re: Baseball 28-20 (14-10) Schedule for Week of 5/3

Baseball America now has the class ranked #12 LINK /

Benes may have been a borderline top 10 round pick as well but tore his knee in I think basketball.

Monsters on the mound

Missourian article on the incoming pitchers. I'm wondering if not only the football team but maybe the baseball team could also beat our basketball team. Tanner Houck is one of the shorter ones at 6'5".

Some good news in the article. Sounds like TJ is gonna give the true freshmen a chance to make the weekend rotation. Sounds like De Oca has worked out some of his control issues, having struck out 6 in a recent scrimmage.

If we were in the Big Bevo still, I'd say this could be a very good year for baseball. But being in the SEC, who knows.

McArtor article

Apparently wants to be involved somehow again. Can't be a bad thing, even if it's in finding TJ's replacement.

Per TB, starters this weekend will be:

Fairbanks
Rash
Houck
McClain

I have to believe that TJ is trying to figure out who the 2nd and 3rd weekend starters will be come conference play. Fairbanks started 8 games with a 4.33 ERA last year. Not an established starter but has been there. Rash started 2 games and appeared in 10 before injury and had a 2.04 ERA. Houck is one of the highly touted freshmen and McClain is a JUCO transfer.

I'm hoping to see Rash and Houck dominate. They definitely have the most upside. I wouldn't be surprised to see DeOca get a start mid week or next weekend.

I'm assuming Miles, the only returning regular starter will be one of the 3 weekend starters once conference games start. Unless Rash, Houck and DeOca are lights out.

Maybe once the new indoor facility is built the old one can be fitted for baseball

What are the plans once the new one gets built?

Was in the car all day today and got to listen to the double header on my phone. Don't think this weekend is televised/streamed at all.

The good news....Mizzou sweeps the doubleheader today against Iona. No, Iona isn't that good. BUT, Mizzou teams of recent past would have dropped at least on of a doubleheader.

Game 1

4-3 - Came from behind to win. In many ways, it's the same old, same old. Pitching was the star of the game, with Fairbanks getting the start and giving up 1 ER in 6 innings. Also struck out 9. 2 ER for the staff.

Flip side is that bats and defense continue to be an issue. Brett Peel had a good game, going 3 for 3. But TJ will be TJ and he started a guy who hit .042 last year as a junior. Not like he was a freshman that was overwhelmed. There are better bats on the team and I just don't get TJ. Oh, and that guy went 0 for 4 today. Really thinking this is TJ's last year. The good news, though, is that the team fought from down 3-0 to win.

Game 2

1-0 - More of the same. All pitching. No offense. JUCO McClain got the start and threw 8 innings, giving up 3 hits and striking out 10. Brecklin Williams closed out both games. Oh, and the .042 hitter played again and went 0-3. Gotta quit with the errors too.

Overall, great start to the season for the team. Not pretty, but the team showed some fight in getting both wins. Last year, if it came down to a dogfight on who wins, it usually wasn't Mizzou. Good to get the first games under our belt and be 2-0 in the process.

They've pumped out some players lately. Didn't they just have a pitcher get drafted high in the last 2-3 years. Bond. Benes. I'm sure there's others.

One Matheny kid was a monster couple years ago. Another Matheny is a Senior this year.

Heckuvva lotta talent. Being coach there has to be pretty easy and yet stressful.