Rock Chalk Talk

Rock Chalk Talk http://www.rockchalktalk.com Trajan: The Font of Champions Copyright 2000 - My Site Mon, 12 May 2008 05:49:45 -0400 Mon, 12 May 2008 05:49:45 -0400 Rock Chalk Talk<info@rockchalktalk.com> Rock Chalk Talk<info@rockchalktalk.com> Kansas and Missouri split Sunday Double Header http://www.rockchalktalk.com/story/2008/5/11/232527/183 Game One: Kansas 7 - Missouri 6 Game Two: Missouri 12 - Kansas 1 <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/051108aad.html">KU Recap and Boxscores</a>. I'll will write up a recap as soon as time permits.  I am afraid I am in a pretty busy phase until Tuesday morning. JQ <info@rockchalktalk.com> Mon, 12 May 2008 04:25:27 GMT Kansas - Missouri Game Two Rained Out. Double Header Sunday at Noon http://www.rockchalktalk.com/story/2008/5/10/183813/592 The Kansas-Missouri Saturday night game has been rained out. A double header will be played Sunday starting at noon. JQ <info@rockchalktalk.com> Sat, 10 May 2008 23:38:13 GMT Aaron Crow and the Tigers win game one 5-3. Hawks do not go down easy. http://www.rockchalktalk.com/story/2008/5/10/91822/5208 One thing is that you don't have to say one motivational thing in this series.  If you don't get fired up to play these guys, there's something wrong with you." - Coach Price on the Kansas-Missouri baseball series. <img width="400" src="http://media.lawrence.com/img/croppedphotos/2008/05/10/ku_missouri_bbc_horizontal_t640.jpg?a6ea3ebd4438a44b86d2e9c39ecf7613005fe067" height="200"> Kansas came up just short last night vs. Aaron Crow and the Tigers.  Robby Price made a rare error and KU stranded 12 baserunners allowing Missouri to escape Hoglund with a 5-3 victory.  Photo courtesy of the LJ World. Going into last night's game I knew Kansas had to play a very solid game, and find a little luck, if they were going to beat Aaron Crow and the Tigers.  Both these things happened.  Nick Czyz delivered a good start, the Hawks managed to produce 17 baserunners and the bullpen pitched well.  In the end it came down to one clutch hit, or, more accurately, the lack of that one last clutch hit. Trailing 5-3 Kansas loaded the bases in the ninth before going down swinging. Aaron Crow came as advertised.  The Missouri ace struck out 11 Jayhawks in seven innings without surrendering an earned run.  Kansas made some luck in the bottom of the third by scoring two unearned runs off an Andrew Thigpen throwing error.  Nick Czyz pitched well enough to keep the team in the game, going five innings while giving up four runs (three earned).  The Hawks forced Crow to throw a lot of pitches, drawing five walks and six hits.  After the game Coach Price said, <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/050908aaa.html">"We just tried to run his pitch count up and see if we could get him out of the game."</a>  After seven innings and 117 pitches the Tigers turned a 5-2 lead over to the bullpen.   Kansas scored quickly in the bottom of the eighth to cut the led to two runs.  The ninth inning was edge-of-your-seat baseball.  After recording two quick outs Missouri reliever Ryan Allen loaded the bases on a John Allman double and back to back walks to Buck Afenir and Ryne Price.  Missouri wanted this win badly.  In a move that surprised just about everyone at Hoglund the Tigers brought in Kyle Gibson, their Saturday starter, and asked him to secure the final out.  Erik Morrison worked a 3-1 count before Gibson came back to strike him out swinging and finally quiet the remaining crowd. <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/050908aab.html">KU Recap and Boxscore</a>. It was a great night of baseball.  A good crowd of about 1,400 showed up, including at least a couple hundred Missouri supporters.  I came into last night's game knowing that the odds were against KU getting a win on Crow Night.  The team kept me there all 27 outs and almost stole a win.  I am optimistic about the next two games.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the game today will go off without delay.  This series still is very much Kansas' to win. First pitch Saturday scheduled for 6PM, Sunday 1PM. Some other recaps: <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/613907.html">KC Star</a>, and <a href="http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/may/10/crows_feat_intact/">LJ World</a>. Other Big-12 Scores Texas A&M 6 at Nebraska 3 (16 Innings! Wow!) Texas Tech 2 at Oklahoma State 3 Kansas State 6 at Oklahoma 4 (KU & KSU tied for 7th now) JQ <info@rockchalktalk.com> Sat, 10 May 2008 14:18:22 GMT Series Preview: Kansas (29-22) vs. Missouri (32-16) http://www.rockchalktalk.com/story/2008/5/9/11423/83267 <img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:l9Mxmyujw5JPeM:http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-kansas/Jayhawk.jpg">         vs.                  <img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:rGEoeJjcRtJbFM:http://www.krcg.com/uploadedImages/krcg/Sports/Stories/mizzou-logo.jpg"> Kansas Jayhawks (29-22, 8-13) vs. Missouri (32-16, 11-10) Kansas host Missouri for a three game series this weekend. There is absolutely no need to hype this series. Anytime Missouri and Kansas play fans and players know what to expect. Friday 6PM: Nick Czyz (2-5, 6.09 ERA) vs. Aaron Crow (10-0, 3.08 ERA) Saturday 6PM: Andres Esquibel (3-4, 5.37) vs. Kyle Gibson (7-1, 3.84) Sunday 1PM: T.J. Walz (4-0, 4.34) vs. Rick Zagone (1-3, 5.40) Media: KLWN AM-1320 will broadcast all three games live.  For those outside the Lawrence area steaming audio and video will be available through <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/sched/kan-m-basebl-sched.html"> this site</a>. The Friday night game will be broadcast live on KUJH-TV (Sunflower 31) Complete Missouri stats are located <a href="http://mutigers.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stats/2007-2008/teamcume.html">here</a>.  Jayhawk stats <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stats/2007-2008/teamcume.html">here</a>. Missouri's SB Nation blog, <a href="http://www.rockmnation.com/story/2008/5/9/153710/9752">Rock'M Nation</a> will be covering the series as well. Scouting Missouri I will leave scouting reports on individual players to Aman - the Tigers have a few very impressive prospects. If you like to catch future pros while they are still playing at the college level definitely make time for the Friday and Saturday night games. Aaron Crow, the Tigers Friday night pitcher, will go very early this June. The Royals may take him with the #3 overall pick. The Missouri Tigers are a good baseball team, but not a great team. Their parts are greater then their whole. They have several stars but overall their roster is more shallow than that of Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas, Baylor and Nebraska. I believe this is the reason the Tigers were upset in mid-week games by low ranked teams several times this season - Minnesota, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois. When Crow or Gibson are on the mound, they can beat anyone in the nation. The other two or three games they play that week, the Tigers are a pretty average NCAA team. In Big-12 series the Tigers record on Fridays is 6-1, on Saturdays 4-3, on Sunday they fall to 1-6. When Crow or Gibson pitch the Tigers have a Runs Against average of 3.8, when anyone else is pitching the average grows to 6.3. It is an unbalanced team. Most days they have only one path to victory, a strong start by one of their stud pitchers. Offensively Missouri and KU match up pretty evenly. MU is averaging 7.3 runs scored per contest, although these numbers are inflated due to their <a href="http://mutigers.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stats/2007-2008/mu_32.html">31-12 victory over Texas in a game played in 40mph wind gusts</a>. If that game is factored out I think we get a more realistic view of what the Tigers produce on a given night, 6.8 runs, just below Kansas' 7.0 average. The Tigers have two terrific bats in their line-up, Aaron Senne and Jacob Priday. These two players have accounted for more than half the team's homeruns (26 of 44). Overall Missouri is a bit more patient than Kansas at the plate. They rely on high batting average and the power of Senne and Priday. KU is more physical and aggressive top to bottom. With the games being played at Hoglund KU has an edge here. The two teams matchup evenly in terms of defense and baserunning as well. Wrapping it up - The Sunday match up favors KU, so the key for the Hawks will be scratching out a win on either Friday or Saturday. If KU can find a way to get to Crow and/or Gibson and score a few runs, if Czyz and/or Esquibel provide effective starts, the Hawks have an excellent chance of winning this series. If Friday's game goes badly for the Hawks they have to put it out of their mind quickly and come back with fire for the next two games. Few teams have had any success against Crow, he is a special pitcher but he can only factor into one of the three games this weekend. Kansas probably needs to win two of their remaining six conference games to be assured of an invite to the Big-12 tournament. Here is hoping they get both of them this weekend. Prospect Preview by bkmhoxx <div class="blockquote">I have to start with the obvious JR Aaron Crow 6'3, 195 RHP -Crow is one of the top players in the country and i believe him to be the best pitcher in the country (Brian Matusz of San Diego gets a close 2nd). Crow has 2 very strong pitches he relies on. His fastball and his slider. His fastball is in the lower to mid 90's with good late movement. He has great command of it and throws it on both sides of the plate and will use it up in the zone. His control is extremely good. Having control and command of a mid 90's moving fastball is a sick thing to have as a pitcher. He couldn't do it all with just a fastball however. His second pitch is a slider in the mid 80's. This is usually his strikeout pitch i would assume. He gets ahead of hitters with his fastball and then flashes the slider to finish them off. He also has a change up but at this point it is just an average pitch and he doesn't use it a whole lot. He has a 3.08 ERA with 92 K's in 76 innings. He has only walked 24 and has given up 66 hits. I will be watching him very close tonight. I want to see his 3/4 arm delivery and how smooth he looks with it. I will be anxious to seethe movement on his fastball and to see how much his slider breaks. Crow is a feisty competitor as well so i will be anxious to see him talk smack and show his emotions out there. He is from right up the street in Topeka so he should really be out to beat the Jayhawks today. I hope we can scratch some runs across. SO Kyle Gibson 6'6, 195 RHP -I actually like Gibson about as much if not more than I like Crow. Gibson is a tall kid with very good stuff. He has 3 very good pitches. His fastball is in the low 90's and upper 80's and has good movement. His slider isn't decent and comes in at the mid 80's. He has a good combination of skills and has a high ceiling to go with his youth. He has a 3.84 ERA in 70.1 innings with 74 K's, 18 walks and 72 hits. He was drafted in the 34th in 06 by the Phillies and i would expect him to be a top 5-10 draft pick this time next year. He will be playing on the USA team this summer. I will be watching his delivery very close and I'm anxious to see what his 3 pitches look like. He pitches tomorrows game at 6pm. SO Aaron Senne 6'2, 201 OF - Senne was drafted in the 13th rd. in 06 by Minnesota. That is a pretty high pick coming out of HS and choosing college. Senne has very nice numbers. He is batting .361 with 11 HR and 55 RBI. He has 12 Doubles, 24 K's and 32 walks. Senne appears to be a very good hitter with plenty of pop in his bat. He has good strike zone judgment as well. He will also play on the USA team this summer. He is an exciting player and i will be watching him tonight to see if he can be a first round pick after next season. SR Jacob Priday 6'1, 215 OF -Priday has some very good power but also hits very well for average. He is batting .348 with 15 HR, 55 RBI, 14 Doubles, 37 K's and 21 Walks. Priday is a great hitter and will be tough to keep under control this weekend. I will be anxious to see his power and to gauge where his draft slot will be next month. SO Trevor Coleman 6'1, 214 C - Coleman is a young catcher with some very good upside. He was drafted in the 38th round in 06 by the Reds and last year he was the Big 12 Freshman of the year. Being a catcher with a good bat is always a rare thing. Coleman is hitting .284 with 2 HR and 25 RBI, 5 Doubles, 23 K's and 22 Walks. I will be watching his defense behind the plate and also to see if he has any pop in his bat at all. If he can put together a good offensive campaign next year, he could move up the draft charts very quickly. FR Nick Tepesch 6'5, 224 RHP -Tepesch was drafted in the 28th round in 07 by Boston. He is a very big kid. He has a 5.24 ERA in 22.1 innings with 13 K's and 8 Walks and has given up 24 hits. Hittable at this stage of his young career but i will be looking to see what upside he may have (if we get to see him at all). JR Ryan Lollis 6'1, 190 OF - Lollis was drafted in the 20th round in 05 by Pittsburgh. He is a solid hitter for average with gap power and some decent speed. He is batting .326 with 1 HR, 34 RBI, 15 Doubles, 19 K's and 29 Walks. He is an exciting young prospect that may be drafted in the middle rounds next month. A few other guys i will be watching for: FR Brad Buehler 6'1, 204 RHP - drafted in the 43rd last year by Tampa Bay FR Tyler Clark 6'2, 196 RHP - Clark is a strikeout pitcher drafted in the 46th last year by the Cubs FR Andrew Thigpen 5'11, 190 SS - Thigpen is having a great freshman year batting .361 in 72 at bats SO Greg Folgia 5'11, 195 INF - Folgia is batting .309 with some decent gap power (15 doubles) and a nice strikeout/walk ratio (34/38)</div> JQ <info@rockchalktalk.com> Fri, 09 May 2008 17:25:23 GMT Baseball Notes: Smyth and Ellrich honored http://www.rockchalktalk.com/story/2008/5/9/121558/2174 Paul Smyth was named to the <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/050708aaa.html">College Baseball Foundation's National All-Star team</a> for his performance last week vs. Missouri and Oklahoma. Smyth pitched in all four games, earning one win and three saves. The Junior closer is coming on strong in the big games. He now has 10 saves on the year and seems to have shaken the control problems that crept into his game in March. Smyth is the second Jayhawk honored by the CBF this year. T.J. Walz was also named to a team in April. Justin Ellrich was named to the <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/050808aac.html">Academic All-District 7 First Team</a> by ESPN. Ellrich carries a 3.90 GPA into his last semester at KU, and he didn't rack up that GPA by padding his schedule with easy classes. He is a Chemical Engineering major. Ellrich is also have a good year at the plate, hitting .313 with power. In other college baseball news, Nebraska is hosting Texas A&M this weekend for a monumental Big-12 series. These are the top two teams in the conference and the series is attracting a lot of national attention. <a href=" http://collegebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=806069">Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com made the trip to Lincoln to watch the series and will be providing analysis throughout the weekend</a>. The Big-12 regular season championship will be decided this weekend by two teams which each have a shot at being awarded super-regional host status by the NCAA committee in a few weeks. For those who follow NAIA baseball, their national championship tournament is already underway. Kansas is well represented. Bethany knocked off top seed St. Mary to earn the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference auto-bid. Bethany joins Kansas Wesleyan and Park University to make up half the team competing for the Region IV crown. This regional tournament is <a href="http://www.kwu.edu/athletics/baseball/08stories/08-region4tourn.html">being played at Hutchinson on Kansas Wesleyan's campus</a>. The winner of this region will go on to the NAIA National Championship series played in Lewiston, Idaho May 23-30. To follow the local teams in the tournament <a href=" http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/042208aad.html">here is a link to the NAIA tournament site</a>. JQ <info@rockchalktalk.com> Fri, 09 May 2008 17:15:58 GMT Kansas (29-22) vs. Oral Roberts (34-12) on Office Space Night at Hoglund http://www.rockchalktalk.com/story/2008/5/7/112137/0876 *** Disappointing news. The game was cancelled due to the likelihood of thunderstorms tonight.*** <img align="left" src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:g9w7AfhPVDYVpM:http://www.ncaawiki.com/images/thumb/2/24/Oral-roberts.jpg/190px-Oral-roberts.jpg">Kansas host Oral Roberts tonight at 6PM. Just as in basketball, the Golden Eagles are a regional power in college baseball. ORU enters the game with a 34-12 record and are ranked #46 in the latest RPI. ORU has won four of the six meetings between the schools during the Ritch Price era, including the last three. The Hawks will need to bring their best game to win tonight. While KU will be playing to defend their house and to keep their momentum, the Golden Eagles are trying to lock up a post-season bid. Should they stumble in the Summit Conference tournament right now the Golden Eagles would not be assured of receiving an at-large invite to the field of 64. Shaeffer Hall (4-2, 5.27 ERA) will get the call for KU. Oral Roberts has not yet announced a starter. The KU news release anticipates Kelly Minissale (1-3, 6.67 ERA). I would not be at all surprised if the Eagles go with either Mark Serrano (2-1, 4.46 ERA) or Jerry Sullivan (6-2, 4.06 ERA) instead. Minissale started and lost a game on Sunday vs. South Dakota State. He only lasted one inning. As ORU hosts a fairly weak Oakland club this weekend I expect they will be willing to shuffle their weekend rotation to improve their chances tonight. Scouting Oral Roberts: Full ORU stats can be found <a href="http://www.orugoldeneagles.com/fls/17000/stats/baseball/2008/teamcume.htm">here</a>. It is a little hard to judge ORU's performance based on statistics as they frequently match up with low ranking conference opponents. They have plenty of offense, averaging over 8.5 runs per game. Their pitching and defense fall more into the average category (5.4 runs given up per game). ORU plays four games this weekend so they will be reluctant to use starters for multiple innings in relief tonight. If KU can chase their starter early they will have a good chance to work over a somewhat thin Golden Eagle bullpen. Oral Roberts is not a strong defensive team (.963 team fielding percentage) and they do not run very often (30/39 on stolen bases). From their stat sheet they look like a team that plays for the big inning. The game will be broadcast on KLWN AM-1320. For those outside the Lawrence area just <a href="http://kuathletics.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/sched/kan-m-basebl-sched.html">click here</a> to access the streaming audio. The weather is a bit iffy tonight. I think there is about a 50-50 chance this game will be played without interruption. If it rains this afternoon check in at KUathletics.com for a possible delay or cancellation. <img align="left" src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ciNQsHBWjyLc5M:http://uneasysilence.com/wp-content/tpsreport.jpg">I really hope the weather cooperates tonight. Not only because this looks to be a good baseball game but also because Hoglund will honor one of the better movies of the last thirty years, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/">Office Space</a>. Fans will be given a piece of "flair" as they arrive and there will be movie related events between innings. I understand one of these will be a printer smash. You have to figure the crowd will be "celebrating Michael Bolton's whole catalog" between innings as well. So set your TPS Reports aside for a few hours and get down to Hoglund tonight. Just sit there, watch the game, and do nothing. Remember Peter's message to us all: "It's not just about me and my dream of doing nothing. It's about all of us. I don't know what happened to me at that hypnotherapist and, I don't know, maybe it was just shock and it's wearing off now, but when I saw that fat man keel over and die - Michael, we don't have a lot of time on this earth! We weren't meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements." So, go to the ball game. JQ <info@rockchalktalk.com> Wed, 07 May 2008 16:21:37 GMT Big-12 Baseball RPI update http://www.rockchalktalk.com/story/2008/5/6/11548/00426 It has been two weeks since I updated this chart so a lot of action. Texas A&M makes a big move and now leads the conference both in winning percentage and in RPI ranking. The Aggies moved from 22 all the way down to 6! A&M also became the first NCAA team to read the magic number of 40 wins, generally considered to be a mark of a great season. Nebraska comes in right behind A&M at #7. The Huskers moved up eight slots. Oklahoma State falls from #6 to #13, and into third place in the conference rankings. The Cowboys only lost one game during the last two weeks but it was against Utah Valley State (#243). Just playing teams ranked as low at UVS hurts a team's RPI, loosing to them comes with an even harsher penalty. Right now A&M and Nebraska look like they might be awarded Regional Host status by the NCAA. The UVS loss by Oklahoma State might take the Cowboys out of the running or one of these rare honors. The NCAA names eight Regional Hosts each year - giving these teams the honor and advantage of playing at home for the first two rounds of the 64 team tournament. The eight teams that emerge from these sites travel to Omaha to compete in the College World Series. Texas seems to have found some stability these last two weeks, winning back to back conference series. The last time I updated this chart the Longhorns looked to be slipping into "bubble" status. Now they look pretty well like a lock for an at-large invite. Baylor holds steady. The Bears are on the bubble and will need a strong finish. Missouri continues to slide. Even though the Tigers are ranked below Baylor I think they are in a better position to win a tournament invite due to their better conference record and high profile pitching staff. <a href="http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/rpineeds.html">Boyd's World agrees with this assesment.</a> According to Boyd's latest "RPI needs" list Missouri can go 5-3 in thier last eight games and still make the cut. Baylor must win five of their remaining six for the same result. Kansas State makes a very strong move, moving up fifteen notches to #56. The Wildcats have no chance at earning an at-large, but the way they have been playing they will have to be taken seriously in the post-season Big-12 championship tournament in Oklahoma City. Kansas makes the most impressive move in the rankings, jumping 29 spots up to #93. This is the first time KU has broke into the top-100 all season. Kansas has won four consecutive games vs. Big-12 opponents. Texas Tech and Oklahoma hold steady. The Red Raiders will need to play their best baseball of the season just to fight their way back into the top-8 of the conference and be given an opportunity to play in the Big-12 tournament. <table border="5"> <th>RPI ranking </th><th>Team</th><th>NCAA D-I record</th><th>Big-12 record</th><th>Two weeks ago</th> <tr> <th>6</th><th>Texas A&M</th><th>40-8</th><th>18-3</th><th>22</th> </tr> <tr> <th>8</th><th>Nebraska</th><th>35-8-1</th><th>15-5-1</th><th>15</th> </tr> <tr> <th>13</th><th>Oklahoma State</th><th>33-12</th><th>14-7</th><th>6</th> </tr> <tr> <th>32</th><th>Texas</th><th>29-19</th><th>12-12</th><th>37</th> </tr> <tr> <th>44</th><th>Baylor</th><th>27-22</th><th>9-12</th><th>47</th> </tr> <tr> <th>48</th><th>Missouri</th><th>29-16</th><th>11-10</th><th>41</th> </tr> <tr> <th>50</th><th>Oklahoma</th><th>28-19-1</th><th>6-14-1</th><th>48</th> </tr> <tr> <th>56</th><th>Kansas State</th><th>22-25</th><th>7-14</th><th>73</th> </tr> <tr> <th>84</th><th>Texas Tech</th><th>21-25</th><th>5-13</th><th>83</th> </tr> <tr> <th>93</th><th>Kansas</th><th>25-22</th><th>8-13</th><th>122</th> </tr> </table> <img src="http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/5504/kansasuserbarnt5.png"> Tracking KU's out of conference opponents - Wins over LeMoyne (151), Dartmouth (155), Xavier (166), Iowa (180), Northwestern (205), CCSU (231), UMBC (238), two over Missouri State (68) and Chicago State (291) each, plus three over NDSU (254). Loses to Vanderbilt (25), Arkansas (26), Wichita State (27), Illinois (110) and Ohio State (129). Lost a series 3-2 at Hawaii-Hilo (249). JQ <info@rockchalktalk.com> Tue, 06 May 2008 16:54:08 GMT Search Rock Chalk Talk Use the text box to search Rock Chalk Talk string http://www.rockchalktalk.com/search/