Aaron Senne: Big 12 Player of the Week

■ Aaron Senne is the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week (Big12Sports.com)

Senne hit .462 (6-for-13) in the Tigers' three games at the Auburn Classic, including three home runs and two doubles. He drove in six runs on the week and had a slugging percentage of 1.308. Senne had a double in the tournament opener on Friday against Florida Atlantic. On Saturday against Auburn, Senne hit two home runs and had four RBI. His first homer was a two-run shot in the third inning followed by the second of consecutive home runs for Mizzou in the fifth inning. Senne closed the weekend with a 2-for-4 performance against Boston College with a home run and a double. The homer on Sunday was the 30th in his career, which is ninth on MU's career list.

Boston College 14, MU 6

■ MU finishes the Auburn Classic 2-1, losing their Sunday game to Boston College.

■ Next up: MU at the Houston College Classic

■ Instant Analysis: Missouri at Auburn (SEBaseball.com)

I liked Missouri's offense, especially at the top. The top five batters combined for 13 of the team's 14 hits. Not sure about the pitching staff.

MU 11, Auburn 7

■ Today: MU vs. Boston College, 11 AM

■ Missouri baseball team wins fourth game in a row (Columbia Missourian)

Saturdays are becoming a good day for the offense of the Missouri Tigers baseball team.

One week after putting up 17 runs, the Missouri Tigers (4-1) scored 11 runs on 14 hits in an 11-7 victory over the Auburn Tigers on Saturday afternoon in their second game of the Auburn Invitational in Auburn, Ala. The win was Missouri’s fourth in a row after losing its season opener.

■ Bats heating up (FAU Owl Access)

A day after FAU batters failed in crucial situations in a loss to Mizzou, the Owls came up with big hits in a 13-2 victory vs. Boston College in Auburn, Ala. On Saturday.

FAU pounded out 11 hits and got a second strong seven-inning performance from Mike Gipson to bounce back from Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Tigers.

Mizzou Baseball in the Minors

■ Zagone wants to start '10 how he ended '09 (MASNsports.com)

It's been a busy winter for Zagone. He married Stephanie in October, moved to Columbia in Howard County as well and took part in workouts in January at Camden Yards.

Recently he's been throwing at Georgetown Prep with fellow O's Kenny Moreland and Patrick Kantakevich. In early March he'll report to spring training to start the season.

He seems likely to begin in Frederick's rotation, but could advance to Double-A Bowie before the year is out.

■ Video story of Aaron Crow getting his first pitches off the mound in Spring Trainining for the Royals (KansasCity.com)

MU 4, FAU 2

■ Freshman Eric Anderson had an impressive debut on the mound: 5 scoreless innings, 4 hits, 2 HBP, 5 strikeouts.

■ Talented freshman outfielders earning their playing time for MU Baseball (Columbia Missourian)

“The coaches made that clear that there would be a lot of opportunities to get to play,” Brown said. “If we produce, the freshmen would get their chances definitely, could end up with starting roles and things like that.”

■ Tigers quickly learn patience (TigerExtra.com)

“Watching the freshmen handle themselves, they looked like they were actually veterans on the team,” junior transfer Brett Nicholas said. “It was really encouraging. They really, for the most part, led our team this weekend. … Each of them had a great weekend.”

Game Day: Auburn Classic

■ Complete Auburn Classic schedule

2 PM Friday: Missouri vs. Florida Atlantic

6 PM Friday: Auburn vs. Boston College
11 AM Saturday: Boston College vs. Florida Atlantic

3 PM Saturday: Missouri vs. Auburn

11 AM Sunday: Missouri vs. Boston College

3 PM Sunday: Auburn vs. Florida Atlantic.

■ Weekend weather in Auburn, AL: Highs in the mid-50s, Lows around 30; Clear skies

■ Check out the Florida Atlantic University Baseball Insider video. The interviewer needs to lay off the Red Bull . . . or maybe he's a life-size bobble-head doll.

■ FAU Owl Access (a fowl pun) is a site devoted to Florida Atlantic sports. They've got a player feature and several articles in their Baseball Archive.

■ You might want to keep an eye on a weekend series on the west coast, between Cal State-Fullerton and Texas Christian University, one of Mizzou's opponents in the the Houston College Classic next weekend. Baseball America has a preview of that series, along with a few quotes and notes about the poor opening weekend for Texas, another of the Tigers' opponents next weekend.

As for that other newcomer you might have heard about—freshman lefthander Matt Purke, an unsigned first-round pick who turned down seven figures to enroll at TCU—the early returns were good. Purke got the start Saturday and got the victory, striking out eight and walking one over five innings, though he allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits. After allowing three runs in the first two innings (all with two outs), Purke settled into a groove.

Auburn Classic Quotes & Notes, Part 2

■ The College Baseball Blog had an interview back in January with Mik Aoki, Head Coach of Boston College

3. Boston College and Texas played in the longest game in NCAA baseball history during the Austin Regional in 2009. Do you think the national attention that the game received has had a positive impact on the BC program?

I definitely think it has brought us increased exposure – no doubt about it. It has provided us with a tremendous opportunity to keep the momentum rolling from last year and establish ourselves as a program with a consistent high level of play – perennial ACC and NCAA tournament berths. I also know that while all of our kids were proud to have played in a historic game against a storied program, none of our kids took some sort of moral victory from it. We all feel we could have won that game and had we done that, we all feel we would have won that regional. I really feel that game will make us a better program – a hungrier and more confident program.

■ AUTigers.com has a preview of the Auburn Classic

Boston College hit .315 as a team against the Tulane Green Wave [last weekend] with Matt Watson’s .500 average leading the way. Robbie Anston and Anthony Melchionda are both over .400 early in 2010 with Melchionda adding a home run and seven RBI. On the mound the Eagles will throw junior left-hander Pat Dean in the opener against Auburn. He’s 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA after allowing just two runs on six hits in seven innings in the season opener.

■ Pawlowski confident in 2010 (Plainsman.com)

As he kicks off his second season as head coach of the Auburn baseball program, John Pawlowski said he has a solid team and looks forward to the days ahead. Although there are challenges, Pawlowski said he is confident in the leadership and abilities of his many players, many of whom are upperclassmen, and his coaching staff. “I feel good about the leadership on our team,” Pawlowski said. “We’ve got some guys who have been in the program three or four years, and so I think that’s going to be an important part of what we’re doing this year.”

Mizzou Baseball in the Minors & Majors

■ Crow enjoying big league camp experience (kansascity.com)

“He looked good,” manager Trey Hillman said Wednesday after Crow’s 30-pitch workout. “I’d like to see a little better command, but it’s really early. He’s got good stuff. This was my first opportunity to see him face hitters.”

■ Tigers hope Scherzer is a winner in No. 3 pitching spot (MLive.com)

"I just know that Tony La Russa thinks he's an All-Star," Leyland said. "Tony and (St. Louis pitching coach) Dave Duncan and Torre have seen him a lot, and they gave him rave reviews."

Mizzou Baseball Recruits

■ Ian Ekery, LHP from Franklin High School, was ranked # 1 in the El Paso Times Pre-Season poll of the top 25 players to watch in El Paso. El Paso is a city in West Texas with a population of over 800,000. The poll contains players from 5A and 4A. Ian attends Franklin High School which is the largest 5A school in the city with over 3,200 students. When Ian is not on the mound he plays right field and bats third.