Wednesday, May 30, 2012

HI NOTES: Tigers look forward to Tucson, Recruit looks forward to SEC

Kudos to Jill Pratte, wife of Mizzou Director of Baseball Operations Evan Pratte, who was named the 2012 NAIA-ATA Athletic Trainer of the Year for her work at Central Methodist University.


MU RECRUIT

Q&A with Mizzou Commit Hunter Haynes from Mexico HS (Prep Baseball Report)
Hunter Haynes from Mexico HS ended his high school career with a bang, living up to the hype and designation as a top D1 level pitcher, a pitcher who will continue his career at Mizzou next season helping make their transition to the SEC.

In his final high school season, Haynes put up some of the top stats of anyone in the state. In forty-seven and a third innings, Haynes struck out eight four batters, while walking only ten. Haynes held batters to a .106 batting average with a microscopic 0.44 ERA.
. . .
PBR: What were the reasons that you ultimately chose Mizzou?

Haynes: I had a developed a good relationship with the coaching staff over my high school years and with the SEC move I wanted to play the best competition in the nation so I can see where I stack up against the best.

PBR: What was the relationship you had with Coach Jamison and the Mizzou staff in the recruitment process?

Haynes: I felt that my relationship with Coach Jamison and the Mizzou staff during the recruiting process was good. I always had a gut feeling that Mizzou was where I would end up even though other schools had expressed interest.

NCAA TOURNAMENT

♦ Connections:
  • Mizzou and the Arizona Wildcats
    • Mizzou has played Arizona previously in the first round of an NCAA Regional, in 2005.  Arizona was the 2-seed and Missouri the 3-seed in the Fullerton Regional.  MU went 0-2 in that Regional, the first loss to the Wildcats.
    • Arizona and Missouri were both in the 1954 College World Series, but never played each other.  MU went on to win the national championship.
    • Mizzou is 0-3 all-time against UA

  • Mizzou and the New Mexico State Aggies
    • NMSU's Head Coach is Rocky Ward.  He is the son of his assistant coach, Gary Ward.  The older Ward was the head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1978 to 1996.  At OSU he complied a record of 953-313-1, including 16 straight conference titles, 17 NCAA Regional appearances and 10 trips to the College World Series.  Tim Jamieson and Ward coached against each other for two years.
    • Mizzou is 1-0 all-time against NMSU.  That single game was just two years ago, in February 2010 -- in Tucson.  The Tigers won in the 10th inning.  The mutigers.com description of that 10th inning rally:
    • Freshmen Dane Opel and Kale Gaden each drew a walk to open the bottom of the 10th inning. After two outs were recorded, freshman Brannon Champagne walked to load the bases and sophomore Conner Mach was hit by a pitch to drive in the game-winning run.
  • Mizzou and the Louisville Redbirds
    • Mizzou and Louisville went head-to-head twice in the 2007 Regional held at Taylor Stadium.  The Cardinals won those games and won the Regional, but not before inciting a near riot with the antics of their third baseman, Chris Dominguez.  Of course, only coaches Tim Jamieson, Evan Pratte and Dan Pietroburgo were a part of the Tigers during that Regional.  And of course Louisville's Head Coach Dan McDonnell and most of his coaching staff were part of that Regional.
    • Mizzou is 1-2 all-time against Louisville
An overview of the Arizona Baseball team from a UA fan on Tigerboard.com:
PITCHING:

Kurt Heyer is our #1 pitcher. Low ERA, good SO/BB ratio, and a pretty consistent workhorse. Konner Wade is #2. Kind of like a slightly less consistent version of Heyer. Both are very capable of going to the 8th or 9th. #3 is James Farris. He's more of a 5-inning guy. Stephen Manthei is our closer. He's more solid than dominant. Beyond that, it's dicey with freshmen Matt Troupe and lefty Tyler Crawford.

INFIELD:

SS Alex Mejia and 3B Seth Mejias-Brean anchor the left side. Both excellent defensively, and they're both dependable hitters. Freshman Trent Gilbert is fine defensively, but he's struggled with the bat. Joe Maggi has taken over first base and done okay, but he often gets replaced in late innings defensively by Brandon Dixon.

CATCHER:

Freshman Riley Moore has had to go it alone in his freshman year, after another fine freshman catcher, David Schuknecht, needed surgery. Moore is rangy. Good defensively, and with a good arm. The bat's coming along.

OUTFIELD:

CF Joey Rickard leads off. Good on-base percentage, as you'd expect, and a good base-stealer. LF Johnny Field is kind of short and stocky. He's had a number of big hits this year, including the walk-off game-winner in our last game. RF Robert Refsnyder is the leader of the team. Very mature player and blood and guts going after foul balls, stretching plays with his baserunning, etc.
College baseball is doing more than carving a niche (Independent Mail)
I realize the “Road to Omaha” isn’t quite like the “Road to the Final Four.”

I get that there will never be the same level of interest in the NCAA baseball tournament as there is in January bowl games.

Still, for 64 selected teams full of hard-working student-athletes and coaches, along with their fan bases, Monday was a pretty big day.

College baseball isn’t the attention grabber the other two majors are, but it’s becoming more than just a niche sport, especially around these parts.

“We’re experiencing an era we’ve maybe never experienced across country,” South Carolina veteran coach Ray Tanner said. “I don’t take this for granted.”
Missouri baseball team headed to Tucson for NCAA Tournament (Columbia Missourian)
"We were talking about that in the locker room down in Oklahoma," junior Dane Opel said. "We were celebrating, and I went up to Conner (Mach) and some of the guys and I was like 'I'm just so glad I'm not crying with you guys right now.'"

BIG 12


Kansas baseball season over, trounced by Missouri (Kansan.com)
The Kansas baseball season came to a crushing end Saturday afternoon in Oklahoma City. Archrival Missouri run-ruled the Jayhawks in the eighth inning 12-2.
. . .
For Kansas, it was a disappointing way to end the season, trounced by their biggest rivals.

“I grew up as a Buffalo,” Tharp said. “I got here the first year, ever since the first day I’ve been here skip has told me it’s KU vs. MU, K-State was never really a rival for us.”

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