COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 15 Mizzou Baseball’s Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) and Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) continue to garner preseason honors as the duo was named to the Preseason All-SEC Team, as announced Thursday morning (Feb. 18) by the league office. The team, which was divided into a first and second team, was selected by the league’s 14 coaches. Howard landed on the All-SEC First Team at shortstop and Houck was one of four starting pitchers selected to the All-SEC Second Team. The All-SEC distinction for Howard and Houck comes after the two were named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Watch List Tuesday.

Additionally, Mizzou was picked to finish fifth in the SEC East by the league’s coaches. Florida was picked to win the SEC East and the conference with 13 of the 14 first-place votes, making it a unanimous choice as coaches are not permitted to vote for their own teams.

Houck put together one of the best freshman seasons in Mizzou baseball history. His eight wins are the most by a Tiger freshman since Kyle Gibson (a former first-round draft pick) in 2007 and his 100.2 innings are the most ever by a Tiger freshman under Tim Jamieson. At the end of the regular season, he had thrown more innings than any other freshman in the country. He compiled a 3.49 ERA on the season, striking out 91 batters over 100.2 innings while walking just 12 in 15 starts as a freshman.

Houck was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and was an All-SEC Freshman Team honoree as well. He helped Mizzou defeat three top-five teams – No. 6 South Carolina, No. 4 Florida and No. 1 Texas A&M – earning wins in two of those three starts. Houck spent his summer with USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team, where he led the team in innings pitched, strikeouts and starts while boasting an 11-1 strikeout-walk ratio and a .159 opponent batting average. He threw 4.0 perfect innings in a combined no-hitter against Cuba as well.

In 2015, Howard led the team in batting, at-bats and total bases while committing just seven errors in the field at short. He is coming off of an incredible summer as he was the starting SS for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. He hit .310 with six runs and three RBI in 17 games while slugging four doubles and a homer.

Howard was drafted in the 31st round of the MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants last summer, but elected to come back to Mizzou for his junior season and play with Team USA over the summer. This is another honor for Howard in the preseason. He was selected as the best infield arm in the SEC by Baseball America and was a top-100 prospect for the 2016 MLB Draft by D1Baseball.com.

Howard, Houck and the Tigers open the season this weekend in Fort Myers, Fla., where they will play a four-game series against Seton Hall beginning Friday at 1 p.m. (CT).

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Christa Reed scored 20 points and had a key block late as Vanderbilt pushed back No. 24 Missouri’s late rally and held on for a 56-52 victory on Sunday to snap an eight-game skid.

Reed made four 3-pointers, and Minta Spears chipped in 19 points for the Commodores (16-13, 5-11 SEC).

Cierra Porter and Sophie Cunningham had 11 points apiece for Missouri, (21-8, 8-8), which has lost two straight, including a 69-59 loss at No. 15 Kentucky on Friday.

The Commodores led 33-28 with 2:40 left before halftime, and held it until Cunningham made a running, one-handed 3 as the shot clock expired to give the Tigers a 45-44 lead with 5:20 remaining. It was tied at 49-all before Spears made two layups and Vanderbilt led 53-50.

On the Tigers’ ensuing possession, Reed blocked Jordan Frericks’ shot with 21 seconds left. The Commodores then made 3 of 4 from the line to seal it.

— Associated Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mizzou Baseball swept a four-game series with Hofstra thanks to a walk-off single by freshman Connor Brumfield (Columbia, Mo.) in the bottom of the 10th inning on Sunday at City of Palms Park. Mizzou scored one run in the ninth on a Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) sacrifice fly to tie the game and then won on Brumfield’s single in the 10th.

Freshman Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) picked up his first career win and the Tigers got 6.0 stellar innings from freshman LHP Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, MO.), who reset career-highs in innings, strikeouts and allowed just two runs on four hits over 6.0 innings. SS Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) led the offense with three hits in the win and got the ninth-inning rally started with a leadoff single

Plassmeyer had an easy first inning, throwing just 12 pitches to post a 1-2-3 inning. In fact, just one baserunner reached off of Plassmeyer through the first four innings, and that was a two-out error in the second inning. Ryan Howard (St. Charles, Mo.) singled and stole second to lead off the fourth, but Mizzou could not bring him across. Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) nearly singled him in, but a good play at second saved a run.

Plassmeyer then surrendered his first hit to lead off the fourth, but then induced a 6-3 double play and got a flyout to right to end the frame.

Both pitchers continued to deal until Mizzou finally got to Hofstra starter Bowie Matteson in the sixth. With two outs, Howard tallied his second hit of the day, this time driving a pitch into left. He promptly stole second for his second steal of the game and Jake Ring (Ingleside, Ill.) drove him in with a single the other way into left, giving Mizzou a 1-0 lead.

As quickly as Mizzou got the lead, Hofstra took it right back in the top of the seventh. Plassmeyer allowed a pair of hits to open the frame, ending his day in favor of Cole Bartlett (Williamsburg, Ind.) who loaded the bases by hitting a batter. A single by Matt Annunziata then tied the game at 1-1. Brian Sharp (Liberty, Mo.) then came on and got the final two outs, but Hofstra took the lead on a sacrifice fly, 2-1.

Mizzou went 1-2-3 in the seventh inning and Sharp threw up another zero in the eighth, pitching around a leadoff single and an intentional walk. Mizzou then had a chance to tie the game in the eighth after a leadoff double from Shane Benes (Town & Country, Mo.), but Mizzou couldn’t get him across after a two strikeouts and a bounce-out to second.

Sharp pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to give Mizzou a chance with the 2-3-4 hitters up in the ninth. Howard led off the frame and Ring followed with a walk after falling behind 0-2. Zach Lavy (Auxvasse, Mo.) bunted and reached on an error to load the bases. Then with one out, Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

Sharp then led off the 10th with a walk and Tim Jamieson pinch ran Johnny Balsamo (Kansas City, Mo.). He moved to second on a wild pitch and was bunted to third. Brumfield then came up and ripped a full-count pitch into right field for the game-winning hit.

Mizzou will return home for Opening Day on March 2 at Taylor Stadium. Admission is free of charge.

— Mizzou Athletics —