Mizzou Baseball Quotes & Notes

■ Congratulations to the Mizzou Softball team, and well wishes for the Women's College World Series. KTGR will be airing the games live on radio and via online streaming audio, and ESPN/ESPN2 will air all games live on TV

■ If you're watching the St. Louis Cardinals' game tonight, you'll see a starting pitcher for the Cincinatti Reds by the name of Sam Lecure. Lecure is from Jefferson City, MO.

Mizzou Baseball fans may remember seeing Lecure pitch at Simmons Field in the uniform of the Texas Longhorns. It was on a Friday night, April 30, 2004. Lecure had plenty of hometown fans at the stadium cheering him on, but he was out-pitched by MU starter Danny Hill and closer Mark Alexander. (Game day report at Columbia Tribune)

Just another example of why all baseball fans should be following college baseball. You never know when you'll be watching a major league game and smile, knowing you saw that guy pitch back when he was in college. Happens to me nearly every time I watch the MLB.

Mizzou Recruits

■ Mizzou Recruit Ian Ekery is featured as one of El Paso Franklin High School's 10 Most Influential Seniors (fhschronicle.com)

Passionate. Focused. Driven. Playfully giddy? One would be hard pressed to find another person with a personality anything similar to that of Ian Ekery. It is his almost inhuman aptitude for baseball that landed him a pitching job at the University of Missouri (and a spot on this list), but it is his ceaseless charm and charisma that has kept his classmates captivated for four whole years. Everyone knows Ian Ekery. Ian Ekery knows everyone. He can rival anyone out on the diamond, too.

■ Rogersville baseball to face future Mizzou pitcher in state semifinal (TAG Magazine)

Not that Rogersville would expect anything less, but in the Wildcats’ first state baseball appearance, they’ll likely face the best pitcher they’ve seen all season.

That’s where Matt Linderer comes in.

While Bishop DuBourg, a St. Louis-area private school, is also making its state baseball debut, Linderer is a big reason why. The right-handed pitcher has already signed with Mizzou and will be one of the best pitchers at Meador Park for this week’s state baseball tournament.

In his senior season, he is 7-1 with a 1.33 ERA over 63 1/3 innings, striking out 80 and walking 22. He is 6-2 and 180 pounds, which some say might be a generous weight. Still, he has been clocked at 88 mph with his fastball.

Big 12 > Big 10

■ After one round, no knockdowns (Columbia Tribune)

Mike Alden: “The key is, and we’ve said that at Mizzou … as an institution you’re trying to get better every single day, every day — academically, research-wise, your alumni base, athletics, whatever that may be,” Alden said. “All of us have a responsibility that we’re trying to improve our institution every day.”

■ Big 12 opens meetings with change on the horizon (Austin American-Statesman)

"You've known me for very long, I am not hanging back," Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said.

"I'm not waiting to see what other people are going to do. I'm going to know what our options are, so that's not going to change. My hope is that the Big 12 survives and you and I retire knowing it's a great conference. It's been very viable, and if it stays in place, it will continue to be very viable."

Dodds noted that Texas was not the one that started realignment talk.

"If we need to finish it, we'll finish it," he said. "We're going to be a player in whatever happens."

MU in the Majors

■ Scherzer, Anderson appear "fixed" (ESPN.com)

What's the basis for such confidence? That's simple. Mid-to-high 90s heat is what Scherzer is all about, not the low-90s junk he was throwing in his first few outings with the Tigers. He averaged 94.2 mph with his fastball in his rookie year of 2008 and 93.6 as a sophomore in 2009, according to FanGraphs. Those velocity levels helped him log 9.54 strikeouts per nine innings in those two seasons

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