Mizzou Sports

Mississippi State scored on a two-out single in the 17th inning to beat Missouri 2-1 early Wednesday morning in the opening round of the SEC baseball tournament.

Missouri redshirt sophomore qualifies in one-meter diving.

The sudden-death round was added because of the expansion of the tournament field from 10 to 12 teams. The top four seeds receive a bye to the second round, where double-elimination play begins. Missouri is the No. 12 seed.

After being run-ruled in the first game Sunday, Missouri battled back to stave off elimination and advance to the next level of the NCAA Softball Tournament.

Winner moves on, loser goes home in deciding regional title game Sunday.

Missouri's Chelsea Thomas finished off Hofstra in the seventh. The Tigers escaped from a game where they were outhit eight to one, played badly at times and needed some luck to win.

It wasn’t Rob Zastryzny's Senior Day, but Saturday still might have been his last game at Taylor Stadium. Zastryzny, who has been the Tigers’ top starter for the past three seasons, is eligible for the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft and, barring catastrophe, will likely be offered a six- or seven-figure contract to pitch professionally.

Missouri's Chelsea Thomas and Hofstra’s Olivia Galati, who face each other Saturday in the NCAA Columbia Regional at University Field, have a combined 22 career no-hitters and eight perfect games.

With her teammates struggling at the plate, senior Nicole Hudson stepped up in Chelsea Thomas's absence to lead the Tigers past Stony Brook 3-0 in Friday's NCAA regional opener.

Connor Nolan faces this anxiety in the pool: His lungs will constrict, the product of both exercise-induced asthma and the fear that it will happen.

Friday night's results earned the Tigers the 12th and final spot in the Southeastern Conference tournament. Tennessee lost at home to Texas A&M just before Missouri rallied to beat visiting Kentucky 4-3.

Doctors think Thomas is suffering from exertional compartment syndrome, a condition that causes her hand to go numb after arm muscle exertion.

Seniors Scott Sommerfeld and Brannon Champagne played key roles in the Tigers' 4-2 win Thursday over Kentucky.

Missouri shot a team total of 294, tying for sixth after the first round. The top five teams advance to the 2013 NCAA Championships.

Whether it's basketball in the NBA or overseas, Laurence Bowers, the first scholarship basketball player in Missouri history to earn a master's degree, is prepared to take the next step.

Missouri golfer Jace Long played nine holes with Missourian reporter Andrew Wagaman a few weeks before the NCAA regional championships — before both graduate. 

Heading into the NCAA softball tournament as a No. 6 seed, Missouri is ranked No. 8 and No. 6 in the national rankings.

Associate Athletics Director Tim Hickman says the school had previously planned a $4.5 million renovation but now envisions a new ballpark costing between $12 million and $15 million.

The 2013 matchups include West Virginia at Missouri on Dec. 5.