Monday, April 26, 2010

Tigers rain on Wildcat parade

■ Rankings

Boyd's World RPI:
Sunday morning: Mizzou 113th; K-State 28th

Monday morning: Mizzou 89th; K-State 40th
Big 12:
Mizzou: Moved up to 7th (6-8, .429)

K-State: Hanging on to 2nd (9-5, .643)

Missouri's 4 remaining Big series include the last ranked team (NU), and 3 of the top 5 ranked teams: UT (1), TT (3), KU (5)
■ Good slideshow of photos from the soggy double header at KCTV5.com

Three down: Kansas State (CollegeBaesballToday.com)
The Wildcats lost both ends of a double header 4-2 and 9-8 (in 10 innings)

It’s not like the Wildcats weren’t given every opportunity in the world here either. In game one, the Tigers issued seven walks and two hit batsmen to go along with KSU’s eight hits. In game two, the Cats got 13 hits and a bonus of five Tiger errors. But in the end, even all that gifting wasn’t enough. Tiger frosh Dane Opel hit a two-run jog-off dinger in the 10th to cap the day.

Oh, and it also didn’t help that K-State stranded 23 baserunners on the day.
. . .
Missouri is a team that had kind of fallen off the grid a bit this season and KSU has been one of the surprise teams in the country. Well, when rain ravaged the series, that was one thing, then when the games actually got played, the Wildcats couldn’t pull out a win today. KSU came into the weekend with a No. 28 RPI rating. That should fall a bit after this DH tank job.
Mizzou baseball vs. Kansas State non-raining live blog (KMOV.com)
Despite not making it through eight, Tepesch turned in another very good outing. If his last few starts are any indication, Missouri may have found itself an ace for the stretch run of this season. He threw 133 pitches in the game—a Kyle Gibson-esque total.

Mizzou baseball vs. K-State game two live blog (KMOV.com)
Fick cruises through another inning, pitching over a pair of two-out errors by Brett Nicholas at third to nail down his third scoreless inning of work. His ERA is down below 1.50 for the year and he has 18 strikeouts to just four walks in 24 innings pitched.
On the negative side of things, Nicholas' two errors put Missouri at five for the game. The fact that the MU is within one going to the bottom of the eighth with five errors is pretty surprising.

Catcher's intangibles key in doubleheader sweep for Missouri baseball (Columbia Missourian)
Ampleman said his ability to call good games behind the plate was starting to hinder because he was thinking too much about his hitting woes.

“It was in my head,” Ampleman said. “To be honest with you, you have to go back to like second grade. You don’t think, just go out and play and have fun.”

In Game 1, Ampleman and Tepesch put together one of Missouri’s best starts of the year. Tepesch pitched into the eighth inning, despite not having great control because of the rainy weather.

The tandem held Kansas State to one run, and Missouri won 4-2.

Team drops double-header at Missouri (kstatecollegian.com)
The weather was gloomy all weekend in Columbia, Mo., and a rain-shortened, two-game series also turned out gloomy for the K-State baseball team.
The Wildcats (27-10, 9-5 Big 12 Conference) dropped both games of a Sunday doubleheader and hurt its chances to catch No. 3-ranked Texas for the Big 12 lead. The Longhorns recorded their 14th-straight Big 12 win Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of Oklahoma State.

Underhand pitches keep Missouri reliever on the mound (Columbia Missourian - article plus video)
Missouri coach Tim Jamieson wasn’t surprised the style was effective. He was just surprised that McCormick became successful so quickly.

“A lot of times, and in his case too, it’s kind of a last alternative,” Jamieson said. “He’d almost been cut several times. He’d probably be the first one to tell you, he was struggling to get anybody out. He needed to come to the conclusion that that was the best alternative.”

MU legend gets his due (TigerExtra.com)
The Tigers officially opened the McArtor Baseball Facility in a ceremony yesterday. It is named for longtime Missouri coach and administrator Gene McArtor, whose mother, wife, children and grandchildren were on hand for the dedication.

“I’m proud to have my name associated with this,” McArtor said. “I’m hoping maybe it’ll get me a few free swings along the way.”

“The Mac” houses three batting cages and dirt pitching mounds for year-round use.

“Obviously, you want to try and improve your situation to give yourself a chance to win more baseball games,” Jamieson said. “That’s really what it comes down to.”

Big 12 Baseball

Double trouble: Dozen two-baggers doom KU baseball (KUSports.com)
The tentative pitching, more than anything, was what ate at Kansas University baseball coach Ritch Price after his team dropped a pair games to Texas Tech, 11-8 and 21-10, Sunday at cold and windy Hoglund Ballpark.

“I think the whole key to it was we were behind in the count almost every single hitter and got into power counts where we had to throw fastballs,” Price said.

In the series finale, Texas Tech tied a Big 12 record with 12 doubles.

Texas baseball hammers Oklahoma State (statesman.com)
"When it feels as easy and it looks as easy as it does right now, it's because everyone's on the same page," Garrido said.

And the Longhorns are making it look very easy. Texas swept its fourth straight conference series, outscoring OSU 28-4 over the weekend and improving to 16-2 in Big 12 play.

Its 16-game streak is the longest Texas has put together since 2005 , a year that ended with the College World Series title.

"You can win every game," Garrido said. "You don't, but you can."

Right now, it looks like the Longhorns just might.

MU in the Minors

Zagone picks up where he left off (fredericknewspost.com)
"Right when I got here I was in a kind of a little bit of a funk," Zagone said after Sunday's game. "Then toward the end of the season I started pitching really well again. I've been hitting my spots, letting the hitters get themselves out."

Despite his good ERA [2.29], he is 0-1 on the season.

"You can't worry about that," he said. "You've got to go out there and get outs."

Photos of Kyle Gibson pitching on April 24th for the Fort Meyers Miracle> (flicker.com)

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