Normal West senior standout and Missouri recruit Blake Brown certainly has the power to hit third or fourth in Coach Chris Hawkins' batting order. Hawkins, however, has recently made Brown his leadoff man.
"We're trying to get him to utilize his speed a little more," Hawkins said after a 16-11 victory over University High on Friday. "When he bats three or four, he sometimes seems to want to drive the ball instead of go gap to gap, hit it on the ground and utilize his speed. In the leadoff spot, we want to get him on base and let him run a little bit."
Hitting third in the Wildcat order, Drury recruit Colton Moore could pile up the RBIs with Brown batting in front of him.
"It's fine with me," said Moore. "Blake is fast as all get out. He's a great athlete."
Against U High, Brown reached base in all five plate appearances with four walks and a single.
■ Opel in comfort zone (Edwardsville Intelligencer)
“He’s real comfortable and the biggest thing with him is he’s really focused,” said Funkhouser. “He’s focused in pitch by pitch, at-bat by at-bat. He’s really in tune, focused, and it’s fun to watch our guys compete because I think we’re starting to play at a higher level and that’s what we want to try and do each day.”
Opel is definitely playing at a high level since that April day last year. He finished 2008 hitting safely in his final 18 games and picked it right back up this spring, getting a hit in his first six games to bring his streak to 24 games. During that time the University of Missouri recruit has batted .563, swatted 11 of his career 14 home runs, had 31 RBIs, 34 runs scored, stole seven bases and received eight free passes while only fanning three times.
. . .
Opel is adamant it’s going to take an awfully good offer for him to surpass Mizzou for the draft, where his father Brad played football. But if he remains on his torrid pace they may make him an offer he can’t refuse.
“I’ve been contacted by a couple guys and there’s been guys out to watch me, but alot of stuff has to happen before that whole road happens,” he said of pro ball. “For
now college is definitely my path, but if something else happens I might have to go with it.”
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