In Tuesday’s 22-14 win against Purdue at Taylor Stadium, Missouri's first basemen hit his 57th and 58th career doubles, breaking the record for most doubles by a Missouri player.■ Noted at CollegeBaseball.Rivals.com: In Mizzou's last two home games, they've scored 50 runs.
. . .
Freshman second baseman Eric Garcia hit two home runs in the game, including a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning. Garcia was not aware of his teammate’s record-breaking hit.
• The [Kansas State] Wildcats scored five runs in the 7th inning to get past the Shockers 8-3 before a record crowd of 4,745 at Tointon Stadium.■ Parking Note: MU Track & Field and MU Softball both have contests scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Walton Stadium and University Field, next to Taylor Stadium. Parking for the Mizzou-Baylor series may be at a premium.
• Sooner 1Bman Cameron Seitzer hit for the cycle in a 26-3 blitzkrieg of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Seitzer got the difficult part out of the way early by hitting a triple and a home run in the 2nd inning. . .
The Boilermakers have a surprising team batting average of .339 . . . to go with a team ERA of 3.99. Of course, this is against a Strength of Schedule ranked 248th (out of 300) in D-1 baseball (according to Boyd's World). Look for a 2-game slugfest, unless MU's mid-week starters can contain the PU punch.■ Purdue Baseball Preview (HammerAnd Rails.com, 2/11/10)
Purdue, however, is still far away. If Miami is one of the gold standards of the sport, Purdue is a mid-major at best. We have one NCAA Tournament appearance ever (23 years ago), we went two and done in that appearance, and we have a Cubs-like streak of 101 years without a conference championship. We have come close to breaking those streaks in the past decade. In 2001 the Boilers started the season by upsetting #1 Rice. They then lost the Big Ten by a half game and probably would have made the NCAA Tournament had we one at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament. In 2008 we were the Big Ten Tournament runner-up, failing to take the automatic bid against Michigan in the championship game.■ Big Ten Pitcher of the Week (BigTen.org, 3/15/10)
Matt Bischoff picks up his second career Player of the Week honor after throwing eight shutout innings in Purdue’s 3-0 win over LeMoyne on Friday. The right-hander struck out a season-high 11 batters without allowing a walk, scattering just five hits for a WHIP of .63. He retired the side in order in four of his eight innings and did not allow a base runner to reach second until the seventh. With the win, Bischoff’s record improves to 2-1, while his season ERA of 1.35 is second in the conference■ To review: Mizzou to the Big Ten? Not if you're a baseball fan (SimmonsField.com)
The Big Ten is a 2nd-tier baseball conference at best. I'd rather be in the Missouri Valley than the Big 10, when it comes to baseball. But I'd really rather be in one of the top 2 or 3 baseball conferences in the NCAA: The Big 12.■ Search Google for "purdue baseball", and this is - predictably, for Purdue - what you get: Students design Boilermaker baseball complex (Engineering.Purdue.edu)
Nam Nguyen: The challenge was that I did not know baseball at all. I am from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The project helped me understand the sport better.
The real revelation was Missouri — yabba dabba do! Not only do the socks feature some killer stripes (okay, so they’re not stirrups, but I think trading ’rups for striped socks is an equitable deal), but the uni fabric has a very flannel-like look.You really need to click the link to read this guy's ode to the Mizzou uniforms - especially the socks. Plus links to some great photos. And he's right, THIS may indeed be one of the all time best money shots.
Missouri's Aaron Senne matched his career high with four hits and tied the school record for career doubles as the Tigers defeated No. 21 Texas A&M 13-4 on Sunday in College Station, Texas, to avoid the series sweep.■ Mizzou baseball salvages final game against A&M (KBTX.com)
Senne had RBI doubles in the third and fourth innings. Senne's second double tied him with Ryan Fry with 56 career doubles at Missouri.
“It was another disappointing Sunday in that we weren’t able to finish a sweep,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “Give their hitters credit, they got the big hits when they counted. I think they scored seven or eight of their runs today with two outs, and we just weren’t able to finish some innings. It wasn’t like we didn’t have our opportunities, they were right there in front of us. We didn’t get them and Missouri did.”
Nice opening series for this young team....get a big win after a difficult loss yesterday in a very tough away stadium. Lots of positives:■ HBP (TexAgs.com)
Tep looks like a friday guy. Anderson came back strong.
Pen, despite all of the negativity on this board did well. Clubb threw in all three games, Clark was strong today, Emens gets a chance to forget yesterday, Scar, Hardoin and McCormack produce.
Youngsters get taste of big 12 ball....brown had a good series, Opel had big hits today to increase the confidence, Santo back in the groove, Plackis with a couple more hits.
Vets had big series, Senne and Nicholas are huge, Liberto steady as always.
Time to go win the Baylor series and build from there.
Dude, our [Texas A&M's] batters step into the baseball. 95% of the time that our guys get hit, it is not even remotely intentional. This is how we defend the inside corner while still covering the outside corner. If a pitcher makes a mistake inside, we get hit. Even before today's game we have been hit 28 times to our opponents 14. Last year it was 93 to 45. The year before that it was 100 to 69. This is OUR style.Elsewhere in Colege Baseball
36,056 FANS AT THE LaTECH-MINNESOTA GAME.
I love how the college boys get the marquee status of playing the first ever baseball game at the new Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. Unfortunately for the home state fans, the Gophers disappointed again, dropping a 9-1 decision. But once again, the college game proves it can pull a wicked-huge crowd, as long as the venue is right.
■ From Tigerboard.com:On the other hand, not everyone is ready to turn tail and run:• 3rd year running, our pen just blows every conceivable opporutnity
• Tiger baseball. Let's face it. We are not going to win very many Conf. games this year.
• TJ seems to crumble in pressure situations. That includes pressure filled seasons and pressure filled game situations.
• Predictably atrocious offensive performance tonight.•Congrats to the ladies. Earlywhine is an amazing coach
• His name is Earleywine. Early-whine is what MU baseball fans do after going 0-2 in conference
• The wreck is behind us now. Stand up and fight again!! TAMU ranked 21st? Pitchers tauted as 1st round draft pick?
By the stats Tigers jerked their jock to their ankles, we out hit and out fielded um today. Just focus on the fix and out score um. I'm enyoying watching this team grow.• This team will learn how to win games like this
Check out the great video highlights of Saturday's wild game. This is not a Tiger team afraid to battle hard in the Big 12.
Rob Childress: “Every Big 12 game is going to be a dogfight. Our new players are learning that. There are no gimmies in this league. It doesn’t matter what day or what team you’re playing. They are a fight. If you’re not ready for a fight, you’re going to leave the field with a loss.”
“I was pleased with how we battled,” Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said in a
release. “We played hard, but made a lot of mistakes. We gave away a lot of free
bases and you can’t win if you do that against a good team.”
Missouri’s five-game winning streak came to an end, and it was the first time the Tigers lost their conference opener since 2004.■ Aggie pitchers tame Tigers (aggiesports.com)
"Barret Loux continues to be the guy that leads us into every weekend and pitches his tail off," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "John Stilson comes in and gives us a great finish. I sure hope we get to use that every Friday night, because that means we got a lead late and we are going to John."■ Pictures from A&M vs. Mizzou - Saturday (texags.com)
A few of them actually have Mizzou players in the shot■ Most exciting finish at Olsen since Nebraska 2001 (texags.com)
Adam Smith channeled the ghost of Neal Stephenson today with his 2-run double in the bottom of the 9th to lift the Ags to a stunning 5-4 victory!
This was the most exciting game I've seen at Olsen since that 2001 Sunday game vs. #1 Nebraska when Stephenson did the same thing (to win the series and the game by an identical 5-4 tally).
The Aggies (15-5, 2-1 Big 12) have the second-best ERA in the conference (2.92) and boast three of the top five pitchers in the league. Starter Barret Loux, reliever Michael Wacha and closer John Stilson each boast an ERA under 2.00, have more than 40 strikeouts, single-digit walks and hold their opponents’ batting average under .200.
That’s a far cry from facing North Dakota and UAPB, who faced the Tigers with several of pitchers whose ERAs above 10. Missouri (12-6) is scoring eight runs per game, but nearly half (67 of 143) have come over the last five games.
“We’re at home and we need to get off to a fast start,” A&M Head Coach Rob Childress said. “We need to be in good shape going on the road in two weeks to Kansas.”
Childress will look to find a defensive alignment and batting order that will produce consistently. He has used different lineups for seven consecutive games, drastically changing defensive positions starting with the Tech series.
In an attempt to reduce the team’s 1.6 errors per game, Childress moved senior outfielder Brodie Greene to short stop, sophomore short stop Adam Smith to the outfield, junior third baseman Kenny Jackson and sophomore Matt Juengel to first, and junior first baseman Caleb Shofner to third.
. . .
“Missouri always plays with a chip on their shoulder,” Childress said. “They play extremely hard. We’ll have our hands full this weekend.”■ Video: MU Tigers at Houston College Classic on YouTube:
If he puts together a solid senior year, Senne might just find himself being drafted by the Twins again. He easily could go in the sixth or seventh round, maybe even higher. The two-time academic All-American is hoping a third time with the Twins is a charm.■ In answer to a recent question about NCAA Baseball roster limits, check out The Effect of New Scholarship Rules in Division I Baseball at InformedAthlete.com. Informed Athlete's Rick Allen confirmed to me that there are no changes to the roster limit currently in the works.
"I love the Twins, and hope I get drafted by them again," he said. "It's a much easier choice because you know you're going to have a really good chance of growing up and being brought up through the system. They generally don't trade off all their young talent."
A student-athlete who is receiving an athletic scholarship must be included in the counter limit of 27, and the total roster size of 35, even if they are injured and unable to play. So a walk-on who has been performing well during practice sessions must be aware that they may be cut from the team to make room for an injured player receiving a scholarship because the injured player must be counted among the 27 and 35.
Central senior right hander Ryan Allen (MU, 06-07) earned his fourth win of the season in dominating fashion, retiring the first 13 batters he faced before a hit up the middle by UMSL (3-20) bounced off the glove of sophomore second baseman Cory Deedrick in the fifth to end the perfect game bid.
Allen tossed six innings, giving up only three hits and no runs, with six strikeouts.
Rob Zastryzny struck out at least one batter in every inning but the seventh, including the side in the third and fifth. The only hit came in the bottom of the fourth when Flour Bluff’s Alex Logamaro smacked a single up the middle.
Zastryzny responded by retiring the next seven batters, including five strikeouts.
“I stayed focused the whole game,” Zastryzny said. “I just came out and tried to throw strikes.”
Other than a pair of solo home runs, Texas A&M was silent at the plate against Northwestern State on Tuesday at Olsen Field.■ Aggies fall to Tech in series final (AggieSports.com)
Aggie senior designated hitter Joe Patterson hit one in the fourth inning and senior short stop Brodie Greene hit one in the ninth as A&M lost 4-2 to the Demons. The Aggies had eight base runners, three of which were caught stealing or put out within the first two innings and two more of which were forced out in inning-ending double plays, stranding a total of three.
"They were getting out of their approach," A&M Head Coach Rob Childress said about the struggles at the plate. "They were a little too anxious. It's something we haven't done all year long and we did that tonight."
The Aggies call it Championship Sunday, acknowledging the significance of games at the end of weekend baseball series. It lived up to that billing against Texas Tech, determined by a couple of championship staples -- pitching and defense.■ More on the Aggies' sloppy defense: A&M baseball team to open Big 12 play (AggiesSports.com)
Texas Tech brought the pitching.
Texas A&M did not deliver the defense.
The previously struggling Red Raiders exploited A&M's defensive shortcomings for 11 runs during two huge middle innings to beat the 23rd-ranked Aggies 13-7 on a cold, windy afternoon before a paid attendance of 2,937 at Olsen Field.
. . .
Much of his regret was caused in the fifth and sixth innings, when the Aggies made what Childress considered several inadequate defensive plays that didn't count as errors. Among them: First baseman Kenny Jackson's inability to field a sharp grounder that went for a single, third baseman Caleb Shofner's failure to get to a high pop foul in front of the dugout that extended an at-bat that resulted in a hit, and A&M neglecting to cover first base on an infield chopper.
A&M has been one of the better pitching and hitting teams in the conference during a 13-3 start. But the Aggies are last in the Big 12 with a .955 fielding percentage, too often failing to make routine defensive plays. Those struggles resulted in some major lineup switches going into the series against Tech, which will start at 6:35 p.m. Friday at Olsen Field.
Attempting to patch a leaky infield, A&M coaches will move two players from positions where they have started in all 16 games. Brodie Greene will switch from center field to shortstop. Caleb Shofner will move from first base to third base. Scott Arthur will take over in center field.
"It's kind of like shooting free throws: You can not talk about it, or you can address it," A&M head coach Rob Childress said. "When the big pink elephant's in the room, you've gotta talk about it. We know we need to be better defensively. Hopefully those changes will work for us."
At times he's trying to strike everyone out. But he's used up a lot of pitches doing that.
Throwing 93 mph after 100 pitches was certainly another plus. The minus side was the lack of fastball life and the present below average quality of his slider and change up, although they were admittedly his third and fourth best pitches. Based on this outing I can see Loux as a second half of the first round type of pick, with teams in the early comp round getting really excited about his maybe sliding down a bit to their area of the draft.
. . .
Stilson’s delivery, to put it mildly, makes you want to say “Wow…that interesting”. It’s high energy with a pretty severe head jerk and lots of recoil after release. I think the only way that Stilson can get away with it and repeat it well enough to throw strikes is that he is such a good athlete. Of course, all hitters are seeing are arms and legs flying around and it has to be very deceptive. Stilson’s stuff, also to put it mildly, makes you want to say “Wow….that’s awesome”. He sat between 94 and 98 mph and it wasn’t your normal straight high velocity fastball.
It was painful in other ways, as well. Catcher Brett Nicholas was hit by a pitch three times.
“I do” have some bruises, “but it was worth it,” said Nicholas, who came around to score each time. “I don’t think I’ve been hit twice in a game. I was a magnet today.”
Recently, much of that scoring has come in the form of homers. The Tigers have roped 11 home runs in their past five games after hitting nine in the 13 prior games.
With the Tigers producing with the sticks, coach Tim Jamieson is more concerned with their pitching heading into Friday.
“The one concern that I have is our starting pitching,” Jamieson said. “That’s something we still haven’t decided on for the weekend.”
Bottom 1—That was one of the ugliest innings I've seen a team have in a long time. Missouri scored seven times on just two hits—six walks and two hit batsmen were issued in the inning. UAPB starter Brad Tarter issued six of those in just 0.2 innings.
Also: Photo of Blake Brown's foul ball in fresh concrete■ Better control sparks improved outing for pitcher (Columbia Missourian)
“We call ourselves raiders,” pitcher Brad Buehler said. “It’s kind of a secret thing, which I really can’t go into because we kind of made a little pact that we wouldn’t really talk about it. It’s something our pitching staff and our bullpen came up with it. It’s just something to surprise teams.”See also: Things I'm looking forward to in 2010, #8
The pitching staff won’t even let the position players know its secret.
“They’re all one,” outfielder Jonah Schmidt said. “They call themselves raiders. I don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re all crazy. They don’t let us in that little group.”
Moody ace Michael Franco picked up his seventh win of the season by scattering four hits and striking out six. He also had two of the team’s nine hits and drove in two runs, including an RBI double in the top of the first inning.
The record for most runs scored by MU in a game is 35, in a 35-2 game against■ Tigers rush to Scardino's defense (Columbia Tribune)
William Jewell in 1902.
89.5 percent of his outs are recorded by the Tigers position players.
“Definitely exciting,” senior first baseman Aaron Senne said of playing behind Scardino, “because you know you’re going to get a lot of action.”
Brown said the home run gets the monkey off his back, and boosts his confidence before Big 12 Conference play starts on Friday.■ Missouri student-athlete spotlight: Aaron Senne (Big12Sports.com)
“It raises it quite a bit,” Brown said. “Just knowing that I finally pulled a ball with some power was good to do. I’ve been working on that because I’ve been a little late with the pitching, still adjusting to college. It gives me a lot of confidence going into conference because now I know I can handle this pitching.”
“Once or twice I’ve thought about what it would have been like to have signed a professional contract out of high school,” Senne said. “After the past 3 and a half years, I am very glad that I decided to come to school instead. The relationships I’ve made, the memories I will have forever, and the degree I am going to come out of here with are all very important to me and are a part of the college experience that I did not want to miss out on.”■ Mizzou Baseball Player & Pitcher of the Week (mutigers.com)
Player of the Week: Brett Nicholas -- INF/C -- Junior
Junior Brett Nicholas hit three home runs and drove in six in Missouri's three games against North Dakota last week. He hit .444 (4-for-9) in the series and had a slugging percentage of 1.444. Nicholas had a home run in the series opener, connecting on a two-run shot. He then hit two home runs in game two of the series, driving in four runs in that game. Nicholas' first homer of the second game was a three-run home run in the third inning. He then added a solo shot in the sixth. Nicholas singled in the first at-bat in the final game against North Dakota and now has an eight-game hitting streak. He has had at least on hit in 12 of the 15 games in which he has an at-bat this season. Nicholas is hitting .385 on the season. He leads the team with 20 RBI and is second on the squad with four home runs.
Mizzou Baseball Pitcher of the Week: Nick Tepesch -- RHP -- Junior
Missouri junior Nick Tepesch did not allow a run and gave up just three hits in six innings pitched to pick up the win over North Dakota on Saturday. Tepesch struck out eight as the Tigers shutout UND. Tepesch struck out three batters in both the first and fifth innings. The win moved him to 2-0 on the season. Tepesch has struck out a team-leading 19 batters in 23.1 innings pitched.
• Check out their detailed schedule and record at d1baseball.com.• As for team stats, I'd suggest the Southwestern Athletic conference website. Those stats don't really look entirely up-to-date to me either, but they're closer than UA-PB's website.
• Boyd's World has UAPB with an RPI of .314, good for 294th (out of 300). I'm sure losing a couple of games to Mizzou will raise their ranking nicely, just as the Tigers did for North Dakota.
Good players for UAPB? Hmm, let's see...Lloyd Burchett and Hinton Huckabee lead the team in batting average and anchor the left side of the infield defensively. This team has also stolen 14 of 20 bases in the six games recorded on its athletic Web site.
Taylor Hashman scored a school-record six runs and knocked in six more runs with three hits as Ole Miss beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 17-1 in Oxford on Tuesday night.
Wiley starter Roberto Carrion retired the first 11 batters until walking Burchett on four straight pitches in the fourth. Matt Pace led off the fifth flying out to center field and but Carrion's day was finished after Burchett's two-run single.
Xavier Lebron came on to get out of the fifth and allowed only a single to Pace in the sixth. Davis then led off the seventh with a single to left, was bunted to second by Prater and moved to third on Williams' groundout.
Burchett then walked on six pitches and, with two outs, B.J. McDonley fell into an 0-2 hole. He then turned on a pitch that sent left fielder Juan Soto running toward the fence and when it skipped off his glove, Burchett was rounding third with the winning run.
"I thought the ball was gone, really," McDonley said. "But the wind was terrible today. I knew I hit it hard, and I saw him running back so I figured we had a good chance of getting the runs in."
Sulaymaan Muhammad earned the win for UAPB after entering in the middle of the third in relief of Kyle Jones. Jones didn't allow a run in the first two innings but gave up three singles, a double, two walks and he hit a batter during Wiley's five-run third.
Hot Coach: Michael Bumpers, Arkansas-Pine Bluff
. . .
The Good News: This program is making great strides, going from 14 wins to 21 wins in one season. And check out that winning mark in conference play. Right?! The big reason was that the Lions ERA went from the worst in the SWAC in ‘08 to 4th in the SWAC at 6.42. Pace should be a team leader, but must revert to Frosh form when he hit .359 to lead the team.
University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff baseball player Kevin Edwards passed away on Saturday evening in his home state of Illinois after suffering from a fatal car accident. Edwards was a standout pitcher for the Golden Lions last season leading his team in total appearances (13) in 2009.
The Twins had Kubel to get some at-bats on the minor league side of the Lee County Sports Complex, and he wound up facing Kyle Gibson (07-09), the Twins' first-round draft pick last year.■ Greg Folgia - Catcher (Indians Prospect Insider)
"Kubel got chewed up down there," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Kubel has been swinging very good, but Gibson was cutting it, he was sinking it. After three at-bats, Kubel says, 'OK, Gardy, I'm ready to go back. I got carved up.'"
Greg Folgia (07-09) could be one of the real sleepers from the 2009 Draft for the Indians. He is a good all around player who has a short, compact swing with great gap power. He piled up a lot of doubles his first year of pro ball which a lot of times turn into home runs. He is under-sized, but has the body, strength, and toughness you would expect from a former high school wrestler.
. . .
The Indians experimented with him at catcher during Instructional League in the fall and liked what they saw and will continue with the transition to catcher in 2010. With the move to catcher the Indians appear to be playing off the versatility he has shown in being able to play any position on the field, but they also appear to be maximizing what is probably his best asset: his arm. As a former pitcher in college he topped out at 95 MPH, and that arm strength was on display during Instructional League when he fired the ball all over the field with exceptional velocity and good accuracy.
“You’re obviously not happy to have a year when you struggle,” he said. “But I was talking with our hitting coach Turner (Ward) and (Dave) Hansen (minor league hitting coordinator) about it all the time. ‘This is good for me.’
“Once you’re down you can only learn things from it. It’s not something that you want, but it’s almost like kind of a blessing in disguise in that you learn from it and know how to deal with failure. I feel more prepared for that and hopefully I can shorten the slumps, so instead of a week or a week and a half maybe I can just have a couple of games where I’m slumping and I can get out of it a little quicker.”
Evan Frey (05-07), whose most likely ceiling is as a fourth outfielder, will compete for a job in Triple-A Reno.
I recently learned two things about Brock Bond (06-07) that made my jaw drop. The first comes from Jeff Perro, the second from Baseball America’s 2010 Prospect Handbook:
1) His full name is Brock Lee Bond. Say the first and middle names quickly, out loud. Somebody’s parents had a sense of humor.
2) He was drafted by the Giants in the 24th round of the 2007 draft. I know, I know – there’s nothing shocking about that. The Handbook, however, notes that he was drafted accidentally – the Giants were actually targeting Casey Bond, an outfielder out of Lipscomb. I wonder how many people got fired for that little mixup.
To start spring training I've been assigned to the triple A group. Within the position players I'm the second youngest guy, which is a lot different than in years past. It's been great for me so far, we've got so many guys that have been around the game for so long and when you see those guys you want to try and emulate what they do because to be around the game that long you know that they're doing something right. The manager of the triple group is Edwin Rodriguez who was my manager in '08 in Greensboro. We have a lot of familiarity with each other so it's been pretty comforting. Our hitting coach is Greg Norton. This is his first year in coaching after a career that jay ended last year after spending parts of 13 seasons in the big leagues. I love to pick his brain and try and be a sponge with him as much as possible.
The Texas Tomcats have announced the signing of two freshmen to their 2010 inaugural season roster. Eric Garcia of the University of Missouri and Ryan Guedry of Navarro College will both don the purple, black, and silver colors of the Texas Tomcats this summer.
Many student-athletes work endlessly, often missing out on some of the common experiences of being a teenager, in order to reach the next level.
That's what the past two years have been like for Ian Ekery, a Franklin baseball player who signed a national letter of intent play at Missouri.
"I started getting really serious the summer between sophomore and junior year," Ekery said. "I started going to more camps and individual school showcases."
• Kale Gaden
• Bret Nicholas
• Aaron Senne
• Tim Jamieson
Oh I see. You can win a series at LSU, but you can’t win a game at SLU.
Boy, bad day to be a KU sports fan, huh? Aye-yaye-yaye. The baseball Jayhawks, ranked No. 27 in the country, lost a pair of games at St. Louis today 12-8 and 8-5. Really? The Billikens are now 3-1 vs. ranked teams this season, having already beaten Ohio State earlier.
■ Saturday baseball cancelled (mutigers.com)Saturday's baseball game between Missouri and North Dakota has been cancelled due to snow and rain in the Columbia area. The game will not be rescheduled. Mizzou won each of the first three games of the series with North Dakota, including a sweep of a Friday doubleheader.
The Tigers will host Arkansas-Pine Bluff in two-game series next Tuesday and Wednesday. The first game of that series will get underway at 6 p.m. on Tuesday
Garcia made up for a base-running mistake in the second inning — he got caught taking too big a turn around second while Nicholas was caught in a run-down between third and home — with a three-run home run over the right-field wall in the sixth inning.■ Pitcher continues to earn wins in relief for Missouri baseball team (Columbia Missourian)
Pitcher Ryan Clubb is more than O.K. with being labeled the vulture of the Missouri baseball team.
Like the large, dark-feathered bird that sneaks up on its prey, the sophomore pitcher is building a reputation for coming into the fifth inning of games and snatching the victory away from the starting pitcher.
Missouri: 0.496, ranked 152nd, down from 0.509/126th before sweeping UND 3-0
North Dakota: 0.373, ranked 276th, up from 0.358/281st before being swept
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
■ Reminder: Saturday's double-header was moved to Friday. First game @ 4:00 PM"Today was my first career home run so that was a big deal," Gaden said. "I got out there and got a solid pitch to hit."
Gaden smashed what looked like his second homer of the third inning with a double that went off the wall in center. Senior shortstop Michael Liberto was not surprised by his young teammate's performance after watching him in practice.
"In batting practice he can drop some barrel," Liberto said. "I know he can hit it hard and hit it far, so it really doesn't surprise me."
“Kale was probably one of our top three hitters in the fall,” Jamieson said. “We’re pulling for him because we know what he’s capable of. He’s got off to a slow start, kind of working him back in there.”
First baseman Aaron Senne said the team will find an appropriate way to haze Gaden for his accomplishment.
“Throw some garbage maybe,” Senne said. “Or whip him with a towel."
MU: 0.505 RPI, now ranked 139th, dropping from 0.509/126th
UND: 0.358/281st, up from 0.355/284th
■ Former Tiger finds home as North Dakota hitting coach (Tiger Extra)The Tucson, Ariz., native coaches third base and works with the catchers and, yes, is the team’s hitting coach.■ A reminder: The double-header originally scheduled for Saturday has moved to Friday. Game 1 @ 4PM.
Though Field hit just .207 at Missouri, he helped spark the Tigers’ run in the 2006 postseason. The catcher was 4 for 11, including a five-RBI game against Oklahoma, in the Big 12 Tournament. Field then went 7 for 17 and was named to the all-region team as the Tigers won the NCAA regional at Pepperdine.
■ SIUE blasts North Dakota (The Telegraph)Team batting average: .169 (not a misprint)Team ERA: 10.96
Three SIUE pitchers combined to throw a three-hit shutout Tuesday as the Cougars walloped North Dakota 11-0 Tuesday at Lee Field.
Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said he hopes to use McCormick to clean up a messy inning, Clark as the guy to get the key strikeout and Emens as the team's closer. He said the early success the three are experiencing is good for the entire pitching staff.
“I think that success breeds success,” Jamieson said. “There’s also the competition factor. They want each other to do well, but they also want to do better than the guy before them.”
■ J. C. Field, Assistant Coach of the Fighting Sioux, is a former Mizzou catcher (05-06) and spent a year in the KTGR broadcast booth alongside Tex Little. J.C. was the catcher for the combined no-hitter pitched by Max Scherzer and Michael Cole on April 1st, 2005.Thursday: 61/40 Mostly SunntFriday: 69/45 Partly CloudySaturday: 45/30, 70% Rain
March 12: A Saturday doubleheader at Southeast Missouri State will begin a stretch where the Fighting Sioux will play nine games in eight days. With school out of session for spring break, UND will take advantage of the time off by playing three games at SEMO, and two at SIU-Edwardsville before closing out the swing with a four-game series at Big XII power Missouri.■ From Tigerboard.com, re: North Dakota
TigerNation25: SIU-Edwardsville 11, NDU 0. Make that 1-5 for North Dakota...with this 11-0 loss they have now been outscored this year 68-17 in six games.... Oh yeah...and SIU-Edwardsville was 2-12 coming into today's game.■ Redhawks split two games with North Dakota (SEMissourian.com)
MizzouAstro: So we will win 2-1 every game
Fighting Sioux coach Jeff Dodson was elated with the split after his squad notched its first win of the year against his former club.■ On the Incidence of Swept Doubleheaders (The American Statistician, jstor.org)
Dodson spent five seasons as an assistant under Southeast coach Mark Hogan before taking over North Dakota's brand-new Division I program last year.
"It's always good to get that first win out of the way, and to get a signature win against a program like SEMO," said Dodson, who led the Sioux to a 14-29 record in 2009. "It's awesome to be back here. I've seen a ton of people I had ties with, a lot of friends."
Given that the proportion of double-headers swept is greater than 1/2, is it significantly greater? For 1964, the proportion swept is .582, and the two-sided 95% confidence limits for this proportion are (.513, .652). . . Thus we may safely accept the hypothesis that more double-headers are swept than are split.■ 2010 is the second year at Division I for the fighting Sioux. The College Baseball Blog had an interview last April with UND Head Coach Jeff Dodson:
From day one, we had to instill in our kids a mindset that they belong at Division I. Every player on our current roster was recruited to play at the Division II level. It was clear that there was a doubt at the beginning of the season that they could compete with some of the best teams in the country. But that doubt has been erased by beating some very good teams and competing at a high level in games where we fell a little short.”
All along, the Royals never publicly counted pitcher Aaron Crow out of the Major League picture. But, at the same time, the indications were that he'd start the season in the Minor Leagues.
The latter became official on Wednesday, when Crow was optioned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Kansas' BABIP [batting average on balls in play] for the weekend was .420. LSU's was a more reasonable .338. That's 80 points of batting average and was the difference in the series: bad luck. Kansas batted balls just seemed to tail away from every outfielder or find a hole in the infield while LSU batted balls turned into hits at about the expected rate. LSU is a good defensive team, so it wasn't misplays by the fielders it was just Kansas living up to the old cliché, hitting the ball where they ain't.■ Road Warriors (Baseball America)
It took a number of special performances for a banged-up Kansas team to win a series at Alex Box Stadium. Now the Jayhawks hope to use this series as a springboard heading into conference play, just as they did last year around this time when they grabbed headlines by sweeping Texas in the first weekend of Big 12 play.Kansas State
Kansas State (13-2) – Yeah, so much for thinking the Wildcats are going to take a huge step back without starting pitchers A.J. Morris and Lance Hoge. This team is just fine after going a perfect 4-0 last week with a home series sweep of MAC representative Kent State. Brad Hill is doing a fantastic job with this club.
It was far from the offensive barrage the Sooners have displayed several times over the first four weeks of the season. They entered Tuesday night’s opener of the two-game series averaging 8.23 runs per game.
Tech coach Dan Spencer: "We'll adjust those things tomorrow. I didn't say a lot to them at the end of the night tonight. We'll adjust those things and try to correct them for A&M. We are what we are right now. We're kind of scuffling and that's a tough place to go when you're not playing well but that's what is next on the schedule."
Opponents W-L total 87-69
Teams we have beaten W-L 41-43
Teams we have lost to W-L 45-38
RECORDS:
Gonzaga 7-7 L
Washington 7-7 W
New Mexico State 11-10 W
Florida Atlantic 8-5 W
Auburn 9-5 W
Boston College 6-9 L
Houston 8-5 (won six in a row) L
Texas 13-3 L
TCU 12-2 L
Western Illinois 4-6 W
Xaivier 2-12 WWL
Something interesting I ran across was New Mexico States games so far. We beat them 2-1 in extra's, but they have been scoring and giving up just an UNGODLY amount of runs. They lost their last game to Georgia Southern 30-24 and also have played other games with finals of 33-1(w) and 35-16(L)...at one point this season they had a steak of seven straight games where they scored at least 12 runs or more. They average over 14 runs a game(21 games played).
The Musketeers (2-12), who had allowed 11½ runs per game entering the series, held Missouri to a total of 12 in the three-game set. The Tigers eked out a 7-6 victory in 13 innings in the series opener. On Saturday, it took a two-run eighth inning to pull out a 4-2 win.
“There were more positives than negatives,” Jamieson said of the weekend. “Win or lose today, you’d like to come out and play a better game.”■ Starting today I'm posting MU's current standing in the national polls and in the RPI and ISR rankings, for what they're worth at this point in the season. Check the left-hand column, just under the mutigers.com headlines.
Mizzou baseball has never been a particularly successful program. In fact, the best the team ever finished was the 2004-05 season when the Tigers finished 43rd in the nation. But while the program is somewhat average compared to other baseball programs across the country, there is nothing quite like watching a baseball game.
“He was better,” Jamieson said. “The two runs up on the board that he gave were not really his. But I expect more out of him then what he did. I think he’s better than what he pitched.”■ MU's Fick prevails in pinch (Columbia Tribune)
“It’s a work in progress. Just going out there every day and trying to get better,” Fick said. “All three pitches have been working the last couple times out. I think that’s been key to keep guys off-balance, keep ’em guessing up there.”■ Outfielder's slump ends with winning hit for Missouri baseball team (Columbia Missourian)
Opel, a freshman outfielder, was in a 0-for-12 slump when he came up for his first at-bat of the day in the bottom of the eighth inning of the Tigers' game against Xavier on Saturday at Taylor Stadium.■ Tigers take second straight over Xavier (The Maneater)
“I’ve been trying to stay loose, but it’s always a challenge,” Opel said. “You have to be ready in all situations. But that’s baseball. It’s what you love.”■ Missouri baseball goes a lucky 13 for 7-6 win (KOMU.com VIDEO)
Kansas overcame injuries and playing on the road against the #2 team in the nation to win its weekend series over LSU two games to one. The losses were the first for LSU this season and dropped the Tigers to 13-2, the Jayhawks improved to 11-4 on the season and are all but guaranteed a spot in next week’s national rankings.
“In a game like that, you throw 31/3, it makes it feel like you’re throwing seven,” Emens said. “I was telling the guys, this is the freshest my arm’s felt in a while. I wasn’t wearing down, but I was ready for it to be over as soon as possible.”■ Relief pitcher gives strong outing in 13-inning win for Tigers (Columbia Missourian)
“He had some tough situations to pitch out of,” Jamieson said. “The way we were swinging the bats from about the middle of the game on, it didn’t feel like we were going to be able to score a run. It’s a lot of pressure that a pitcher has on him in that situation. You just feel like you’ve got to be perfect.”
"He's either a leadoff guy or a nine-hole guy," Jamieson said. "He seems to excel down there at the bottom of the order. He just needs to get on base. He just needs to compete, and he does, he's like another leadoff man."
Some light, spotty showers can be expected during the day Friday with daytime highs staying in the upper 40s. A band of rain will move in from the east overnight Friday and spread westward over mid-Missouri through early Saturday with winds at 15 to 20 mph from the north. A cold, steady rain will continue through the day Saturday, ending from late afternoon through early evening. Highest rainfall amounts will be found east of Highway 63 with lower amounts as you move west.■ Three Strikes: March 8 (Baseball America)
Missouri's streak of seven straight regionals looks to be in serious jeopardy. The Tigers play hard and are well coached, and they have some talented young players (especially Opel, center fielder Blake Brown and righthander Eric Anderson), but they simply lost too much from last year's team. They're very young, and they lack special arms aside from junior righty Nick Tepesch.
Cumulative score: 104-46Team batting average: .249, 2 team HR
Team ERA: 10.00. Best pitcher has an ERA of 5.84. Their weekend starters have a combined ERA of 8.14
Xavier – The Musketeers certainly lost some key cogs from the club that made an NCAA regional last season. But they probably didn’t expect the start this season with a 1-9 record. Xavier has played a relatively tough schedule so far this season but suffered a huge setback over the weekend with no wins in a three-game set against Wake Forest.■ Deacs complete sweep of Musketeers (Blogger So Dear)
Led by Shane Kroker's 7th inning towering shot over the left field wall to put the Deacs ahead for good, Wake Forest completed the sweep of Xavier in an exciting 12-10 slugfest at Wake Forest Baseball Park on Sunday afternoon. Freshman Niko Spezial recorded his first collegiate win in two innings of relief. Xavier's Brian Muransky took the loss in over two innings of work and Wake Forest's Joel Ernest earned the three out save, his second of the year.■ Missouri baseball team glad to be home (Columbia Missourian)
The nine games that the Tigers have played have answered some questions. Missouri finished 4-5 on the trip, which is considerably better than the 2-7 mark they came home with after last year's season-opening road trip.■ Big inning gives MU baseball team decisive win in home opener (Columbia Missourian)
Coach Tim Jamieson said he was pleased with the way his team handled the games, but searching for the team’s identity is still a higher priority than winning.
The Tigers had a four-run fourth inning to make the score 10-1. Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said his team must never go easy on opponents.■ Gotta let it roll off (Columbia Tribune)
“You can’t let up,” Jamieson said. “You’ve got to play all 27 outs. You’ve got to keep your focus. Guys that are on the bench need to be ready because the chance is that they’re going to get to play. They’ve got to learn how to play when they’re ahead and when they’re behind.”
One pitch into his home debut, and Brown allowed a runner to get to second. Two batters later, Hagins would score to put the Tigers in a hole.
“Defensive errors really kill me inside,” Brown said.
The video board is capable of showing highlights and players’ pictures with their stats during their at-bats. The system has replay capabilities, but that’s not in the plans for this season.■ Home opener live blog (KMOV.com)
We've started to notice some lightning to the south and west up in the press box...so this game will probably go on life support in a few minutes.
-----
With the score 10-3 Mizzou entering the eighth, the lightning gets more noticeable and frequent. I can't see how this game will last a whole lot longer...which means Mizzou will win their first home game of the year.
In one of the worst stories of the off-season, the ultra-popular Stan Hyman, the eight-year head coach of the Leathernecks, died from a short two-month battle with leukemia in September.
Talk about sudden… and sad too. It wasn’t until Thanksgiving weekend that WIU finally announced that Central Michigan assistant Mike Villano would take over the rudderless program. The former pitching coach of the Chippewas has never been a head coach. Everybody should pull for a smooth transition for the ‘Necks.■ Sooner baseball blows out Western Illinois (OUDaily.com)
OU did not rely on the long ball to manufacture runs with the Oklahoma gusts blowing out to left-center field, but rather bunting was its biggest weapon. The Sooners laid down three infield bunt singles to get runners on base and executed four sacrifice bunts to move them over.
The reason why bunting was as successful as it was Friday was because OU was facing a left-handed pitcher and because of how the Leathernecks’ defense was aligned, junior second baseman Danny Black said.
“The push bunt is always an option,” Black said. “In their case everyone was collapsing on the ball every time, so it made it kind of easy for us to get it in the right spot. They kept doing the same thing so we were exploiting them.
"We were set to play three games at Alabama State; however, after talking with their coaches we found out they had a scheduling conflict at their stadium with high school games, so the likelihood of getting all three games in was not good," said Western Illinois first-year head coach Mike Villano.
With seniors Kyle Lusson and Russell Moldenhauer in charge, the Longhorns decided it was time for a change in their at bats and confidence. The time had come for their offense to steal a page from the pitching staff that allowed seven runs in three games this weekend.
“We got together and talked about the lack of confidence we showed yesterday and that we wanted to be like out pitching staff,” first baseman Tant Shepherd said. “They come out every day and know they are going to do good and throw strikes. Today, we relaxed and tried to just hit a good pitch.”
They figured it out as a team, and it started in the bottom of the fifth against Missouri on Sunday
"I was really proud of them because this game today offered them an opportunity to get on track, and it worked for them," Texas coach Augie Garrido said.
"That had something to do with the pitching, but also it had something to do with the players backing off and trying to simplify and finding out that, 'Hey man, if I keep swinging at those balls down by my shoetops and above my head, it's going to be a long season.'
"I thought he [Nick Tepesch] pitched real well," Jamieson said. "The thing that I saw today was when he got into trouble, he had another gear he could go to, and we hadn't seen that out of him this year. Each start's gotten a little better, and this is certainly the best team he's pitched against, so I thought he pitched well."■ Houston beats Texas 1-0 in Houston College Classic (Austin American-Statesman)
"I think it's about heart with this team," said Loy, who had one of Texas' three hits. "We're getting up there and we're worried about whether we're going to strike out or get on base. It's about that right now and it's not about doing what needs to be done. I think we're a better team than they are. I don't think right now we're playing with a lot of heart or hard work.■ Crow works two strong innings as Royals beat Rangers (Kansas City Star)
OK, it’s not the Border War, which didn’t go so well today for Crow’s Tigers in a 77-56 loss to Kansas. But, hey, it’s still marked a nice spring debut for the Royals’ first-round pick in last year’s draft.
“There were a lot of people in the stands,” Crow said. “It was a lot better than doing it on the back fields. It got me pumped up a little bit.”
I spoke to the Astros rep who is charge of the schedule and he said there is NO conspiracy...long ago, Missouri asked to play the first game on Sunday because of travel and Texas did the same, saying they were tired of playing the last game of each day.....who knows?■ Tepesch,. Purke treating us to another duel (collegebaseball.rivals.com)
Tepesch, who hasn't had a great start this season, finally is looking the way many expected him to this season.■ Aaron Fitt of Baseball America is also blogging from the Houston College Classic.
Augie Garrido couldn't conceal his jubilation Friday night, and he didn't try
to. The Texas coach had just watched his team pull out a thrilling 2-1 win to
snap a four-game losing streak to rival Rice, and he seemed downright giddy as
he held court in front of a handful of reporters along the first-base line at
Minute Maid Park.
Anderson again looked sharp in his second collegiate start. The freshman hurler■ Competition will heat up in Hoston (TigerExtra.com)
went 5 2/3 innings, giving up just two runs, but he couldn’t get the help he
needed from the offense, which stranded 11 runners.
“The game’s going to speed up on us a little bit this weekend because of the
quality of competition,” Jamieson said. “I thought we did a great job against
Auburn in that environment. I’m looking forward to seeing us do that again,
particularly against TCU and Texas.”
College baseball will be showcased at the highest level this weekend at the Houston College Classic. Outside of the College World Series, this tournament is, in my opinion, the greatest college baseball tournament in the country. We just returned to the hotel from our Thursday practice session at Minute Maid Park. It's awesome to see our players so excited to play and work out on a major-league field. I just hope we haven't completely "trashed" our swings with everyone trying to hit balls into the Crawford Boxes during BP Thursday night.
“Texas made Stanford look ordinary — amazing,” Graham said. “They looked like they could leap tall buildings in a single bound when we played them.”■ Weekend Preview: Houston College Classic (BurntOrangeNation)
Finally, Texas' Sunday opponent is Missouri in an always-fun non-conference game against a conference opponent. Maybe Augie pitches the guy he doesn't think is actually going to be the conference Sunday starter just so that Mizzou doesn't get an early look at him? That would be awfully sneaky.■ The eyes of college baseball are upon you (Bleacher Report)
If I had to pick a darkhorse for the Houston College Classic, it would have to be Texas Tech. The Red Raiders aren't exactly a baseball powerhouse but currently hold a 6-2 record and are averaging 9.4 runs per game. If they can keep with the solid bats, the boys from Lubbock might do damage.■ TCU enjoying its new power status (CollegeBaseball.Rivals.com)
“I think our guys now feel like we belong on the same field as programs like Texas, Fullerton and other perennial powers,” Schlossnagle said. “When you get in situations like the super regional and get mentioned in the same breath as programs like Texas and Fullerton, it can be a little intimidating for a program that hasn’t been to Omaha.”■ Senne's position switch leads to more power for Missouri baseball (Columbia Missourian)
“I think last year was just kind of unusual,” Senne said. “It wasn’t a very characteristic year for me. It happens, but I feel like I’m right back on track now.”■ Missouri built for success in 2010 (Maneater)
Two weeks into the new season, the Missouri baseball team has shown experience at the plate and on the mound is a recipe for success■ Crow eager to learn, prepared to soar (mlb.com)
Crow's a bright young man who majored in marketing at the University of Missouri. He also majored in pitching and he's pretty sharp at that, too.
Almost six years have passed since that June day, and my dam of promise has fissured. A void now exists where my future slowly seeped out, and my baseball life is marred with disappointment.
. . .
For all my 28 years I've loved this game. It's defined my life, but it's time to move on. The sheen of my career is gone, and I love my wife too much. And that's the reason I'm not Crash Davis.
It took all of just 27 innings for Texas to right the ship and get their stature back near the top of the college baseball pecking order back where it belongs. And of course, leave it to the pitching to do that. Looks like Taylor Jungmann is going to be quite studly again, going 7.0 innings, giving up just four hits and with 10Ks to get the win on Friday night, 6-0. Yes, this is Texas… again.
. . .
The [TCU] Frogs do it again, winning a series at Goodwin Field for the second straight season. Wow. That is a rarity… like Kohoutek’s Comet rare. Steven Maxwell (Friday) and Kyle Winkler (Sunday) were superb in the two wins. The only bummer was seeing super-frosh Matt Purke getting rocked in an early exit. But just imagine how awesome this team will be when he gets brought up to speed?
The Longhorns are planning on switching things up a bit in the next few weeks.
Cole Green, who started Wednesday's victory over Dallas Baptist, will be in the bullpen today against Stanford. The idea is to get Green back in weekend rotation mode next week.
Austin Dicharry will take the mound for Texas today as the Longhorns go for the sweep. Texas might start freshman Hoby Milner on Tuesday against Texas Pan-American.
That would leave the Longhorns with all of their top experienced pitchers ready to pitch next weekend at the Houston College Classic.
TCU baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle wants to wait a little bit -- maybe until late May -- before he proclaims the Horned Frogs' 5-1 start to be big.
. . .
"It's only a big deal if you finish out the rest of the way," Schlossnagle said. "You have to make it stand for something at the end of May by having a good season."
Pitching may indeed be the strength of the TCU baseball team, but the offense looks primed to argue its case.The Horned Frogs walloped 18 hits, including three home runs, in a 15-2 win Sunday over Sam Houston State to sweep the three-game series at Lupton Stadium. The 11th-ranked Frogs scored 31 runs on 40 hits in the series.
[Freshman right-hander Matt Purke] is absolutely as advertised. He has hurt my hand a little bit. He throws hard, and he's got a lot of movement on his fastball, and he's got a lot of confidence on the mound. That's going to help him out, especially when he runs into trouble.
Noble is counting on three junior college players (right fielder/pitcher Matt Creel, third baseman Austin Gracey and second baseman Ryan Still) and one freshman (catcher M.P. Cokinos of Memorial High) to have a significant impact on the offense. They'll slide into a lineup that features holdover shortstop Blake Kelso (.335 last season), catcher Chris Wallace (team leading nine homers and .584 slugging percentage), left fielder Caleb Ramsey (.332 with a team-leading 46 runs batted in) and center fielder Zak Presley (team-best 17 steals in 23 attempts to go with .390 on-base percentage).
"I think we're finding out where guys need to be," he said after Sunday's loss. "The thing that I've got to figure out is where people are going to be best suited in the lineup. It's good to see Ramsey put a charge into the ball because we're going to need that guy in the lineup. He's been sick the past couple of days, but it looked like he was okay today."
And the starting pitching, while not great, was enough to keep the Cougars in all of the games. The problem was the bullpen and the lack of timely hitting. If Noble can figure out some fixes for the bullpen, and if they can figure out the whole-hitting-with-two-outs thing, then the team just might be able to recover from this slow start. If not, it might end up being a long season.
After a four-run start for Boston College, marked by a three-run homerun from John Spatola, the Tigers evened the score in the second inning, with Michael Liberto earning two RBI in the first and Aaron Senne hitting his 30th career homerun in the second, moving him into the sole 9th spot. His next two homeruns will move him into a tie for eighth all-time.
An average wOBA [weighted on-base average] in the majors is about .330. In college, the average is going to be higher because the quality of pitching a batter faces is worse. Currently, the average for the Big 12 is around .380.
Now that the explanations are out of the way, here's a look at where Missouri batters stand in the league's top 64 wOBAs:
6. Mike Liberto, .540
11. Aaron Senne, .483
37. Brett Nicholas, .368
46. Jonah Schmidt, .330
49. Blake Brown, .329
61. Conner Mach, .215
