MU announces hire of two coaches

■ Mizzou Baseball coaching staff adds two (mutigers.com)

Mizzou Baseball Head Coach Tim Jamieson has announced the addition of Kerrick Jackson and Matt Hobbs to the Tigers' coaching staff. Jackson will take over as Missouri's recruiting coordinator along with other coaching responsibilities, while Hobbs will handle the duties of pitching coach.

In addition, Evan Pratte, who has spent the last 13 seasons as Mizzou's hitting coach, will take over as the Director of Baseball Operations.

"I think we've put together a very strong staff with the additions of Kerrick and Matt," Jamieson said. "Kerrick has an eye for talent and great knowledge of the areas in which we recruit. He also is very knowledgeable when it comes to the game of baseball and working with young players. Matt has positioned himself as a solid pitching coach. His emphasis on attacking hitters and avoiding walks is something we have always stressed and he's done a great job of getting that done with the staffs with which he's worked. Also, he's a former Tiger and it is always nice to have former players come back and work with our program."

Jackson joins the Mizzou staff after spending the past three years with the scouting department of the Washington Nationals. He supervised all amateur scouting in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Iowa Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Jackson was a member of the baseball team at Nebraska in 1999 after playing at Bethune Cookman College. He later served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Nicholls State and spent two summers coaching in the Cape Cod League.

A native of Kirkwood, Mo. outside of St. Louis, Jackson attended Kirkwood South High School.

Hobbs pitched at Missouri from 1999-2002, where he won 13 games and struck out 125 batters. He comes to Missouri after spending the 2010 season as the pitching coach at the University of San Francisco. USF's pitching staff ranked fourth in the West Coast Conference in ERA and was second in the league in fewest walks per nine innings.

From 2006-2009, he was the associate head coach, pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at UC-San Diego when the Tritons made a trip to the Division II College World Series and finished the year ranked No. 3. Under Hobbs, UCSD's pitching staff allowed the fewest number of walks per nine innings in D-II in 2009 and ranked 12th nationally with a 3.73 ERA.

Prior to UCSD, Hobbs spent two seasons as the pitching coach at Santa Barbara City College, while also spending the summer as the pitching coach for the summer league team, Foresters Baseball. He also served one season as an assistant coach at Chapman University, where he worked with the pitchers and catchers.