Weather looking hopeful for MU-KSU weekend

■ As of Friday afternoon in Columbia, the stick-your-head-out-the-window weather and the latest weather radar is looking good for this evening's game. Could be a spotty shower or two, but it appears likely the game can be played.

Latest weekend forecast (KOMU.com):

Friday evening: Cloudy evening. There is a slight chance we could see some rain. Temperatures will remain around 67. Winds will be 10 to 15 MPH from the southeast turning from the south as the evening progresses.

Saturday afternoon: A bit of fog and drizzle is expected. The rainfall should end around 2:00pm with total accumulations for this event near 0.50 inches. Temperatures will climb from 60 with today's high of 68 occurring around 4:00pm. Skies will be mostly sunny to cloudy with 5 MPH winds from the south turning from the southeast as the afternoon progresses.

Sunday afternoon: Breezy and cloudy afternoon. There is a slight chance we could see some rain. Temperatures will decline from 65 early this afternoon to 57. Winds will be 15 to 20 MPH from the northwest turning from the north as the afternoon progresses.

■ Kansas hoping to move closer to 2nd in Big 12, with Missouri's help (examiner.com)

Kansas is hoping the Tigers can get on a roll this weekend and help them out by taking a couple of games from second-place Kansas State when the two teams meet for three games at Taylor Stadium at Simmons Field in Columbia.
. . .
Missouri’s Aaron Senne leads the Big 12 in hitting through all games. The senior first baseman is hitting .436 in 36 games this season, which ranks him 11th in the nation. The left-handed-hitting Senne has 268 hits in his career at Missouri, just six shy of the all-time mark. He also is the school leader in doubles, with 63 for his career.
Meanwhile, junior catcher Brett Nicholas enters the series with Kansas State riding a 12-game hitting streak. During the streak, Nicholas is hitting .449 with 12 runs batted in. Nicholas had an eight-game hitting streak earlier in the season

■ From CollegeBaseballToday.com:

Kansas State won at Wichita State 7-4 in front of an Eck Stadium (regular season) record crowd of 7,217. . . the Power Cats sweep the season series from Wichita for the second season in a row, something that hasn’t happened since the last ice age. KSU is also off to its best start in school history at 27-8.

■ KSU baseball topping '09 success (CJOnline.com)

However, it shouldn't come as too big of a surprise. All but one of coach Brad Hill's K-State teams have improved their win total from the year prior.

This year, Hill said before the season started he would lean on a few select players to provide leadership and raise the bar from last year's team. These players represent the heart of the K-State lineup, as well as much of this season's success.

"I think the top four guys have really done a great job," Hill said. "That's what you have to have.

"You need three or four guys that are really consistent, that show up every day and you know what you're going to get everyday."

■ Reality sets in for Wichita State baseball (Wichita Eagle)

Something is amiss at Wichita State. How else do you explain the team's 53-41 record since the start of last season?
. . .
And over 30-plus years, things do go wrong. With one look at this season's team, it's not difficult to tell the Shockers don't have the talent level they've had in the past. That's not surprising, again, given the increase in competition for those players.
Kansas and Kansas State have dramatically improved because more resources have gone into their programs.

The explosion of Big 12 baseball has created a cutthroat competition not only on the playing field, but on the recruiting trails. The Shockers don't have the same cache they once had and it shows.

■ The current RPI Needs report is up at Boyd's World. You don't want to look.

■ Tigers blanked by archrival Jayhawks in KC (ColumbiaTribune)

It didn’t help that Missouri put the K in Kauffman. The Tigers struck out 10 times, the fourth time in the past five games Missouri has recorded double-digit strikeouts.

“It is” becoming a concern, MU Coach Tim Jamieson said, “because a lot of them are happening at a time when you need to have a good at-bat or when guys are in scoring position. … There’s no question that it’s something that needs to get better.”

MU in the Minors

■ From BND.com:

Former Edwardsville High and University of Missouri standout Evan Frey (05-07) is off to a great start with Arizona's Class A affiliate at Mobile Bay in Alabama. Through 11 games, Frey was hitting .367 with two doubles and six RBIs. Frey, a 10th-round pick in 2007, also spent time with the Diamondbacks in spring training.

■ This was from last week (The Life and Times of Aitch)

The first words out of his mouth were “congratulations”, and when I heard that word I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I always try to stay as positive as possible during spring training but you always have to realize that there still is a possibility of possibly being released. He went on to say that the final rosters for each team would be posted during our lunch break. So for the whole morning I practiced with the double a team but when I got in for
lunch I saw my name with the high a team. At first I was a little upset but then I realized that this was a situation where I completely controlled my reaction and I started to think of all of the positives and all the advantages that I would have playing in the Florida State League for the second year in a row.

[Trrip Note: "Aitch" is former Tiger Hunter Mense (04-06)]

MU in the Majors

■ Kinsler may return at end of April (ESPN.com)

Ian Kinsler (03), who has been out of action since suffering a high ankle sprain on March 12 during spring training workouts, was scheduled to depart Boston at 6 p.m. Wednesday to head to Surprise, Ariz., where he'll participate in extended spring games. After about four days, Kinsler, 27, is expected to join Triple-A Oklahoma City or Double-A Frisco for several games before re-joining the team.