Missouri comes to Tempe tomorrow night in a battle of opponents bestowed with preseason rankings. Ranked #10 by Baseball America, Missouri will face a stiff test in the #7 Sun Devils.

via arizonastatesundevilsfans.com- we would love to see more of this scene in 2009.

Checking in the "The Maneater," the Mizzou student newspaper, we find out Missouri is off to a rough start:

The Missouri baseball team opened its season by losing three out of four games at the Grand Canyon Classic in Phoenix. After winning the season opener against Nevada by a score of 12-1, the Tigers dropped their next three games, losing to Gonzaga 9-3, Nevada 8-4 and Gonzaga 13-9.

Meanwhile, ASU went 4-0 on its opening weekend against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. You can read all about game one in one post, games 2, 3, 4 in another, and read a general baseball beat here as well. We are committed to baseball blogging excellence!

With a 1-3  start, Missouri really puts themselves in the hole to start the year. This was not what the boys from Columbia expected from their "spring training" swing in Arizona.

What went wrong for the Tigers? In one word, defense.

Defense was a big problem for the Tigers over the weekend, committing nine errors in four games. If Missouri expects to live up to the No. 10 preseason ranking bestowed upon them by Baseball America, the defense will have to improve.

The Sun Devils, on the other hand, committed eight errors in the series against UWM, but was able to make up for their defensive lapses with bursts of offensive tenacity. If they keep hitting home runs every inning, the defense can afford to improve at a steady pace without compromising our winning percentage.

Not much else is known about Missouri this year, other than their sluggish start. Check back at House of Sparky for more about your Sun Devils, from the hardwood to the backstop.