COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou junior outfielder Dane Opel was named Big 12 Player of the Week, as announced by the conference office on Monday (Feb. 20). Opel earns the weekly conference award after hitting .500 (6-of-12) with four RBI and two home runs while slugging 1.000 with an on-base percentage of .538 in the Tigers' three-game series win at Auburn.
The award for Opel is the first Big 12 weekly honor in his career and he is the first Tiger to take home the award since May 9 of last season when Jonah Schmidt was honored. In all, Mizzou has won three of the last six Big 12 Player of the Week awards dating back to April 26 last season when Conner Mach was honored.
Opel was easily the Tigers' best bat in the series at Auburn, in which the Tigers took two of three from their future SEC foe. He opened the series by tallying two of the Tigers' six hits in the season-opening loss on Friday but then exploded in the Tigers' doubleheader on Sunday. He became the first Tiger since 2010 to homer twice in the same game as he launched a two-run shot and a solo shot that proved to be the game-winner in the Tigers' 6-4 win in the first game of the doubleheader. He also tallied an RBI single in that game as well as he drove in four of the six runs. He added another hit in the Tigers' 4-3 win to clinch the series.
Opel and the Tigers will be back in action this weekend as they head to the west coast for a three-game series with the San Francisco Dons, beginning on Friday. For all the latest on Mizzou baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on twitter @MUTigerBaseball. <br clear="left"/>
<br/>
Back to top
