This is the last of my 2011 Mustangs players cards. I ended up with 32 players I think. I will be putting up some other Mustangs cards during the World Series commemorating the season. Don’t worry Rally the mascot is coming too. My apologies go out to Mike Garza and Will Mulligan as two players I know of that I never ended up with pictures of, there might be a couple others too (I think one pitcher made one appearance) I missed.
Archive for the ‘St. Joe Mustangs’ Category
2011 Mustangs: Nate Bauman Leave a comment
2011 Mustangs: Josh Parrish Leave a comment
2011 Mustangs: Jordan Clark Leave a comment
“You know what you get when you squeeze oranges? orange juice. You know what you get when you squeeze us? Champions.”
-Jordan Clark after winning MINK championship (to the best of my recollection)
2011 Mustangs: Ryan Rush, Ryan Richardson and Shane Segovia Leave a comment
If my calculations are correct; 3 different players have worn the number 31 for the St. Joe Mustangs this year. Beyond that; all 3 have been second basemen. The current number 31 on the Mustangs is Shane Segovia who only has a couple games under his belt with the team. Ryan Richardson preceded him for a while and the first number 31 was Ryan Rush.
2011 Mustangs: Jonathan McCann Leave a comment
2011 Mustangs: MINK League Champions! Adam Maddox throws no-hitter Leave a comment
So it was Adam Maddox that took the mound tonight against the Nevada Griffons. Manager Matt Johnson obviously made a great choice by calling number 22 to the mound as he led the team to their first MINK league championship title. Oh Yeah, he also didn’t give up one stinking hit all night. Adam Maddox pitched a complete game no-hitter against the Nevada Griffons to clinch the MINK league championship!
Maddox was fantastic. He had hitters off balance all night. His breaking pitches were amazing. It seemed as if he got a lot of called strikes. This is an accomplishment because he was not receiving a generous strike zone. The umpire would not give Maddox the low strike. This caused a lot of long stares in at catcher TJ Daily for Maddox wondering why he couldn’t get that pitch called a strike.
Maddox had trouble with the small strike zone as he walked 6 batters throughout the game. To be as effective as he was on this night he had to be what pitching coaches call “effectively wild” anyway. The final strike of the game was high, in all fairness, it was high. Maddox had earned that call by being around the zone all night. If you don’t get the lower half of the strike zone you should get the high strike. This is an amazing accomplishment and I’m sure it has to be the greatest performance of the young pitcher’s career. I remember Maddox pitching a similar game last year actually. St. Joe was in the playoff heat with the Chillicothe Mudcats and the Mustangs had to sweep 3 straight games against the Mudcats. Maddox got the call in the first game and pitched what I think was a complete game shutout. This is all to the best of my recollection. Big kudos should also go out to Maddox’s catcher TJ Daily, the catcher never gets credit in a no-hitter but should.
Every no-hitter has a great play or two to attribute to the great game, it is almost inevitable. This game was no exception. The first great play came in I believe the top of the third inning. A high chopper was hit over the middle and second baseman Brent Seifert ranged all the way to the shortstop side of the bag to snag it and make a strong throw on time to first baseman Brock Chaffin. Getting to the ball was an accomplishment but the throw was something to behold. It was a long throw against his body and he delivered it to first base in time. The second great play came around the 6th inning. With a runner on 2nd base and 2 outs a low line drive was hit to center field and Cameron Bentley made a diving catch coming in on the ball. He caught the ball what must have been inches from the ground; in fact; I thought live that the ball had dropped. The second base umpire ruled it a catch and I’m sure it was the correct call.
On a personal note; it was simply amazing. I never thought I would EVER get to witness a legitimate no-hitter in person. I am a huge baseball fan and this is really one of the “holy grail” accomplishments. I was tremendously jealous when Mustangs pitcher Cody Cunningham threw a no-hitter earlier this year against the Omaha Diamond Spirit. The game was in Omaha so I obviously did not attend; but this time, I saw every pitch.
A big congratulations and thank you goes out to Adam Maddox.
2011 Mustangs: Jayson Huett Leave a comment
I’m not sure who is starting for the Mustangs yet tonight but my guess is either Adam Maddox or Mustangs 2011 pitcher of the year Jayson Huett. Huett put together a great season to win the pitcher of the year award among stiff competition on the team. Adam Maddox, Andrew Polly, Cody Cunningham, Doug Shields, Ben Baker, Cody Lane, Kyle Hassna among others all had at least respectable years.
I think the pitching is the major difference for the team this year. Last year the team had Ryan Hook and Johnny Coy to bolster the offense but the pitching wasn’t near as good. The pitching is the reason this team has a great shot to make a run deep in the tournament in Wichita this year.
2011 Mustangs: Ben Baker Leave a comment
Ben Baker is a fan favorite at Phil Welch stadium. He is one of only about 3 third year Mustangs. He played a lot of outfield in the past for St. Joe but this year has been primarily a pitcher. He has done very well on the mound too. Early in the year I saw him pitch when he started a game. That day he was a little wild and couldn’t control his walks. Later in the season he has really turned it on. He seems to be more effective as a reliever to me. He has a lot of deception to his delivery on the mound and that attributes to this. Once he faces a batter 2 or 3 times I think the deception is less effective. Baker is one of the cornerstones of the franchise right now and it will be difficult to imagine anyone else donning number 9 for the Mustangs.
2011 Mustangs: Jordan Guida Leave a comment
2011 Mustangs: Brent Seifert Leave a comment
I have made no secrets of how much Brent Seifert has impressed me as a baseball player. Tonight he was named the teams most valuable player for the year which was really a given. His performance this year has only been surpassed by the Nevada Griffons’ Peter Barrows. The Mustangs defeated Nevada 3-1 in a great pitching duo between the leagues ERA champion for 2011 Steve Kuligowski of Nevada and the Mustangs’ Adam Maddox. Kuligowski entered the game with a 0.97 ERA and would give up two runs to see it balloon to 1.11. Barrows did not play and I’m not sure why. Seifert did play and once again was a big contributor for St. Joe. On a side note it was General Manager Rick Muntean’s birthday so a big happy birthday to him.
Seifert went a pedestrian 1-4 but that doesn’t tell the whole story. I remember two of Seifert’s outs being hammered, one very deep into the left center gap but was run down by the Griffons center fielder. Seifert’s one hit was a triple with no runners on, he would score on a wild pitch soon after to make the game 3-1 as Doug Sheilds once again closed the game out.
Speaking of closing the game out; Brent Seifert recorded the putout on the final play. It was no average 5-3 ground ball. The ball was hammered down the third base line by the potential tying run. Seifert ranged to his right and made a diving stop, gathered himself and threw a strike to first base to end the game and regular season.Win to Maddox, loss to Kuligowski.
Forget Johnny Coy St. Joe; Brent Seifert is the best player to ever put on a Mustangs uniform.
A Hair Off Square 