Mizzou Baseball in the Minors & Majors

■ Zagone starting pitcher at SAL All-Star Game (DailyMail.com)

Northern Division left-hander Rick Zagone (05-07) of the Delmarva Shorebirds makes the first pitch in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game at Appalachian Power Park. The league's midseason showdown made its first stop in the capital city in 20 years on Tuesday night. The Northern Division topped the Southern Division 8-7.

■ Zagone among three promotions to Keys (BaltimoreSun.com)

Left-handed pitcher Rick Zagone, who started yesterday's South Atlantic League All-Star Game for the North Division team, was one of three players promoted to the Single-A Frederick Keys, the team announced today.

Zagone was 4-5 with a 4.66 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) for the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds. The 22-year-old pitcher, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2008 MLB draft, struggled in his four starts with Delmarva in June. He was 0-2 with a 16.50 ERA in 12 innings during that span.

■ Ryan Lollis (06-09) finished a double shy of hitting for the cycle to help ignite the Volcanoes' best offensive output of the season in an 11-1 win against Boise on Friday night at Volcanoes Stadium. (Statesman Journal)

Lollis went 3 for 5 with a home run, triple and single to go along with three RBIs and three runs scored.

"This year in college, I was a home run away, but I don't know if I have been that close with only a double," Lollis said. "I wish it would have happened, but it didn't."

He staked the Volcanoes (5-2) to an early 3-0 lead with a home run to right field off Hawks starter Robert Hernandez in the second inning.

Luke Anders walked to lead off the inning and moved to second, when Drew Biery reached on an error by third baseman Jordan Petraitis.

Both scored on Lollis' homer.

In the fourth inning, Lollis tripled with one out and scored on a single by Juan Martinez to give Salem-Keizer a 4-0 lead.

He accounted for five of the Volcanoes' 11 runs as he singled and scored in the sixth for a 5-0 lead.

"Lollis woke us up. He was the whole offense the first part of the game," Volcanoes manager Tom Trebelhorn said.

Lollis had an opportunity to complete the feat in the seventh and eighth innings but both at-bats he flew out to Jose Valdez in centerfield. The Volcanoes have never had a player hit for the cycle in team history.

■ Kinsler homecoming (KOLD.com)

He lit up the fields of CDO high-school in the early 2000's. Now, Ian Kinsler (03) is making moves in the big leagues. It was a bit of a homecoming for the one-time Dorado at Chase Field Tuesday night. In front of over 60 of his closest friend's and family Kinsler finished the night 1-for-5 with 1 RBI as the Rangers would lose 8-2.

Despite the score it was still a special moment for the one-time Tucsonan. Especially for his father Howard, who summed up the night perfectly, " my face hurts! I've been grinning so much!"

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■ Former Tiger Folgia signs with Indians (Columbia Tribune)

This is probably a good opportunity as a junior, so I wanted to give it a shot,” Greg Folgia (07-09) said in a phone interview.

Yesterday he was assigned to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York-Penn League. Folgia, who played every position except catcher for the Tigers, is listed as an infielder. Folgia will be playing alongside a pair of former rivals. Kansas outfielder John Allman and Missouri State infielder Ben Carlson are also with the Scrappers.

The Web site indiansprospectinsider.com reported that Folgia signed for $100,000.

■ Folgia played in his first game Wednesday night, starting in right field, according to the
Tribune Chronicle:

The best chance for a big inning for the Scrappers was in the fourth inning. Kyle Bellows led off with a double and came around to score on a single by Jason Smit. A sacrifice bunt by Greg Folgia advanced runners to second and third, but Cox struck out Smith and Vera to end the inning.

■ The Rangers' 40-man roster and the 2009 trade deadline (BaseballTimeInArlington)

Major league teams are required to pare their major league rosters to 40 players by mid-November each year. Organizations that have more major league talent than they can adequately protect in the off-season can use the month of July to minimize the losses that they will experience in the Rule 5 draft by trading their surplus for soon-to-be free agents or low-level prospects.
. . .
RHP Doug Mathis (05): After going unclaimed when waived earlier this year, Mathis will be able to elect free agency the next time he is taken off the 40-man roster. Mathis might be an interesting trade target for a team with a dearth of near-ready major league pitchers.