Fontbonne Runs Table in SLIAC Tourney

Congratulations to the Fontbonne Griffons as they ran the table in the SLIAC tourney this weekend as the number 4 seed and now claim an automatic bid to the NCAA division III playoffs. The Griffons outlasted Maryville 6-5 in the championship on the wings of a stong performance from junior pitcher Sean Wiley, who was named the tournament MVP. This is the first conference title for third year coach Ryan Good. Fontbonne joins Webster as the only two SLIAC teams in the national tournament.

Minor League Updates

Here are some updates on some local guys trying to claw there way up through the minors. Chris Nash (Marquette) is hitting .220 through the first 28 games for Lake County, the Indians High-A affiliate. This is a big year for Nash, as it has to be about time to put up or shut up,it's his third year with the Captains...Zumwalt West grad and former 5th round pick of the Chicago White Sox in the 2006 Kent Gerst draft is still struggling in Class A. As of Sunday the speedy outfielder was hitting just .095 in limited action in the outfield... Zumwalt South graduate Tom Layne is hanging in tough as he continues to move up the Diamondbacks system. He is currently 1-1 with an E.R.A. in the mid 5's, but was promoted last week because the D'backs have a serious lack of left-handed pitching in their system...SLUH grad and Royals prospect Ryan Morgan has been assigned to the Idaho Valley Chukars, which is their rookie ball affiliate. Last year he finished up there, going 0-4 with a 6.78 E.R.A.... Travis Mitchell has yet to see any action for the Johnson City Cardinals through their first 4 games. Mitchell, a former 14th round pick out of Parkway Central, is entering his fourth year of pro ball... Former Mizzou pitcher Shaun Seibert (Edwardsville) has signed on to play for the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League this year...Another former Tiger and Lafayette grad Kurt Calvert is hitting .286 for the Cubs Class A affiliate in Boise after a recent promotion from Peoria...

Bits and Bats

Congratulations to Lindenwood coach Doug Bletcher. Bletcher picked up his 80th win at Lindenwood in his two seasons as the Lions took care of Central Methodist last week at the HAAC tourney...The SLIAC all-conference teams were announced this week, and Webster University made a clean sweep of the big awards after going 24-0 in conference. Coach Bill Kurich won his third consecutive coach of the year award, and Andy Fuiten was named player of the year. WU Freshman John Biagini was named newcomer of the year...The America Midwest Conference also dolled out its post-season awards with Tyler Tamayose(William Woods) taking home player of the year award... Congratulations to Ryan Jackson(Missouri Baptist). After a successful senior season in left field for the Spartans, Jackson will begin a new chapter in his life by working for the St. Louis Cardinals in their front office... Bittersweet congratulations to Lindenwood University pitching coach Nate Beuster. Beuster will resign his job at LU after the lions wrap up their season. He is getting married to his college sweetheart and will look to find a job in Kansas City. Best of luck.... Kudos to Mizzou junior Brad Buehler (Festus). Buehler was named the Big XII pitcher of the week this week for the surging Tigers. Mizzou is currently fourth in the Big XII and looks primed to make a run deep in the conference tourney next week...Congrats to UM-St.Louis senior Philip Widel(Howell). Widel, a senior, ended his career in style by being the only Triton named to an all conference team. His .372 average was good enough for third team accolades...Some sad news out of Lawrence, Kansas. Andy Marks(Oakville), a junior lefty at KU and key member of the Big XII championship team as a freshman, has called it quits after 2 failed shoulder surgeries. He plans on becoming a fire fighter. Best of luck...The St. Louis Metro Collegiate League is holding its open tryout on May 17th at Ballwin Athletic Association at 10:00am. Please be ready to work out rain of shine.

Lindenwood Gears Up For Postseason

The Lindenwood Lions (43-10) will play host to the NAIA Opening round Championships this week. The Lions play on campus at Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles. Although the Lions are hosting the tournament, they will be the number two seed and Campbellsville University(35-9), ranked eighth in the latest national poll, will be the number one seed.

The other teams that will round out the five team field are Kansas Wesleyan(38-15), William Penn(35-15) and Dakota Wesleyan(35-16). The winner of the double-elimination tournament will advance to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.

The lions are getting hot right now, winning 23 of their last 24 games, and although I will sound like a complete homer right now, I think that LU's pitching depth could be too deep late in the tournament. Senior Kyle Boschert was just named HAAC pitcher of the year after compiling a 9-1 record. Senior Don Anderson is another draft-worthy starter, and I think that Chris Peters is the key to the entire starting rotation. Not to mention the strength of the bullpen, which is paced by former Mizzou closer Steve Mohr, who is an absolute freak. Partner this with SLU transfer Chris Merrick, a 6'6" submarine tosser with an absolutely dirty slider, and I think that the lions are the sexy pick to win the the regional.

But the lions have been getting offensive production up and down the lineup as well. Senior catcher Zane Chavez led the HAAC this year with a .422 average, and 6 other hitters garnered all-conference accolades of some sort. The biggest thing that I see with them is that they get production from all over the lineup. Cristobal Rodriguez is hitting ninth and has an average of over .300.

My click to pick in the playoffs for Lindenwood is outfielder Colin Crouthamel who just hit a walk off home run to give the lions the HAAC title over William Jewell, and is hitting over .300 with double-digit home runs this year. He is locked in at the plate right now, and I think some big hits are coming his way this week.

Realistically, the only two teams that are deep enough to win this tournament are LU and Campbellsville. the Tigers are paced offensively by senior Brian Chase. Chase is hitting .483 with 16 long balls. CU has 4 everyday players hitting over .400, but they don't run well, stealing only 47 bases all year as a team. On the mound they are led by the two headed monster of Ian Pick and Marc Wilson, who are a combined 13-0 on the mound this year.

Tournament admission is free and is all day from Tuesday to Friday.

Time for a change at UMSL

The UM-St. Louis baseball team has got to be at rock bottom. The Tritons just finished up their third consecutive losing season with an abysmal 14-32 record, and were 7-20 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action. The once mighty Rivermen baseball program has been led by much maligned coach Jim Brady for 23 years, and for 19 of them he did a fantastic job, but the last few years to put it kindly, he just hasn't gotten the job done.

Brady, who won a $2 million payout from the University of Missouri system based on an age-discrimination suit he filed in 1997 and then another in 2004(the links to two articles in the RFT detailing those suits are here and here). Brady has yet to see any of the money, but obviously suing your boss and having them fight the ruling to the supreme court isn't good for business.

All signs point to conditions being ripe for a change at UMSL, and I think that the job would be a great one for a multitude of reasons.

First off, it is a great place for any college coach to sell recruits on. With campus being located within 15 minutes of the city, there are tons of things for guys to do. This is a great selling points to out-of-town recruits who may be from smaller towns and want for the big city experience. Also, the St. Louis area has been turning out a surplus of great talent the past few years, and not all of these kids are going division I. With SIU-E going to division I, UMSL is now the only established division II program in the metro area, and there are plenty of kids in the area looking to go to a 4-year and have a chance to play right away.

Secondly, the campus is nice. The student population is at about 15,000 which is attractive to an 18 year old kid choosing his school based on the two B's(baseball and boobs). Also, the student center is really nice, and the opportunity to be involved in Greek life and other on campus groups is prevalent all over.

Third, it's an exciting time in the athletic department at UMSL right now. The teams just got a new nickname, the website got a full make-over, making it look like a legitimate professional site as opposed to the old, plain one. And the crown jewel of the athletics turnover at school....A BRAND NEW BASEBALL FACILITY.... this is absolutely the biggest player in how you can recruit to UMSL right now. The facility will be top of the line, and include a locker room and indoor hitting cages.

The GLVC is a very solid conference, however Drury is in it's second year of existence and they won the conference last year and finished .500 this year. Their roster is St. Louis heavy....why isn't UMSL's?

The program needs a new direction. It needs an energetic young coach to usher in the new era that will begin at their beautiful on-campus facility. Jim Brady has been a great coach at UMSL, but his time has passed. The program is in shambles, but it could be a relatively quick reclamation project with the right planning. Grab some juco players, recruit quality young men, and change the stagnant aura that surrounds the program. Jim Brady is a good guy, and was a quality coach who built a strong program, unfortunately, it has deteriorated beyond anything that he can control.

Bits and Bats

Thought I would throw some cyber-ink at some local guys having good years at their respective schools. Big kudos to Pittsburg State senior Tim Brown (Clayton) on a successful senior year. Brown went 8-4 for the Gorillas, who struggled in the MIAA, his record was impressive but not near as impressive as his strikeouts (77) to walks (6) in 80 innings.....Josh Street, a Francis Howell and St. Charles CC product, is continuing his hit parade at SIU-E as the Cougars make the transition to division I. Street is batting .355 with 10 homeruns while playing solid infield for the struggling Cougars, and definitely deserves a look in next months draft.....Lindenwood University is currently playing for the HAAC championship and have surpassed the 40 win mark this year. They are quietly climbing up the national rankings in the NAIA poll and are right now ranked 20th..... Parkway West grad Kyle Mach spurred Mizzou to a big victory over Nebraska this weekend with a home run and a steal of home on a wild pitch. Mach looks to close his career out in style as Mizzou enters the Big 12 tournament this week.... Vianney grad Jason Haggerty is playing fantastic for #13 Miami. Haggerty is batting .312 for the 31-16 'Canes. Nice to see a St. Louis guy doing well on the national stage...

Webster Finishes Undefeated in SLIAC, but are they a legit contender?

First off a big congratulations to the Webster University Gorloks on their undefeated regular season championship in the SLIAC. I don't care what level you play at, anytime you go even win conference in college it's a legitimate accomplishment, let alone going undefeated, which is something these guys will never forget and a huge congrats to them they should all be proud. My only question is, after going 24-0 in the SLIAC, which does honestly run the gamut of providing some legitimate DIII baseball teams (Maryville, Fontbonne has some good players) to some pretty weak competition (MacMurray has been weak in recent years, as well as Westminster having a down year with a young roster) is this team went 24-0 in conference, but only 3-13 out of conference, and I really have to question their ability to be a major player in the D3 playoffs, which will be bracketed March 10. According to the SLIAC website, WU does have two of the best hitting players in the league in Junior outfielder Dakota Huey (.415) and Senior outfielder Andrew Fruiten(.411) who was a preseason All-America pick by d3baseball.com this year. Freshman Joe Biagini has also come up large this year for the Gorloks, garnering player of the week awards on the local and national level this year. And I do believe that shortstop Zac Little, a junior transfer from Flo Valley, is a legitimate game changer after a slow start this year. But I don't necessarily know if that will be enough. The reason that I say that is because of the pitching staff, which does have good stats, and to their credit did win EVERY conference game they played. But upon closer examination struggled against the upper-echelon teams that Webster played. For instance the Gorloks went 0-3 this year against Wash. U, a tournament team, giving up 16 runs one game and 24 in the series. Also against another very solid division 3 program, Wartburg, the gave up 11 runs.... In a loss to Transylvania they gave up 11 more.... in two losses to Coe College they gave up 15 and 7.... these are the types of teams that will be in the tournament, and although I want to let it be known that I am indeed pulling for coach Bill Kurich who is one of the rising stars in local baseball and has done a great job with this team, I think that this will ultimately be their downfall in the postseason. We've all seen that pitching wins in the postseason at any level, and I just don't think that this team has enough this year, but best of luck guys...... IN OTHER division 3 news, local product Stu Beath (MICDS) is tearing the cover off the ball for the College of Wooster (OH). The Scots, ranked 15th in the latest Division III polls are 33-8 and playing for the NCAC Title this week. Beath plays his summer ball for the Clayton Wasps of the Metro Collegiate League, his summer coach is Bryan Brown.