2009 JUCO Baseball

[Mmgord77]

Well, before I get too pumped about small school basketball State action, I figured I'd post a little preview of the JUCO baseball season.

As some of you who read last year may know, I have a brother that plays. He was at North Central in Gainesville, TX last year. This year, he has transfered to Cowley County in Ark. City, KS. So, I'll give a little preview of the state teams and of Cowley. As I give updates, they will just be pretty much from the teams I've seen play against the Tigers. Here goes...

Last year, I was pretty impressed with Seminole State... more specifically with Cale Ellis (Pawnee) and Joe Patterson (Owasso/Arkansas U./ORU). Well, this year Seminole State is trying to return to their position of traditional JUCO power. Patterson has moved on to play at Texas A&M, but the Trojans bring back a pretty powerful roster. Ellis is back... They got a OF/LHP that transferred from NCTC, Jackson, that should be a draft pick... Dustin Andrews from Carl Albert and Cody Cole (played for Travelers), should also contribute. The baseball website has not been updated yet (come guys!!!), but I know from fall ball, that they should be pretty decent.

Connors is loaded for another year. Perry Keith has another talented team. They are ranked #9 to start the year. They have a few names that our members will recognize, but leading the recognition is Pre-Season All-American utility player, Brandon Smith (Norman North). Along with Smith, there is Brett Thompson (Oktaha final teams), Dude Brown (Latta), Brett Coffman (Tuttle), Chris Muchmore (Chickasha), and Zach Tidholm (Mustang). All of these players should contribute to another winning season and run to the Big Show for Keith and Connors.

The team with maybe the best shot to represent the Region in JUCO World Series is Eastern Oklahoma in Wilburton. They are stacked!!! Pitching, hitting, defense... they got it. After setting the school record for wins last year, they have bigger and better goals. Back for another year (after battling injuries the last few years) is a healthy Jared Coon (Dale). Some of you may remember the name Tommie Johnson (US Grant) from a couple years back... he is a hitting machine. Peter Kozma's little bro (I'm sure he loves that introduction!), Ben Kozma (Owasso) is a freshman there. Jeff Scardino (Bishop Kelley), Seth Terry (Dale), and Arkansas supertransfer Houston Slemp should all make major contributions this year. They will be a tough out for anybody. I'm planning on seeing them at the end of February (combining that trip with a chance to see a hopeful Stringtown/Red Oak Area Championship game).

NOC-Tonkawa and NOC-Enid are loaded with Oklahoma players. While these teams aren't quite up to the level of the teams above, they play hard and will give a stiff challenge to these teams if given the chance. Also, both are trying to get into position to be a host team, as the Div. II JUCO WS is scheduled for Enid, OK this year.

Rose State is another team I will see this year. Their roster is loaded with kids from the big schools all around OK. They are a salty bunch that should do pretty well this year. They can always hit... their issue is if their pitching can hold on.

Now to Cowley... this team is an official sleeper. They recieved some votes in the NJCAA rankins, but not enough to be ranked. Coach Burrows really thinks this is his best shot in a while to make it to the World Series. After 22 years at Cowley and 5 trips to the WS and 2 National Champs, I believe the guy may know a little something... They have pitching and the defense. If the bats can produce, they will be extremely dangerous. They host a few names that some of you may know... The Washington trio of Mac Gordon, Tyler Hancock, and Zach Cargill will all be key contributors. Mac is starting at Catcher and DH, Tyler is starting at 2B, and Zach will be at the front of the starting rotation. Also, Caleb Bass (Roff/Chatty) is in his first year up there. It didn't take him long in the fall to force his way into the action. Although probably not a starter right now, his bat will force the coaches to let him have some decent playing time in the outfield. B.J. Misialek (Edmond) led the team in bat avg. in the fall... he'll be playing SS. Robert Thomas, a standout athlete at Sulphur, will probably be starting in LF. John Maler (Big Cabin?) should also be towards the middle of the starting rotation. And a trio of freshmen from the Tulsa area could see some relief time on the mound: Stephen Spirlock, Travis Weaver, and Chase Webb.

I'll be giving updates on what I see as the year progresses. If any of you catch any JUCO ball this spring, please feel free to post some updates... or if any of your hometown boys are off playing at one of these outposts, please feel free to keep us up on individuals.

Thanks!!!

[parkplace]

You just jump started baseball fever. Can't wait to get out to a ballpark in the near future. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[JimPat]

Gord, don't forget NEO. They should be strong this year. They have enough pitching to stock a couple of teams and if they can get their hitting going, they will be a force!

[Mmgord77]

I did forget NEO... they should be pretty good. I'll give a breakdown here in a minute.

I did go see Cowley County play Butler County on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day for baseball!!! 70 degrees, sunshine, just a little breeze... man, it was awesome!

Unfortunetly, the baseball was not as good as the weather. Cowley beat Butler 14-2 on Thursday. On Saturday, Cowley threw a few boys that won't get many innings this year... while expecting the bats to pick up the slack. The bats forgot to get the message. Butler won 4-1. They had bases loaded 3 times in the game... so it could've been worse. 3-6 hole batters are struggling a little bit early on. A few highlights: Robert Thomas (Sulphur) made a nice sliding catch out in left. Zach Cargill (Washington) threw the 1st 2 innings of the game and looked in great form. A Toronto scout clocked his fast ball at 88 against the first 2 batters with 76 on a 12-6 curveball. His slider in the low 80's. He was probably throwing about 80%... pretty good for first start. Tyler Hancock had a great defensive game at 2nd base. One inning, he recorded all three outs (unassisted DP, and catch a pop out). I think he had a part in 7 outs in 7 innings.

I did see one of the worst things that anyone can see... the SS for Butler took a 2 hopper right off the kisser. Put his bottom 2 teeth stuck into his bottom lip and top 2 teeth busted into his top lip. Also, got under his nose pretty good. Lots of blood... bad deal. He walked off and was walking around after the game. Scary stuff... and I've seen alot of baseball and lots of kids get beaned by grounders, liners, pitches, etc. It never gets less scary.

Going to get off a little early tomorrow and go down and watch Cowley play at Seminole. I'll give updates as there will be lots of Okies on the field tomorrow...

[JimPat]

Gord, enjoy the baseball updates. Keep them coming.

NEO lost their opener to Crowder 9-5 on Saturday at the NEO field. Norse tried several pitchers, but couldn't stop the Crowder bats.

[Mmgord77]

Well, not a great day for the Cowley Tigers. Coach Burroughs chooses to save his arms for later in the year... which can make some slow starts in the season. In all, 6 pitchers saw time on the mound today. The two that were head and shoulders better than the others was Stephen Kohlscheen (Norman North) and Chase Webb (Tulsa Union, I believe). They were both very good. Hitting was slow again for the Tigers. That will pick up.

As for Seminole, they are a very good team. Jordon Underwood (from one of the Edmond schools) started for the Trojans... and he was dealing some dirty stuff. He has a decent fastball, but has paired it with a nasty change-up and occassional slider. It was good stuff. Completely shut down Cowley until the 5th. Jordan Clark (Moore) came in for relief. He can throw pretty hard but had some control issues. He was a good pitcher though and held Cowley in check. Terrence Jackson (transfer from NCTC) led of the home batting order with a home run. Then followed it with a RBI double and RBI single. He accounted for 3 runs in his first 3 AB's. Nice start.... The other star of the day was Cale Ellis. He had a beautiful bunt single, then followed that off with a double off the wall. But, his fielding was more impressive. His range has improved greatly. He struggled with some throws, but that could be contributed to about a 30 mph wind. He had several diving stops and a very nice diving stab of a line drive. Just a great first game for the SS. Another Okie had a nice day with a solo HR oppo to LF, Dustin Andrews (Carl Albert). One of the larger JUCO kids you will ever see plays 1B for Seminole, David Chester (Collinsville). He didn't do too much at the plate, but you can tell he swings a big stick and he made some nice stops and stretches at 1B.

Seminole won this game 7-3. Would've been a lot closer without the Cowley rotation of pitchers, but Seminole can hit and play D. They will definitely be a team to watch. Interested in seeing them play Eastern and Connors.

[parkplace]

Mmgord, Chester played for me as a freshman in HS and he played extremely well while going up against kids who were 17-19 yrs old that summer. When David connects, it goes a very long way. Very smooth swing, and tremendous power. He was heavily recruited out of HS as a TE, singed with a D-1 but decided baseball was his calling. I look for David to be a good won in years to come.

[JimPat]

Gordo, is Mac getting a lot of playing time? It doesn't look like Cowley puts their box scores on their site.

[Mmgord77]

Yeah, JimPat, Mac is starting at catcher and DH on off days. They have another boy that was drafted by the Angels that plays 1B and gives Mac an occasional break. He is catching as good as he ever has in his life. He had scouts and coaches time his popup at 1.84 the other day at Seminole. A Rangers scout came and worked with him and gave some suggestions and said he thought his pop time could be as low as 1.7! Just to give you reference... Pudge's pop time is widely considered to be the fastest ever in MLB, and it was 1.6-ish. He was pretty excited about that. Now, if he can pick up his batting!! For most of fall, he led Kansas JUCO's in batting average... ended up at .487, I believe. Right now, he's struggling to find holes or HR's. He's hit 2 ball that were right about 400... too bad they were to the deepest part of Cowley's and Seminole's parks. He's hitting it hard, just not in the right spot. I keep encouraging him that they'll fall. He's got plenty of motivation from his old coach in Gainesville last year... so he's working hard.

[JimPat]

Gordo, did Mac have a good season? Is Cowley still playing?

[Mmgord77]

JimPat... gonna post in World Series thread. Cowley played Seminole state in 1st round of WS yesterday. Look over there for update.