■ DevilsDigest.com sums it up with Leake Dominates Tigers:
It was a dominating performance by both starting pitchers on Thursday night at Packard Stadium. Team USA teammates Mike Leake and Kyle Gibson put on a show for the ages, but Leake was just that much better. Leake didn’t allow a hit until the 8th and led the Devils to a 2-1 victory over 15th ranked Missouri.■ ASUWebDevil describes a rowdy game in Leake flirts with no-hitter in win:
Andrew Thigpen’s double to lead off the 8th ended Leake’s no hitter bid, but it was a gem none the less. ASU’s ace threw eight shutout innings and struck out ten in a game that had the intensity and feel of a super regional game.
“The tighter the games, the better I pitch,” said Leake, “A lot of pitchers can let it get to them, it causes me to focus more.”
Leake’s head coach felt that the junior had extra motivation on Thursday.
“He heard all week about this other guy,” said Murphy referring to Gibson, “That he was a better prospect than him; Leake had something to prove tonight.”
In the bottom of the third, MacPhee grounded out routinely to the pitcher. There was an unpleasant exchanged between MacPhee and Gibson on the way back. In a game already high on the intensity scale, MacPhee sent it up a few ticks.■ Speaking of meltdowns, this from the Columbia Missourian's Andrew Dewitt on Stripes and Seams:
“[MacPhee] gets a little to bull doggish at times, says the wrong thing,” Leake said.
In what clearly appeared to be retaliation, Gibson plunked the next batter, junior Jason Kipnis, in the back. UM’s dugout chirped at Kipnis as he walked to first.
“Kipnis was hit on purpose,” Murphy said. “That catcher and him had words in Tuesday night’s game.”
Murphy stomped out of the dugout and confronted UM’s catcher Trevor Coleman along with UM coach Tim Jamieson and umpire Scott Higgins. No peace treaty was signed.
Jamieson was later ejected for arguing a strike call by Higgins. The animosity quickly
spread into the stands as a few UM fans got into a barking match with the ASU
student section.
I don’t know why the Sun Devils stole five bases when they only had seven men reach first base(one was on catchers interference so that man had a runner in-front of him and no reason to steal) but that’s a serious problem for the Tigers. The Sun Devils went 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts.■ Which of course leads to a couple of quotes from Meltdownboard.com(aka Tigerboard.com):
. . .
I just read the all-sports board over at TigerBoard and it kinda was a meltdown over
there. I forgot how much I love the fans that are always at the park or on
TigerBoard talking away about this team.
burnlawrencedown: Coleman: between the lack of clutch hitting, 5 swiped bags tonight, another error, and his .174 avg our all american catch is struggling to say the least. this team has to have him fill the middle of this order with a reliable bat.■ And an encouraging note on the board at CollegeBaseball.rivals.com:
in-the-mix: Last season he hit .295 with 4 HR. Those all came toward the late part of the season. He had a great freshman year and that is keeping him in the 5 hole.WHY? Well we all know Coach J and how predictable he is.
georider: Leake is a great baseball player and with Josh Spence on board they have go two deep (starting pitching wise) as well as any team in the county.■ RockMNation takes note of the 5th straight loss:
Missouri is just dreadful this year. I though they were hugely overrated by post-season last year (they were just a .500 team without Crow on the mound) but this year they may not even equal that.
You look at the pieces in place (Grey, Lollis, Senne, Coleman), and you think the offense can't be that bad, and it has to put it together soon...right? In the meantime, Mizzou is now 1-5. OUCH.■ If it makes you feel any better (I doubt it), 12th ranked Oklahoma State was upset by #23 East Carolina. Details at Big12Hardball.com
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