You won't find the name in the Big 12's pitching statistics. But for a surging Missouri team, Johnny Wholestaff has become a key component to the pitching staff.

Johnny Wholestaff is the name given to the Tigers' pitcher-by-committee approach. In 14 games, Missouri has basically used a per-inning strategy. The Tigers are 11-3 in those games with an earned run average of 3.21. Missouri's "Wholestaff" has a 2-2 record in Big 12 games.

Missouri coach Tim Jamieson conceived the approach this season but isn't going overboard in the taking credit department.

"First of all, it's something that gives us a chance to win, particularly in the third game on the weekend or in the middle of the week," Jamieson said. "We're not trying to re-invent anything. It's just the way our pitching staff is made up."

Missouri fans have embraced the concept. The web site SimmonsField.com tracks Tigers baseball. Earlier this season, it posted a "picture" of Wholestaff - a composite mug shot comprised of all the Mizzou pitchers.

This is the second year that the NCAA's shortened baseball calendar has been in effect. Fewer days to play means more games per week. From March through May, most Big 12 teams are playing a three-game conference series each weekend with at least one and sometimes two mid-week non-conference games during the week.

Five games a week can wreck a pitching staff. The top pitchers need to work the Big 12 games but the non-conference games can't be conceded. By using nine pitchers, each for one inning, Missouri is not only keeping its staff fresh but it's developing depth that can become valuable come NCAA tournament time.

The Wholestaff Strategy also can be altered. Last Saturday against Texas Tech, Missouri started Scooter Hicks, a senior left-hander more accustomed to being a closer. The Tigers' coaching staff hoped they would get at least one and maybe two solid innings from Hicks. Instead, he took a perfect game into the fifth inning and helped Missouri gain a 9-5 victory in the middle game of the series.

"I've never seen anything like it," Texas Tech coach Dan Spencer said. "We didn't get the full effect of it because we couldn't hit their left-hander. But I think coach Jamieson looked at his team and decided he didn't have a third pitcher who can give 'em four to five innings but that they've got a bunch of guys who can give 'em one.

"It's hard to game plan against so many pitchers. The front part of your lineup gets one pitcher and the back part of the lineup gets somebody else. It's hard to prepare for."

Tie game
Last weekend's Kansas State-Texas series last weekend was memorable. The upstart Wildcats won the first two games and came within one strike of a sweep. But the third game of the series in Austin ended in a 6-6 tie after 10 innings because of the Big 12's travel rule.

The Longhorns tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Brandon Loy's single could have given UT a walk-off victory but Kansas State center fielder Dan Yelovich charged the ball and threw out pinch runner Jordan Etier at the plate.

"The play that prevented us from winning was about as well done as I've ever seen," Texas coach Augie Garrido said. "The (Kansas State) coaches were on top of it and moved their outfielders so they were within their throwing range. The center fielder had to go to his left several steps. He threw the ball right ... on ... the ... plate. It was a bang-bang play. No one can really can tell, even on film, if he was out or safe.

"The whole series was played at a high level. (Kansas State) played as well as you can play this game in Division I,"

Hit and runs
* As if it wasn't bad enough that Texas Tech got swept at Missouri last weekend, the team's return to Lubbock was a travel nightmare. The team's chartered jet had mechanical problems and didn't arrive in Columbia. The Red Raiders waited for a second jet to arrive but that one also was delayed by mechanical issues. At 7 p.m., two hours after the scheduled departure time, the decision was made to take a bus. After an 800-mile, middle-of-the-night journey that took 14 hours, the team arrived home around 9 a.m. Monday morning.

* Oklahoma has one more trip that will take them out of the Sooner state. Next Tuesday, May 5, the Sooners play at Texas-Arlington. This weekend OU hosts Kansas, then has the Bedlam Series with Oklahoma State before the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship in Oklahoma City May 20-24.

* Missouri defeated Eastern Illinois 7-0 Tuesday night in O'Fallon, Mo. The game was the Tigers' "Wood Bat Classic" with both teams using wooden instead of aluminum bats.

* Texas started sophomore Stayton Thomas, normally a reliever, in Tuesday's game with Texas State. He was scheduled to pitch just two innings against the Bobcats, a team that's expected to make the NCAA tournament field. But Thomas was so effective, he pitched five innings. He allowed three hits and no runs in the Longhorns' 12-2 victory.

* While Shaeffer Hall, T.J. Walz and Lee Ridenhour are Kansas' starting trio in weekend Big 12 games, junior right-hander Brett Bollman has been the ace in the Jayhawks' mid-week non-conference games. He's 5-0 with a 1.70 earned run average. "He's given us a quality start every time he's gone out, and, obviously, (he's) the reason our midweek series record is so good," Kansas coach Ritch Price said.

* After allowing 17 runs and 16 hits in eight innings during his previous two Big 12 starts, Missouri sophomore right-hander Nick Tepesch allowed two runs on nine hits in a seven-inning complete game victory over Texas Tech. The 15-2 victory gave the Tigers their first Big 12 series sweep of the season. "One of the keys to our long-term success is having a No. 2 starter that's capable, and that's what we have with Nick," Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said.

Numbers of note
* Oklahoma has hit 77 home runs this season. That's the second-most in school history (114 in 1998).

* Oklahoma catcher J.T. Wise has 15 home runs and is tied for the Big 12 lead. The Sooners have never had a player lead the Big 12 in homers.

* Baylor junior shortstop has 15 home runs in 43 games this season. In his previous 112 games, he had nine homers.

* Texas A&M has five walk-off victories this season against Wright State, Utah, Kansas, TCU and Dallas Baptist. The last two came this week.

* Nebraska (21-23-1) must win four of its last 10 to avoid matching their lowest victory total since 1976. The Cornhuskers haven't finished with a losing record since 1990.

Dugout chatter
Baylor's Dan Evatt, whose two-run single gave Baylor an 8-5 lead and turned out to be the winning runs in the Bears' 8-7 victory over Texas-San Antonio Wednesday:
"We're up 8-5, and we think we're comfortable, and a guy gets on for them and they hit a home run, and before you know it, it's like, 'Dang!' "I'm glad we scored those."

Nebraska senior Eric Bird on his seven-hitter in the Huskers' 4-2 victory over New Mexico, the nation's top-hitting team:
"I don't think it's anything too crazy, maybe just the fact that I'm realizing it's coming to an end, it's time to have fun. In the beginning, I might've put a little bit too much pressure on myself to lead and show these pitchers how to do it. And now, it's just have fun - and whatever happens, happens."

Baylor coach Steve Smith after his team was swept by Oklahoma in Waco last weekend:
"They're disappointed. They have really invested a lot, and they came out here expecting to win, prepared to win. And when you do that, when you prepare and expect, and it doesn't happen, it's painful. And this is painful."