against the Jayhawks at Lawrence.  What could be better?  Or more to the point, will this be the last MU-KU series?
   
   
6. The 2012 Post-Season should be exciting.  And yes, I am confident there will be life for the 2012 Tigers beyond their final Big 12 Tournament.  This 2012 squad is loaded with pitching and punch, and looks ready to begin a new streak of post-season play.
   
   
7. SEC Rivals will be a running feature that introduces MU fans to the teams of our new conference, their coaches, online resources, etc.  This series will begin shortly after the Tigers' final game of the 2012 season (sometime around June 26th).  If you've missed them, be sure to catch up on our current series, the SEC Baseball Dixie-nary, that's been running at SimmonsField.com for the past couple of months.
   
   
8. The SEC Fan's Guide to Mizzou Baseball will be another series we'll be featuring during the months leading up to the 2012 season.
   
   

9. But before all that, there's the Mid-Winter Baseball Deprivation Blues. This time of year I'm reminded of a scene from Field of Dreams. Ray Kinsella has built the field and then waits for weeks and months while nothing happens. There's a quick scene during the holidays. His relatives are in the background making merry, and he's sitting and looking out the window at the snow-covered field. Waiting. New Year's is the low spot for most baseball fans, the middle of the long off-season wait.
   
   But as a college baseball fan, I know the wait is not as long as it might seem.  Opening day is February 17th, less than 7 weeks from now.
   
   Play Ball!!