The time is NOW, the 'Cats are next

■ Kansas State made their first appearance in the national polls and rankings this week:

#21 Baseball America - "The Wildcats won their second straight conference series and took a set from Texas A&M for the first time since 2005. They earned a spot in the top 25 rankings for the first time ever. Jr. RHP A.J. Morris (6.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 K) became the nation's first nine-game winner in the second game of Friday's doubleheader, tying the school's single-season wins record. He has a 1.19 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 61 innings this season.

#24 Rivals.com : "It's hard to imagine the Wildcats as a ranked team but they have a stud ace in A.J. Morris, a good conference record and a solid postseason resume. "

#29 NCBWA

■ The Kansas City Star says KU, K-State baseball is a double-play success:

Last season, Kansas State reached the title game of the Big 12 tournament for
the first time.

“That was a turning point for us,” K-State coach Brad Hill said. “We’re talking about a program without a lot of success for 100 years and getting a little better each of the last few years.”

Getting plenty better is starting pitcher A.J. Morris, a junior right-hander from Humble, Texas, who leads the nation in victories at 9-0 and has an ERA of 1.19.
Last season, Morris was 4-4 with a 6.04 ERA. What’s changed? First, Morris added 15 pounds from last year and is listed at 6-2 and 200 pounds. But it’s much more.

“Maturity,” Hill said. “He learned how to move on. He has the ability to move past a bad pitch to the next pitch. It had been a 3-4-5 run inning anytime something bad had happened to him.”

K-State also is getting it done at the plate, hitting .322 as a team.

■ Rivals.com has K-State's Morris completing transformation:

"He basically lived in the weight room last summer and now I think his velocity is better maintained later in the game," Hill said. "He's mature. In the past, when adversity would hit I'd already have someone up in the bullpen. He has really grown up in that aspect."

Morris' hard work has paid off in a big way. The Wildcats have a 28-9 record and a 7-5 mark in the Big 12, good enough for fourth place. Though several players have contributed to K-State's success, the rise of Morris laid the foundation to a season that already has surpassed all expectations.

The right-hander is 9-0 with a 1.19 ERA in 60 2/3 innings. He has struck out 64 and walked only 18, while opponents are hitting him at an anemic .182 clip. Off the field, meanwhile, Morris is taking on a greater leadership role.

■ The Topeka Capital Journal reports that KSU's new hitting coach Andy Sawyers makes the difference:

A year ago, K-State ranked last in the conference in batting average, runs scored, hits and extra base hits. It didn't have a single player on the roster hit over .300 with a minimum of 60 plate appearances.

But 37 games into the 2009 season, the Wildcat offense currently ranks second in the conference with a .321 batting average and third with 403 hits, including 121 extra base hits. With 19 games remaining on the regular season schedule, they need only 21 more runs to surpass the 311 runs scored all of last season.

■ Missouri stands at a crossroads heading into this weekend and the rest of the season. Having reached the .500 mark, they still have time to grab for the brass ring and get a halfway decent seed in the Year of Parity Big 12 Tournament, and earn an invite to the NCAA Regionals. IF they begin to make that move NOW.

According to Boyd's World, a team really needs an RPI in the top 45 in order to feel somewhat comfortable coming selection time. Missouri's current Psueudo-RPI, according to Boyd, is 43rd in the country. In the official NCAA RPI rankings, which have not been updated since Monday, MU is 65th.

Coming up in MU's remaining 19 games are 8 games against teams that are ranked nationally or that have respectable RPIs, against which each win would give a serious boost to the Tigers' ranking. RPIs listed are from the official NCAA 2009 RPI rankings, now available at NCAA.org:

• 3 vs. Kansas State: #38 RPI, ranked 21st in Baseball America, 24th in Rivals.com, 29th in NCBWA
• 4 vs. Kansas: #46 RPI, ranked 24th in Baseball America, 30th in NCBWA
• 1 vs. Eastern Illinois: #34 RPI, ranked 29th in Collegiate Baseball Poll

The remaining 12 games are as follows:

• 3 vs. Nebraska: #89 RPI
• 2 vs. Missouri State: #91 RPI
• 3 vs. Texas Tech: #98 RPI
• 3 vs. Cal State Bakersfield: #201 RPI

It all depends on continuing some of the recent upswing in offense and doing it now, starting with the Kansas State series.

■ PowerMizzou.com notes the Tigers begin second half of Big 12 season:

They also boast an outstanding pitcher by the name of A.J. Morris (9-0) who has given up just eight runs in his nine starts.

"Really? Eight runs, huh," Gray said. "I didn't know that, but our offense has swung well the last couple of games, and we got Gibson on Friday, so I don't think anyone is going to be better than him. He is going to give us a shot to win no matter what, and we got to go out there and score some runs for him."

"He has got to lose at some point, right," coach Tim Jamieson said laughing. "The percentages are in our favor. K-State is going to pitch well all weekend, and we are going to have to be opportunistic and get timely hitting, which I thought we did these last couple of days."

■ Tim Jamieson apparently thinks the offense is starting to show signs of getting in gear, according to the Columbia Tribune's Tigers go for quality as well as quantity:

So was yesterday’s 12-2 thrashing of Indiana State on Simmons Field just another
tease?

The Tigers don’t think so. Charting at-bats, Coach Tim Jamieson said his Tigers had quality at-bats — which factors in such things as taking a pitcher deep into a count, drawing a walk or hitting a ball hard — in 60 percent of their plate appearances in Tuesday night’s 8-1 win over the Sycamores. He didn’t have numbers yesterday, but he said that it was a higher percentage.

“Two days in a row, that’s the thing that you look at. Two days in a row,” Jamieson said. “You guys had asked before if hitting is contagious, and maybe it’s starting to be that way. We’re getting guys up and down the lineup taking good swings.”

■ In case you missed it, be sure to check out the latest numbers and details on Saturday's probable pitcher, the ubiquitous Johnny Wholestaff.