61 runs ... no homers?

The 49ers baseball team certainly won't outscore Big 12 foe Missouri 61-1 this weekend -- as it did in a four-game season-opening sweep of Coppin State a week ago.

But maybe Charlotte can at least hit one home run against the Tigers, who are in town for four games beginning today at 4 p.m. at Hayes Stadium.

Charlotte (4-0) scored all those those runs against Coppin without hitting a home run. There's a logical reason for that: College baseball is using a new metal bat this season, one that more closely duplicates the velocity of a wood bat. There's been controversy in the college game for a long time that balls come off metal bats too fast and are unsafe. This is an attempt at a compromise.

The closest a 49er came to going deep was one of sophomore outfielder Tony Montalbano's five doubles in the series hitting the wall. Montalbano, who redshirted last season after playing as a freshman at Bossier Parrish (La.) Junior College, had 10 RBIs against Coppin and was named the Atlantic 10's co-player of the week.

The 49ers -- who received votes in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll -- and Mizzou (1-2) also play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon and another game Sunday at noon. Probable pitchers for Charlotte are Andrew Smith today, Tyler Barnette and Corey Roberts on Saturday and Joe Yermal on Sunday.

If you can't make it out there this weekend, don't worry, there are plenty of other home games coming up. Twenty-seven of the 49ers' first 32 games are at Hayes Stadium. The first road game is Tuesday at North Carolina and Charlotte is host to UNC Asheville next weekend.