HI NOTES: Let's play FOUR !!!!

MIZZOUTUBE


Check out this video of MU's #1 Fan:

♦ And if you're looking for an entertaining baseball video, check out Baseball Trick Shot

WORD ON THE TWEET

@MUTigerBaseball: Tiger fans come on out to Simmons Field at 6PM for GM1 of a 3 game series vs. @NinerBaseball #MIZ

@jimshorts923: @MUTigerBaseball @NinerBaseball dont you mean 4 game?

@trripleplay: Lets play 4!! @MUTigerBaseball @NinerBaseball Tiger fans come on out to Simmons Field at 6PM for GM1 of a FOUR game series

@CoachPitero: 6PM can't get here soon enough #scoretosettle #MIZ

@trripleplay: I just realized I may have my choice of many seats in the second game of Saturday's double header. MU vs KU hoops? #loyal to @MUTigerBaseball

@Ross_THE_Boss40 (49er Ross Steedley): Just had a severely intense warmup/stretch and impressive display of backside bombs w/@LilTonechi14 and @ShaneBrown_1 here at The Zou.

@LilTOnechi14 (49er Tony Montalbano): @Ross_THE_Boss40 the #Zou can't contain you #yourake

GAME DAY

♦ Mental game give Missouri's Turner a big edge (Columbia Tribune)

"The things he does for us are things you have to really watch" to see, MU Coach Tim Jamieson said. "You have to be around him a lot, because it's the intangibles."

The senior captain from St. Charles gives his pitchers enough of what they want to keep them comfortable while cajoling the best effort out of them every night to keep them confident.

"Ben's a stud. Not only his ability behind the plate, but his mind and what he brings to the table as a leader," freshman pitcher Brett Graves said after he threw four shutout innings Tuesday against Nebraska-Omaha.

♦ MU freshmen choose Tigers over pros (The Maneater)

According to coach Tim Jamieson, the credit for Graves and Platts coming to Columbia lies less with his recruiting strategies and more with the inner motivation of the pair.

“I think both of them recognize the fact that they want to go to college, and they weren’t offered enough money to take that away,” he said. “So it was not so much what we talked to them about, I think the situation pushed them to college.”

Now that the talented duo is here, Jamieson is excited at their future prospects.

“The reason they’re drafted is because of their talent level, and also how good they can become,” he said. “I think you’ll see it as the year goes along. Our pitching depth will be much better.”

MU IN SPRING TRAINING

♦ From the Boston Globe: Asked if he had a “sleeper’’ in camp, {Red Sox Manager] Valentine said he didn’t have one per se, but he likes what he has seen from pitcher Doug Mathis, calling him “a very interesting young man.’’

COLLEGE SPORTS

♦ Top 25 College Baseball Coaches in the South (Dixie Fried Sports)

♦ Profs consider backing NCAA antitrust exemption (Sports Illustrated)

A group of professors seeking reform in college sports wants to explore the possibility of an antitrust exemption, which could allow the NCAA to better regulate spending on coaches' salaries and other costs.

The Coalition On Intercollegiate Athletics met in January, and this week released five policy recommendations made by its steering committee.

All the proposals dealt with finding ways to rein in what many on the committee view as the runaway costs of college sports and the outsized influence sports have on campuses.

The NCAA antitrust exemption would generate the biggest change of the COIA recommendations but would also be the most controversial because it would require Congressional approval.

Read the rest: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/03/08/college-reform.ap/index.html?eref=twitter_feed

Game Day: Charlotte @ MU

Charlotte (aka University of North Carolina-Charlotte) has a 9-4 record for 2012.  MU is 5-5.

Two of the 49ers' losses cam in mid-week games, including a 5-1 loss to Holy Cross this week.

♦ Word on the Tweet from 49er players:

@smithac26 (Andrew Smith): Welcome to st.louis where its cold and miserable!

@Ross_THE_Boss_40 (Ross Steedley): Good thing I brought the UA cold gear. Gonna be cold #notinNCanymore

@ryanmas7 (Ryan Mas): Don't know if Missouri is ready for the flow

♦ From the NinerNation.net Message Board

• After having a hiccup this weekend, going 3-1 against Wagner, the Niners will now enter the toughest portion of their schedule. After a midweek home game vs Holy Cross, we return the trip to Mizzou for a 4 game set this weekend. Last year we took 3 of 4 from Mizzou at the Hayes, and rubbed some the wrong way when we ran up the score (22-7) on them in the final game of the series. this will also be the 1st road weekend trip for the Niners.
  
  
• We have alot of speed in the OF this year with JJ in right, Brown in center, and Montalbano/ Clemmons in left. Several diving catches robbing hits this weekend. Micheal Green was used as as defensive replacement in the OF late in games.

♦ MUTigers.com Weekly Media Notes

Weekend Schedule

• 6:00 PM Friday (Eric Anderson vs. Andrew Smith)
• 1:00 PM Saturday (Rob Zastryzny vs. Tyler Barnette)
• 4:00 PM Saturday (Blake Holovach vs. Corey Roberts)
• 1:00 PM Sunday (Brandon Platts vs. Joe Yermal)

Weekend Forecast
Weather.com
FRI 56° / Sunny
SAT 54° / Cloudy
SUN 59°/ 70% rain

♦ MU rebuilds confidence on diamond (Columbia Tribune)

On a three-game winning streak, Missouri (5-5) hosts Charlotte for a four-game set this weekend. The 49ers won three of four from the Tigers last season, including a 22-7 rout in the finale. An offense that fell flat in San Francisco has scored 38 runs on 37 hits during the winning streak, which has Missouri's confidence soaring.

Charlotte "put it on us last year, and we're looking to return the favor to them," Opel said. "Anytime you get confidence going — all the guys are starting to hit now — it's really going to carry over, I think."

♦ Top 10 Mid-Major Rankings (College Baseball Lineup)

#7 Charlotte 49ers - Charlotte (9-3) took three of four over Wagner to earn the school's 20th consecutive home series of three or more games. The 49ers also added a road win over Winthrop midweek. The club will host Holy Cross and travel to Mizzou this week.

♦ College Baseball Capsules (Charlotte Observer, 2/17)

Charlotte: The defending-champs 49ers have the league's top pitching rotation - Andrew Smith (Butler High), Tyler Barnette (Hickory), Corey Roberts (Olympic) and Joe Yermal - to go along with a potent attack led by catcher Ross Steedley (East Rowan), infielder Shane Basen (Marvin Ridge) and outfielder Tony Montalbano.

♦ 49ers open season with star Andrew Smith on mound (Charlotte Observer)

Smith had one of the best seasons ever for a 49ers pitcher in 2011, going 10-4 and posting a 1.81 ERA that was the second lowest in program history.

His three shutouts also tied for second most for a 49ers pitcher.
. . .
Smith, who is from Matthews and attended Butler High, red-shirted in 2010 as he rehabilitated from the surgery. He then emerged as one of college baseball's top pitchers last season, helping the 49ers to the Atlantic 10 championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they beat Arkansas before falling to Arizona State and the Razorbacks. This winter, he's been named to at least three preseason All-America teams this winter.

Smith said his toughness - or at least his ability to ignore pain - comes from a natural competitiveness.

♦ Baseball America picked Charlotte to win the Atlantic 10

The defending A-10 pitcher of the year, fifth-year Sr. RHP Andrew Smith, will be the Friday starter again after going 10-4, 1.81 last year with 92 strikeouts in 109 innings. RHP Tyler Barnette, who was the conference rookie of the year after going 9-2, 2.29, is behind him, and Jr. RHP Corey Roberts rounds out the league's best rotation. The lineup lost several key contributors but has plenty of experience to plug in, with eight upperclassmen projected to be in the everyday lineup. The centerpiece will be all-conference Sr. C Ross Steedley (.342/.380/.449), who calls his own games.

♦ Charlotte 49ers: Nickname (Wikipedia)

The nickname "49ers" derives from the fact that the university's predecessor—Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina (CCUNC - established in 1946) was saved from being shut down by the state in 1949 by Bonnie Cone, when the Charlotte Center became Charlotte College. Due to this "49er spirit" that Cone felt embodied the University, referring to the settlers that endured much hardships in traveling across the United States to seek fortune in the California Gold Rush, students of the fledgling UNC Charlotte chose "49ers" as the school's mascot. The fact that the site of the U.S.'s first major gold discovery, Reids Gold Mine, is located nearby may also be a contributing factor to the nickname. The fact that the University's Main Campus front entrance is located on North Carolina Highway 49 is pure coincidence.

Prior to the "49ers" moniker, the athletic teams were known as the "Owls" due to CCUNC's beginnings as a night school.

HONORS

♦ Andreas Plackis was named a recipient of the Dr. Gerald Lage Award

HI NOTES: Home Crowds, Home Stand, Heroes

ATTENDANCE

Now that Kansas has finally had its home opener, the numbers are in for all the home openers in the Big 129 and SEC.  It paints a picture of just how far MU has to go to step up to what is expected in the SEC:

BIG 129

• 5.918  Texas vs. Duke, 2/18
• 5,314  Texas A&M vs. Illinois-Chicago, 2/17
• 2,681  Baylor vs. ORU, 2/17
• 2,605  Texas Tech vs. Missouri St, 2/17
• 1,073  Oklahoma vs. Hartford, 2/24
• 1,072  Kansas vs. North Dakota, 3/6
•   888  Kansas State vs. Pacific, 3/2
•   576  Oklahoma State vs. Dallas Baptist, 2/21
•   524  Missouri vs. Ball State, 3/2

SEC

• 8,242  South Carolina vs. Elon 2/17
• 8,006  Louisiana State vs. Air Force, 2/17
• 7,430  Ole Miss vs. Arkansas State, 2/21
• 6,317  Arkansas vs. Villanova, 2/17
• 5,356  Florida vs. Cal St-Fullerton, 2/17
• 4,864  Alabama vs. Florida Atlantic, 2/17
• 3,577  Auburn vs. Missouri, 2/17
• 3,449  Mississippi State vs. Washington St, 2/17
• 2,812  Tennessee vs. Northern Illinois, 2/17
• 2,411  Georgia vs. Presbyterian, 2/17
• 2,031  Vanderbilt vs. Oakland, 2/22
• 1,261  Kentucky vs. Buffalo, 2/24

GAME DAY

♦ Missouri evens record with 14-4 victory over Nebraska-Omaha (The Maneater)

Missouri grabbed the reins of the game by putting up three runs in the first inning. After senior third baseman Conner Mach singled to score junior right fielder Blake Brown, junior left fielder Dane Opel lofted a high fly ball that the wind carried beyond the left field bullpen for a solo home run.

“I just barreled it, and luckily it had enough backspin to carry and the wind was definitely blowing out,” Opel said.
. . .
Missouri has scored almost twice the runs (30) in its last three games than it has in the other seven (16).

♦ Missouri baseball team gets lift against Nebraska-Omaha (Columbia Missourian)

While Jamieson is still trying to determine which three pitchers will start in conference play, he said he thinks it will be senior Eric Anderson, sophomore Rob Zastryzny and junior Blake Holovach.

Still, he said he was impressed with Graves' effort Tuesday.

"We want competition for the weekend starters, and he's a guy that's capable of giving it to the other three guys," Jamieson said.

♦ Missouri's opponent in a 4-game series this coming weekend, the Charlotte 49ers, lost their 4th game of the season Tuesday night to Holy Cross. Charlotte's RPI rank is 240th, compared to Mizzou's 204th (Holy Cross is 44th). Of course, this early in the season the RPI stats are a bit skewed and unreliable due tot the small number of total games played.

♦ Laern a little about the Charlotte 49ers and the 49er players by checking out this Charlotte 49ers Baseball Twitter list.

Sbasen8: Heading to Missouri tomorrow. Got show up in the show me state #SB2012

NOT BASEBALL

I just had to post a link to a couple of great articles, in case you missed them

♦ How Frank Haith won over and rebuilt the Tigers (Kansas City Star)

Eleven months later, Haith has silenced his critics by delivering his finest season as a head coach. Not only that, he has led the Tigers to a No. 5 national ranking and school-record 27 regular-season wins despite a thin bench, undersized frontcourt and scandal in Miami that some thought could derail his tenure in Columbia before it got a chance to start.

Here’s how he did it.

♦ Real-life Davids: How Missouri's wrestling program conquered the Goliaths of the Big 12 (Kansas City Star)

Thanks in part to a handful of Kansas City kids (more on that, later) the Tigers won the Big 12 tournament at the Hearnes Center with 77 points, four more than second-place Oklahoma State.

It was hard to see that coming even a week ago, when Missouri lost to Oklahoma State 32-9.

“Just think of that,” Smith said. “I told them eight days ago about David and Goliath and going through the valley of Elah. I told them the Philistines, and the Goliath is the Big 12 and we had never won it. David walked out there with confidence. You got to believe in all the good things that can happen. I put signs up that said ‘Be my David’. All week, every kid, I went up to, I said ‘Be my David’ and they came up to me at the end and said, Coach, we are your David’s.”

HI NOTES: Stats

STATS

♦ BoydsWorld.com has posted its first RPI rankings of the season. It's way too early for these numbers to mean much of anything, but Mizzou has a .427 RPI, good (or bad) for 220th place. WarrenNolan.com has MU at 221st

GAME DAY

♦ According to the MU Weekly Media Notes, Freshman RHP Brett Graves will get his first start as a Tiger for tonight's game.

♦ According to the UN-O Media Notes, Andrew Reck will be the Mavericks' starting pitcher. As noted in this morning's Game Day post, Reck has pitched twice this year, his longest outing lasting only 4-2/3 innings.

♦ Solid start is a relief for Missouri's Holovach (Columbia Tribune)

"Definitely a different mind-set," Holovach said. "You don't have as much time to warm up. You've got to worry about runners and all that stuff. I think I was starting to get used to it, but they gave me the start today. The outcome's a lot better."

HI NOTES: UNO Mavericks, Tweets, MizzouTube

GAME DAY

The University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks come into Taylor Stadium with a 2-9 record to date in 2012.

The Mavs' team batting average is only .238, but that's .03 higher than MU's .235.  On the other hand, MU's average moved up to .235 from .209 over the weekend.

Their team ERA is 5.99, which is considerably uglier than Mizzou's 4.20.  An interesting stat:  the average UNO starter has gone only 4 to 4-/13 innings before being replaced - even when they were doing well.  Andrew Reck, the likely starter tonight, has pitched twice for 4.0 innings and 4.2 innings, with an ERA of 5.19.

Tuesday Game Time Forecast
from Weather.com
64° / WINDY

2012 is the Mavericks' first season in the Division I ranks.  Their schedule includes 42 games on the road, and the few games they play in Omaha are not at their home stadium (they don't have one).  UN-O had built a solid Division II program that had a string of seven straight trips to the national tournament snapped after a 35-20 finish last year. The Mavs reached the Division II World Series in 2007.

Their roster is made up almost entirely of players who were originally recruited to play D-II Baseball.  But these were players who were attracted to a highly successful D-II program.  The Mavs do return the top four hitters, in terms of batting average, from last season, in shortstop Brady Hohl (.408, five homers, 35 RBIs, 15 stolen bases), second baseman Caleb Palensky (.366, four homers, 36 RBIs) and outfielders Mark Waldron (.364, 32 RBIs) and Connor McCrite (.359). Hohl (Alaska Baseball League All-Star) and Palensky (All-Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League) are among the Mavs who had standout seasons on the summer circuit.

WORD ON THE TWEET

@SchoonySays (UNO pitcher Steven Schoonover):

I once told an ump that called a balk on me that I would murder his family #stillabalk?

@kgib44 (Kyle Gibson):

First day at 60' today. Arm felt good but accuracy was not exactly on point, better luck tomorrow hopefully! Have a good week everyone!

MIZZOUTUBE

♦ Mizzou Baseball 2012 Intro Video:

HI NOTES: Fhaith and Hope

BIG 12

♦ It's not Baseball, but . . . Frank Haith was hired on April 4th to the sound of MU fans wailing and calling for Mike Alden's head. 11 months later, on March 4th, MU fans are wailing and crying foul that Haith was robbed of the Coach of the Year title. That difference illustrates the amazing job the man did this year.

♦ When Was the Last Time Texas Owned the Big 12 Cellar? (rivals.com)

With today's Texas loss and Missouri's win, it is what it is. I don't believe I have ever seen Texas at the very bottom of the conference.

GAME DAY


After a horrible weekend in San Francisco, the Tigers regained some confidence and renewed hope for a good season by taking 2 of 3 from Ball State.

♦ Missouri baseball beats Ball State to win first home series (Columbia Missourian)

Everett, a sophomore, has struggled at the plate since taking over for Andrew Thigpen, who graduated in 2011. After going 2-for-22 in Missouri's first eight games, Everett went 3-for-4 Sunday and hit his first two doubles of the year.
. . .
On the mound, junior transfer Blake Holovach was successful in his first start as a Tiger after four bad appearances out of the bullpen.

♦ Missouri cruises to series victory over Ball State (The Maneater)

The Tigers started with an unusual face on the pitcher’s mound. Junior pitcher Blake Holovach recorded his first start for the Tigers, striking out a career-high eight Cardinal batters through five straight innings.
. . .
Sophomore second baseman Dillon Everett had a breakout game at the plate. Everett hit three line drives past the infield, drawing in two RBIs in the process. The performance came as a relief to Everett, who had been struggling on the stat sheet for the past couple of games.

“Obviously, I haven’t been putting the stats on the paper like I’ve wanted to,” Everett said. “I’ve been hitting the ball well, and today they found holes so it was a good feeling to get that off my back.”

♦ Another poor start dooms Ball State (BSU Daily News)

Its bats stifled by Missouri's starting pitching for the second day in a row, Ball State was again unable to overcome an early deficit and lost 9-2 Sunday. Despite a victory Friday night, Ball State (2-6) was unable to leave Columbia, Mo., with a series win.

♦ Holovach pitches five solid innings for Mizzou, gets win over Ball State (KBIA Extra)

“On the way back from San Francisco (coach Tim Jamieson) said I hadn’t been the same since I got put in the pen so he’d be starting me,” Holovach said. “I had a chip on my shoulder. I wanted to prove that I could do better than what I had been doing.”

The lefty pitcher worked one-third of an inning in California, giving up six hits and one run.

“It’s a different mindset, you don’t have as much time to warm up and you have to worry about runners,” Holovach said. “It was the first time I’d ever come out of the pen was this year. It was a lonely experience for me, but (when I start) I’m more comfortable and more relaxed.”

♦ Mizzou Baseball Links (RockMNation)

Few things probably eat away at a baseball team more than when they completely dominate a series overall -- Mizzou 26, Ball State 12 -- but don't get the sweep. As we will probably see plenty of times this year, the bats went quiet again on Friday night

HI NOTES: Game Day Grab Bag

Friday game time photo
 by James Abey, the new
Voice of Taylor Stadium

RANDOM THOUGHTS

• The new Taylor Stadium PA Announcer sounds great - full of enthusiasm.  I expect it'll take a few games to get used to pronouncing the players' names and knowing how to summarize the box score for the inning without making it sound like he's talking about the whole game.  But he perks up the park.
  
  
• If you're watching from the third base side, be sure to take a peek into the Ball State dugout when the Tigers are up to bat.  The Ball State coach (the guy in the red maternity smock and Moe Howard stocking cap - goes through giving signs to his catcher like any coach, except that it's not a smooth touching and swiping of various parts of his upper torso.  This guy looks like he's been infested with an angry swarm of fire ants on each pitch.
  
  
  
• The Tigers have raised their team batting average from .209  up to .216 over the past two games.  At this pace, they'll have it up over .300 by the end of this home stand. #bizarrostatistics

GAME DAY

♦ Missouri piles on the runs, trounces Ball State to end three-game skid (The Maneater)

After managing to score only four runs in its previous four games, the Missouri baseball team wanted offense — in any form — badly entering Saturday's matchup with Ball State at Taylor Stadium.

In a 15-5 win over the Cardinals, the Tigers delivered immediately.

In the first inning, the Tigers hit Cardinal pitchers Nestor Bautista and Miles Moeller for five runs, four before the first out. Missouri scrapped its offensive output through a combination of walks, wild pitches and passed balls. The only hit was a bunt by Conner Mach.

“I don’t think we really did anything that inning,” junior outfielder Blake Brown said. “They gave us that one.”

♦ MU baseball team buries Ball State (Columbia Tribune)

Brown said he felt "a little sense of pride" after his home run incited Overstreet enough to get ejected.

"And a little embarrassment," Brown said, "because it was probably on me that Champ got thrown at. It's good, though."

♦ Sophomore's start highlights Missouri baseball victory over Ball State (Columbia Missourian)

"It's definitely good being home, pitching in front of a home crowd," he said. "I'm used to that mound."

Zastryzny was perfect through five innings before surrendering his first hit and all three of his runs in the sixth. The performance came in the second of a 19-game homestand for the Tigers.

After being named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2011, Zastryzny worked on developing his curveball during the offseason. Coach Tim Jamieson said his execution of that pitch was the key to his performance Saturday.

♦ Ball State gets behind early, loses big at Missouri: Two Cardinals ejected in blowout loss (Ball State Daily News)

As Ball State tried to overcome the nightmarish start, things went from bad to worse. In the third inning, Missouri right fielder Blake Brown hit a three-run home run off Ross Overstreet to give the Tigers a 9-0 lead. Overstreet, who had already hit a batter, then threw behind Brannon Champagne and was ejected. Second baseman Mitch Widau also was ejected for arguing.

♦ Tigers never get in the swing: MU homestand starts with dud (Columbia Tribune)

After getting handed a 3-2 advantage, Bowling retired the next 10 Tigers he faced on just 26 pitches.

♦ Cold weather, cold bats spoil first game of weekend series (KBIA Extra)

“They out-pitched us, they out-defended us, they out-hustled us, and they out-hit us. It’s amazing the game was as close as it was,” Jamieson said.

♦ Missouri drops home baseball opener to Ball State (The Maneater)

The loss will go down as Anderson’s third of the season. Perhaps betraying his solid pitching performances, Anderson has yet to record a win. Despite the lack of results, Anderson will continue to perform at a high level, Turner said.

“We need to pick him up offensively, but he’s not a guy that looks at the numbers," Turner said. "He goes out there every Friday night to do his job the best he can and hopefully put us in a place to win."

♦ Mizzou will use 19-game homestand to build confidence (KBIA Extra)

“It’s kind of how you’re feeling at the moment,” Mach said. “Games early in the season are really important for confidence.”

Opel said the Tiger’s 19 game home stand will mean a much needed confidence boost for the team.

“It’s huge for us,” Opel said. “You have the fans on your side, you know the field, you know how it plays, you’re more comfortable.”

HI NOTES: Things to read while layering up for game time

GAME DAY

As of this time (3:45 PM), the game is still scheduled to be played.

"Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today!"

♦ MU baseball out to discover offense in home opener (Columbia Tribune)

"It's something that needs to be fixed … now," MU Coach Tim Jamieson said. "We know that they're capable, so we're trying to fix it. Conner, Blake, Eric Garcia — the middle of our lineup — are all hitting under .200. Those guys don't hit, we're not going to score runs. I think when they do start hitting, it's going to make it easier for the other guys to hit as well."

Mach said the Tigers will be more aggressive this weekend against the Cardinals pitchers, especially jumping on strikes early in the count.

♦ Ball State hopes for more relaxed pitching in weekend series (BSU Daily News)

After Nestor Bautista's first start of the season, a disastrous outing that saw the left-hander give up seven runs in 1 1/3 innings at USC-Upstate, coach Alex Marconi and pitching coach Jeremy Plexico sat down for a talk with him.

Marconi and Plexico thought Bautista was putting too much pressure on himself. Though Bautista made four starts last season as a freshman, the start at USC-Upstate was his first as a member of Ball State's weekend rotation.

"He needed to know that he didn't have to go out and throw nine scoreless innings," Marconi said. "Which he almost did. But he needed to know that's not what we were expecting out of him."

Bautista visibly relaxed after the meaning. Last Saturday, in his first start since the sit down with Marconi and Plexico, Bautista retired the first 16 batters he faced and threw seven shutout innings in a no-decision at UAB.
. . .
"They're hitting slightly better than we are right now," Marconi said. "It just comes down to execution. Even if it's a good arm on the mound, you take good at bats, you get in good counts and you make it hurt – if you get the 1-0 fastball and you hit it in the gap, which is what you're supposed to do, regardless of who's on the mound – if you do that, then you can push some runs across the board."
. . .
"Missouri, I'm sure they're going to have a few more fans there than they had at UAB for their home opener," Marconi said. "But it's not going to be great weather. So it may just be a couple of Midwestern teams playing in a 50 degree game with 100 people in the stands."

COLLEGE BASEBALL

♦ He doesn't mention Mizzou (he obviously despises us), but Eric Sorenson has farted out yet another hilarious blog post worthy of wasting a few minutes reading: Boldly going forward and answering readers' questions (College Baseball Today)

Yes, I get Emails. All the time. Most of ‘em are complimentary, though admittedly a lot of them are to correct something I got wrong. And yes, I even get Emails that are angry birds… to which I usually give the bird back to them.

♦ And for another entertaining read, check out How fast should college players run out homers?, a message thread at Rivals.com, which, in spite of Yahoo's complete lack of support, is still the most interesting national college baseball message board on the interwebs.

The blogger has obviously never jacked-one out and had adrenalin coursing through his veins at mach IX. Sometimes you fly around the bases, sometimes you trot, sometimes you trot and wave and run backwards and soak it all in (only did that one time) ... just depends on the game situation and how you are feeling that day.

MU IN THE MINORS

♦ Gibson tries to be a patient with patience (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

"Going over there and running the stadium and seeing them throw bullpens and seeing them work out and then knowing they are [a few] days away from [games] getting started," Gibson lamented, "it's getting a little bit harder because I know I'm not going to be able to do everything."

While Twins players are counting down the days to Saturday's start of spring training games, Gibson is counting down to June 7, when he can throw in the bullpen for the first time since he had surgery.

The righthander is restricted to tosses from 50 feet away right now. He's been cleared to lift weights and go through full workouts.

CONFERENCE HOKEY-POKEY

♦ A&M wastes no time moving on from the Big 12 (Yahoo.com)

Texas A&M sure didn't waste much time reminiscing about all the memories it's had during its 18 years in the Big 12.

Once Texas A&M agreed to a $12.41 million buyout to get out of the Big 12 and officially join the SEC, the Aggies slowly started erasing the Big 12 from memory by removing signage with the Big 12 logo - and tweeting the words, "out with the old" to go along with the above picture.
. . .
Can't blame Texas A&M for their excitement. Even Missouri started putting up SEC-themed billboards before the buyout was completed. And it can't be long until the SEC signage starts going up on all of the game fields. Might make Big 12 baseball games interesting.

The Ball State Way

♦ Ball State Baseball YouTube channel

The Ball State Way so far in 2012:

• Record: 1-4
• Team Batting Average:  .191
• Team Slugging %: .237
• Team Strike Out %:  .248
• Team On-Base %: .249
• Team ERA:  .426

♦ Cardinals fall to UAB in 3-game series sweep (BSU Daily News)

Coach Alex Marconi was left with mixed feelings after Ball State was swept in a three-game series at the University of Alabama at Birmingham this weekend. Before finishing the sweep with a 7-4 victory Sunday afternoon, the Blazers won each of the first two games in their last at bat.

UAB scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth without getting an out Friday to complete a comeback for a 4-3 victory. Then, on Saturday, the Cardinals lost 1-0 in 12 innings.
While Ball State (1-4) was swept, it wasn't difficult for Marconi to still envision a series victory.

"On one hand, we're realistically a hit or a couple pitches away from winning both games, which is frustrating because we end up with two losses," Marconi said. "On the other hand, we had some great pitching performances and played pretty good defense this weekend."

♦ Baseball drops 1-0 pitchers' duel in 12 innings (ballstatesports.com)

Despite allowing just four hits, the Ball State baseball team suffered its second straight heart-breaking walk-off defeat of the weekend as the Cardinals dropped a 1-0 contest to UAB in 12 innings Saturday afternoon at Young Memorial Field. Ball State suffered a 4-3 walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth yesterday afternoon to the Blazers

The two teams went toe-to-toe on the mound throwing zeros on the scoreboards as they combined to allow just eight hits while striking out a combined 21 batters in the game. The game's only run was an unearned run scored in the bottom of the 12th inning.

Weekend Forecast
FRI 55° / Windy
SAT 47° / Sunny
SUN 47° / 20% Rain

♦ Cardinals make use of warm weather (BSU Daily News)

With Ball State coming off the worst year in the program's history since 1995, it can use any extra advantage. The Cardinals went 15-35 last year and missed the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the first time since 1996 . . . . 

"We are still fairly young and a little bit inexperienced at some important positions, so we'll see," Marconi said. "We'll be as good as those younger and a little bit more inexperienced players allow us to be."

♦ Ball State still adjusting to new bats (BSU Daily News, 2/9/12)

Marconi said he believes the Cardinals will benefit from more experience, as well as an increased emphasis on weight training this year. Marconi said it took underclassmen longer to make the necessary adjustments to the new bats than more experienced college players. Because Ball State had 12 players with one year of college experience or less on last season's team, the change hit it particularly acutely.

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