Valentine's Day Massacre: College Baseball Daily LOVES Mizzou

■ Quotes from 2011 Preview Live Chat, February 13th (CollegeBaseballDaily.com)

Fred Katz: "And Mizzou does not look good at all. Should be at or near the bottom of the conference.

William Knox: "Missouri brings back plenty of players, but not enough proven performers to compare to other schools in the Big 12 during the preseason. Fortunately, the preseason talk doesn't determine how a team will fare when the season begins."

Fred Katz: "The often is going to be quite sub-par. Only a .288 AVG last year and will have very little power. Really Jonah Schmidt is the only guy who can hit the ball out of the park and he was a .262 hitter last year. Jeff Lusardi is the only offensive player who might make a dent. Very patient at the plate."

Fred Katz: "And on the topic of Mizzou, I'll be there tomorrow [Monday] for their Media Day."

Quotes & Notes

2011 RHP Brandon Platts (Mason City, IA, MO sign) up to 91 mph (@perfectgame, twitter.com)

2011 First Pitch Celebration

I learned two new things at the 1st Pitch Celebration tonight:

1) Josh Murray, who has been the Director of Media Relations for MU Baseball for a number years, is leaving MU by the end of February. We wish Josh well in whatever lies ahead for him.

2) Tim Jamieson introduced Michael Sheen, a new Tiger who just arrived in January.

• Michael Sheen, 3B/SS/RHP (6'0", 180 lb, R/R) from Kingwood, TX in the Houston, TX area
  
  
• 2011 All Greater Houston 2nd Team
  
  
• Recruiting video at beRecruited.com
  
  
• At one point he was headed to San Jacinto College in TX. He had labrum surgery in July and was ging to have to sit out for a "redshirt" year at San Jacinto. So instead he transferred to MU and will take his transfer/surgery "redshirt" year at MU, aiming to be on the active roster for the 2011-12 season.

MU in the Minors: Nathan Culp

According to Baseball America, LHP Nathan Culp (04-06) has retired from baseball.

MU #10 of 12?

■ Big 12 Preview: Red River rivals reign (perfectgame.org)
Kendall Rogers, now with Perfect Game, continues a near perfect habit of underestimating Mizzou, ranking the Tigers dead last in the Big 12.

It would be a surprise if the Tigers made an NCAA Regional this spring. The
Tigers took a step back last season when they finished near the bottom of
conference. Now, they’ll again have to fight to stay out of the cellar without
several key players from last year’s club.

2011 College Baseball on TV

■ Complete 2011 SEC Baseball TV schedule announced (secsports.com)

The Southeastern Conference has announced its complete 2011 SEC Baseball television schedule, the second under the league’s landmark 15-year agreement with ESPN. The regular-season package will include 54 broadcasts in 2011, up from 46 games in 2010. In addition, all games from the 2011 SEC Tournament will continue to be televised, with the championship game airing again nationally on ESPN2. Including SEC Tournament games, a total of 68 SEC baseball broadcasts will air in 2011 as part of the official SEC package.

■ Big Ten Network heightens baseball, softball coverage (bigten.org)

The network will nationally televise up to 30 Big Ten baseball games, including the entire Big Ten Baseball Tournament, and stream a minimum of another 50 games for www.bigtennetwork.com. The network will also broadcast 25 Big Ten softball games this spring to a national audience and stream at least another 37 games online. A selected number of streamed games will be televised on delay through the network's Student U initiative.

■ The #SEC has 68 games and the #ACC will probably have around 25-30. Then you have the #Big12, with six total televised games. http://twitter.com/#!/KendallRogersYS on Twitter.com)

College Baseball Quotes & Notes

■ California done with baseball (perfectgame.org)

The University of California-Berkeley cut its baseball program in the fall as part of widespread budget cuts to put the athletic department in better financial standing, and that decision will stay in place despite valiant efforts by Cal baseball supporters.
. . .
“We are all greatly impressed by how our community organized itself in the attempt to help these five sports and the university,” said Vice Chancellor Frank Yeary. “We are delighted that, together, we have found a path that allows us to retain the two women’s teams and our rugby program without adding costs to the strained budgets of the university and Cal Athletics.”

■ CollegeBaseballToday posted a complete schedule of ESPN's 2011 college baseball games. Mostly SEC games. Just 1 Big 12 game (Nebraska @ Creighton).

Simmons Field Photo: 1 Week to Opening Day

Brad Buehler

Coming next week: 2011 Season Preview

• Monday, 2/14: 2011: What can we expect?
• Tuesday, 2/15: 2011 Pitching
• Wednesday, 2/16: 2011 Position Players
• Thursday, 2/17: Season-Opening Road Trip

Season tickets

My season ticket renewal form arrived in the mail today. Section E row 4 Seat 1 here I come!