MU in the Minors

MU in the Minors

■ Gibson pitches first pro victory (Twins.Scout.com)

The Miracle were on the right side of a shutout on Tuesday, as top prospect Kyle Gibson showed why the Twins made him their first round selection in 2009. The young right-hander picked up the first win of his professional career, tossing six shutout innings. Gibson struck out six in the game, allowed four hits, and did not issue a walk.

■ Take a look at April 13th 2010 Kyle Gibson pitch by pitch (Miracle Minutes) if you want to know the nitty gritty details

Game Day: MU @ Missouri State

■ The Bears are having a down year, having gotten off to the worst start (5-13) in their history.

■ Bears host Big 12 foes Kansas and Missouri at Hammons (missouristatebears.com, 4/12)

The Missouri State baseball team (12-19, 1-5 Missouri Valley) hosts a pair of Big 12 schools this week with Kansas (19-13-1, 3-5-1) coming to Hammons Field Tuesday and Missouri (18-13, 3-6) making a visit Wednesday. First pitch for both games is 6:30 p.m. MSU has had the most success of any MVC school against the Big 12 the past two years, leading the league in wins (4) and winning percentage (.500).

■ Fritz the bat: Braves rally for the sweep (pjstar.com, 4/12)

A day after winning its first Missouri Valley Conference series under second-year coach Elvis Dominguez, the Bradley baseball team proved its victories were no fluke.

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth Sunday, Bradley completed its rally with senior Matt Fritz’s game-winning single to left field. The Braves won 9-8 to sweep the Missouri State at O’Brien Field.

■ Baseball Bears lasso Oklahoma State (OzarksFirst.com) has a video report of the OSU-MSU game

■ Oral Roberts baseball swept by Missouri State (Examiner.com)

And the Missouri State offense didn't have to work much at all in this game. They never hit anything more than a single in all 9 innings. One example of how easy they had it was in the first inning. Centerfielder Aaron Conway reached first base via the walk as the 2nd batter of the game. A pair of wild pitches to the next batter advanced Conway to 3rd. Then catcher Luke Voit got the first RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to right field. Overall, Missouri State took advantage of the 6 walks and one hit batter they earned while coasting their way to a 5-1 win.

■ Missouri State has a few pitchers on the BoydsWorld.com Pitch Count Watch

■ Missouri State Bears Facebook page

On Friday night we will be handing out maroon Crocs to the first 30 guests who purchase a ticket at Hammons Field.

■ Medrano keeps hot bat for bears (News-Leader.com)

As Missouri State's offense struggled through the first six weeks of the season, Kevin Medrano just kept hitting line drives.

Even as the team batting average slumped into the .250 range, Medrano stayed well above .300.

■ Freshmen shine on MSU mound (News-Leader.com)

The kids did it for Missouri State's baseball team.

Freshmen Clay Murphy and Grant Gordon combined to strike out 15 Oklahoma State hitters and the Bears rallied with three runs in the eighth inning for a 7-5 victory Wednesday night before 687 fans at chilly Hammons Field.

Mizzou Baseball Quotes & Notes: Status Report

■ RPI Needs Report (BoydsWorld.com)

This report lists the record each team would need for the rest of their schedule to finish higher than the team currently in the shown key RPI positions, those that correspond to the various seeding or at large thresholds, assuming that all other teams maintain their current winning percentage. It's highly speculative, since those RPI levels will move up or down, and the committee is highly unlikely to just take the top 8 in RPI for the national seeds, for example, but it can be useful as a rough guide.

Missouri needs to go 21-1 to finish in the Top 32

Missouri needs to go 19-3 to finish in the Top 45

■ From the BoydsWorld.com Leaderboard:

• Division I Batting Average: Aaron Senne ranked 4th, at .476
  
  
• Total Hits: Aaron Senne tied for 10th, at 57
  
  
• Pitching Appearances: Phil McCormick tied for 6th, at 20
  
  
• Bases on Ball surrendered: Jeff Scardino tied for 4th, with just 3

■ Take Two: An alternative look at the day in sports (Columbia Tribune)

With six weeks remaining in the regular season, it’s too soon for the Tigers to panic. Missouri lost five of its first six conference series last season before making a run from eighth to second in the standings. The Tigers finished third when the Sooners passed them on the final weekend.

■ In the weekly Top 25 Chat (Baseball America), Aaron Fitt talks bout a number of Big 12 teams, including offering his opinions on two of MU's draft prospects: Aaron Senne and Nick Tepesch.

Senne was a tease for much of the first three years of his collegiate career. He's always had power potential, and he never quite put it all together until this year — it's great to see him having this kind of loud season. He could be a good senior sign for somebody.

Mizzou Baseball Tigers: Present, Past & Future

■ Aaron Senne named Big 12 Player of the Week (Big12Sports.com)

In five games last week, Senne hit .609 (14-for-23), including a .533 mark in the series at No. 12 Oklahoma. He also tallied two home runs, three doubles and seven RBI. Senne, who is currently on a 16-game hitting streak, had multiple hits in each contest. The Rochester, Minn.-infielder was 3-for-4 in both of the Tigers' midweek games against SIU-Edwardsville and Illinois. He again recorded a three-hit game in the opener of the OU series. On Saturday, Senne homered in his first at-bat and added a single in the fourth inning. He closed the week by going 3-for-5 with four RBI. He doubled in the third and singled in the fifth, then hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to break an 11-11 tie and carry Missouri to the 12-11 victory in the finale. On the year, Senne is hitting .460 with 15 doubles, 10 home runs and 38 RBI.

2010 Recruits

■ Pitchers' duel goes to Cats' Zastryzny (Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

With gusts topping out at 40 mph, it made each swing of the bat that much more important for both teams in Thursday’s district matchup between state-ranked Calallen and the Warriors. At the end of the night, only the Wildcats managed to capitalize on one of the game’s few opportunities.
. . .
Such was the case on Thursday, especially with Calallen ace Rob Zastryzny and T-M’s Nick Lopez locked in a duel. Zastryzny scattered four hits and struck out 12, while Lopez surrendered only two hits and struck out seven.

The win went to Zastryzny, who drove in the decisive run in the top of the third inning.

MU in the Minors

■ Evan Frey (05-07) plays small ball . . .

• Saturday, April 10: One of the BayBear knocks against McGee came in the first when Evan Frey bunted his way on. Jake Wald was walked but a double steal attempt wiped Wald out at second. Frey was stranded on third to end the frame.

• Friday, April 9: Evan Frey reached on an infield single and went to third on a Collin Cowgill single to bring up Byrne.

■ And Greg Folgia (07-09) plays long ball . . .

• Sunday, April 10: Greg Folgia hit his second home run in three games as Lake County beat West Michigan 6-4.

• Friday, April 9: The key hits in the seventh were a leadoff home run by Greg Folgia and RBI singles by Bo Greenwell and Tice

Mizzou Baseball: Senne leads the way

■ Stats from Big 12 Games (Big12Sports.com)

• Aaron Senne leads all batters in Big 12-only games, with a .460 batting average and slugging average of .823

■ Senne's home run leads Missouri baseball to victory (Columbia Missourian)

The Missouri baseball team has figured out how to win on Sundays. Now, the Tigers have to figure out how to win the other games.

■ Baseball wins two of three against Missouri (Oklahoma Daily)

“What’s disappointing is the maturity of the whole program,” Golloway said. “We didn’t win a Big 12 title last year because we couldn’t finish people off. And now Nebraska, Missouri – we’re going to be guilty of the same things. We can’t finish people off, and it’s going to come back and it’s going to haunt us

■ Tigers take one (Norman Transcript)

If there was one player in Missouri’s lineup OU didn’t want to mess with, it was first baseman Aaron Senne. The senior is the Big 12’s best hitter by any measuring stick and had already torched the Sooners for seven hits in 14 trips to the plate in the series.

Sooner reliever Michael Rocha had Senne down 0-2 with two outs in the eighth inning. The hope was Senne would get himself out by swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone. Golloway said the next pitch was supposed to be a slider in the dirt. Rocha, a junior, left it in the strike zone and Senne ripped it over the right-field wall.

Game Day: OUch!

■ Missouri baseball team trying to avoid series sweep (Columbia Missourian)

It’s the third weekend in a row that the Tigers (17-13, 2-6 Big 12) will go into the final game of a series trailing 0-2. The Tigers have come back to win the final game on the other occasions, but losing the first two games is a a trend Missouri needs to stop.

■ Sooners tame Tigers, 6-4, snap four-game conference losing streak (Crimson and Cream Machine)

Missouri would score again in the top of the 9th but it was too little too late for the Tigers. This was a win that Oklahoma desperately had to have and they fought tooth and nail for it. The win, along with a few key losses, boosted the Sooners up into 3rd place in the conference standings. Of course that means absolutely nothing if OU can't finish off this series. They'll be in position to win the series Saturday afternoon but could really use a three game sweep. That's something they've not yet been able to accomplish this season.

■ Critical error does in Tigers (Columbia Tribune)

Oklahoma (24-6, 4-4) broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run seventh inning, which included a two-run home run from Cameron Seitzer. All three runs were unearned after Ricky Eisenberg reached on a three-base error by second baseman Eric Garcia to open the inning.

First baseman extends hitting steak, but Missouri baseball loses to Oklahoma (Columbia Missourian)

The Tigers had four players with multi-hit days, including first baseman Aaron Senne, who had three hits for the fourth straight game. Senne extended his career-high hitting streak to 14 games.

■ Bouncing back to win (Norman Transcript)

Missouri (17-12, 2-5) didn’t get a big inning because Neal didn’t allow them. The Tigers stranded six base runners in first three innings and only one of their 11 hits went for extra bases.

■ University of Missouri Unsung Hero: Andreas Plackis and Terry Dennis (WeAreMizzou.blogspot.com)

On April 16, 2010 Andreas Plackis and Terry Dennis will be awarded with the MU Unsung Hero Award. The nominees are judged on their contributions to Mizzou and the greater Columbia community. More specifically the award identifies individuals who do the behind the scenes work that make differences in the life or lives of somebody else. The Unsung Hero award is looking for the humble and ‘unsung’ because nobody else does.

Andreas and Terry have shown selfless dedication and excellence of character throughout their time at Mizzou. They are very deserving student-athletes and you can look for them to continue to do great works for others and in the community as they progress in life.

MU in the Minors

■ RC Interview with Aaron Crow (RoyalsCorner.com) [Subscription required]

Aaron Crow was the Royals' first round draft pick in 2009, and this offseason, RC ranked him as the top prospect in the Royals' organization. The 23-year-old right-hander made his debut on Thursday, pitching 4.2 strong innings in the Naturals' win over the San Antonio Missions. On Friday, RC caught up with Crow to discuss his outing, his repertoire, and his goals for this season.

■ Frederick goes 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in defeat (OurSportsCentral)

Lynchburg grabbed the lead in the second inning off of Keys starter Rick Zagone (0-1) when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Zagone tiptoed out of the jam with only one run allowed getting a double play ground ball off of the bat of Lynchburg 2B Cody Puckett to stifle the rally. Zagone allowed two runs, one of which earned in four innings in the debut.

Mizzou Baseball Quotes & Notes

■ Opel has made a quick impact at Mizzou (bnd.com)

After winning News-Democrat Co-Player of the Year honors last spring following a dominant senior season at Edwardsville High School, freshman outfielder Dane Opel is off to a solid start at the University of Missouri.

■ Court, board decide to retire nickname (ESPN.com)
A state Supreme Court ruling and a Board of Higher Education decision have retired for good the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname after a four-year legal battle.

The court ruled Thursday that the board had the authority to dump the nickname at any time. The court rejected an appeal that sought to delay action.
. . .

MU in the Minors

■ Northwest Arkansas Naturals nearly blank the San Antonio Missions, 5-1 (MLNtherawfeed.com)

Naturals left-hander Everett Teaford must have missed the memo. With Aaron Crow (05-07), the Kansas City Royals’ 2009 first-round selection taking the mound for his first professional regular season start, Teaford stole the show, no-hitting the San Antonio Missions for 4 1/3 innings in relief of Crow en route to a 5-1 victory for Northwest Arkansas on Opening Night at Arvest Ballpark.

That isn’t to say Crow pitched badly. He did not, allowing just one unearned run in 4 2/3 innings of work before reaching his prescribed pitch count of 80 pitches and falling one out shy of the five innings required to earn a victory. Crow fanned two, walked three, and allowed four hits.
. . .
All of the offense was charged to Nathan Culp (04-06), the Missions’ starter, who was tagged with five runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings of work. He walked three and struck out two. Four relievers no-hit the Naturals’ lineup the rest of the way.

■ Minor League Opening Night (Star Tribune.com)

Ft. Myers 3, Bradenton 18 – Kyle Gibson (07-09) made the Opening Night start for the Miracle, and got hit around a little bit. The Twins top pick in the 2009 draft gave up five runs (3 earned) on six hits (2 home runs) and two walks in just 3.2 innings. He struck out seven.

■ Twin Minor League Weekly (blogtalkradio.com)

Audio discussion of the Twins' minor leagues, includes an interview with Kyle Gibson that begins at about 14:45

MU in the Minors: 2010

CLASS AAA

■ Brock Bond (06-07): Fresno Grizzlies (Pacific Coast League) San Francisco Giants organization

■ Andrew Johnston (05): Colorado Springs SkySox (Pacific Coast League) Colorado Rockies organization

CLASS AA

■ Aaron Crow (06-08): Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Texas League) Kansas City Royals organization

■ Nathan Culp (04-06): San Antonio Missions (Texas League) San Diego Padres organization

■ Evan Frey (05-07): Mobile BayBears (Southern League) Arizona Diamondbacks organization

CLASS A ADVANCED

■ Trevor Coleman (07-09): High Desert Mavericks (High-A California League) Seattle Mariners organization

■ Kyle Gibson (07-09): Fort Myers Miracle (Florida State League) Minnesota Twins organization

■ Hunter Mense (04-06): Jupiter Hammerheads (Florida State League) Florida Marlins organization

■ Rick Zagone (06-08): Frederick Keys (High-A Carolina League) Baltimore Orioles organization


CLASS A

■ Greg Folgia (07-09): Lake County Captains (Midwest League) Cleveland Indians organization

■ Ryan Lollis (06-09): Augusta GreenJackets (South Atlantic League) San Francisco Giants organization

■ Kyle Mach (06-09): Augusta GreenJackets (South Atlantic League) San Francisco Giants organization


INDEPENDENT LEAGUES

Independent league rosters are not yet set


OTHERS

■ Garrett Broshuis (02-04): After several seasons in the San Francisco Giants organization, Brosh has retired, exchanging his cleats for a keyboard. His writings on baseball still show up at places like Baseball America and other publications from time to time

■ Lee Fischer (07-08): Released by the Chicago White Sox organization in late March, 2010


If you have further information about any of these players, or corrections to my info, please e-mail me at simmonsfield@hotmail.com

Game Day: MU @ Oklahoma Sooners

■ Oklahoma by the numbers:

• Record: 23-6; 3-4 Big 12
• Pseudo-RPI (BoydsWorld.com): 0.585, ranked 33rd
• ISR (BoydsWorld.com): 120.7, ranked 18th; Strength of Schedule ranked 63rd

■ TV Schedule: Friday game on Sooner Sports Network, Saturday on Fox Sports Network

■ Find good summaries of Sooner Baseball to date at CrimsonAndCreamMachine.com

■ 2010 Newcomer Video Spotlights (SoonerSports.com) I like this feature for two reasons: (1) It's fantastic that they are not only releasing the details about their recruiting class, but actual video interviews! Great! (2) The videos and accompanying text are just chock full of interesting informations (aka heckling material)

■ What do MU and OU have in common? Both made that same Ouch List on CollegeBaseballToday.com this past weekend

OU This Weekend: Lost all three games vs. Texas.

Why It Hurts: Because OU has betrayed me. Big time. When I saw them play down in San Diego in the first weekend of the season, I thought they were really the bees knees. Now, with this stunning three game sweep at the hands of Texas, in chich they only managed 11 hits and three runs in the three losses. The true definition of “ouch” if I’ve ever seen it.

■ Oklahoma Sooners too much for TCU baseball team (Examiner.com)

TCU found themselves behind the eight ball from the start thanks to a two out rally in the first from the Sooners and the genes of former Major League Baseball players. Tyler Ogle hit a two-out single and then Cameron Seitzer (son of former Kansas City Royal Kevin Seitzer) doubled to make the game 1-0. Oklahoma extended the lead on a single from Garret Buechele (son of former Texas Ranger Steve Buechele) to put OU out to an early 2-0 lead.

■ Last weekend: Sooners suffer sweep at hands of Longhorns (Sooners Illustrated) have hands?]

A) Texas’ pitching was better than advertised and the Sooners’ hitters just didn’t have an answer for anyone Texas head coach Augie Garrido sent to the mound.

B) The Sooners (22-6, 3-4) were exposed for who they really are, overachievers who looked good all season because of a very weak schedule.

Both theories are legitimate ones and both had their moments during the series at L. Dale Mitchell Park. OU looked overpowered and at times played with little heart.

■ Baseball America had a good scouting report on the Oklahoma Sooners last week, prior to their series with Texas

"The strength of our team is our pitching, absolutely, there's no question," Golloway said. "I like the fact that we're rolling out three former junior college All-Americans on the weekend. We thought we had recruited well, but we didn't know for sure. The way they've come out and competed has been excellent.

■ Sooners sweep home series (OU Daily)

“[The Arkansas-Pine Bluff series] is getting us ready,” sophomore first baseman Cameron Seitzer said. “Texas is a great team, so we’re going to need everybody to be ready to go.”

The Sooners (22-3, 3-1) defeated the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions on Tuesday and Wednesday 26-3 and 16-1, respectively

■ Getting to know . . . Oklahoma third baseman Garrett Buechele (NewsOK.com)

Bucket List: 1. Going to Australia would be kind of cool. I’ve always wanted to go to Australia. 2. Go into a shark cage and meet some sharks. 3. Be a certified sky diver.

■ Cameron Seitzer bashing away again for OU (NewsOK.com)

Cameron Seitzer’s life had always featured baseball.

The son of former big-leaguer and current Kansas City Royals hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, the game stood centrally focused.

In the Big 12, he currently ranks in the top 10 in batting average (.404), home runs (6), total bases (2.52 per game), on-base percentage (.506) and slugging percentage (.784).

At first base, Seitzer might have no peer, named the best defensive player at the position by Baseball America.

■ Oklahoma student-athlete spotlight: Jeremy Erben (Big12Sports.com)

Erben, in his third year as a Sooner, was excited yet humbled about being named a team captain. The fact that his teammates voted for him, Erben said, was an honor because it showed the respect and trust they have in him to the lead the team.

The most visible form of leadership has been his performance this season. Erben entered April leading the nation in ERA and has not allowed a run in 10 of his 12 outings, including a 22- inning scoreless streak. The way he competes on the field sets the tone for the team, as does his dedication.

■ Big 12 Baseball Stock Report (NewsOK.com)

Up: Garrett Buechele, OU: After a breakout season a year ago, Buechele is back bashing baseballs again, leading Sooner regulars with a .403 batting average. He’s tied for the club-high with five homers and leads the team with 22 RBIs.

Down: P Michael Rocha, OU: Once projected as a future ace of the staff, Rocha continues to search for a consistent role. While 3-0 thus far, his 5.29 ERA is second worst among Sooner pitchers. Rocha has made just two starts on a staff looking for a reliable No. 3 man.

■ It might be a down season for Big 12 Baseball (NewsOK.com)

The Sooners are hitting and pitching. And if they can just get a lead to the back end of the bullpen, it’s all but over. Setup man Jeremy Erben is 5-0 with one save and a 0.39 ERA, while closer Ryan Duke has seven saves in eight appearances with a 1.08 ERA.