Archive for the ‘Adam Maddox’ Tag
The Mustangs amazingly had two complete game no-hitters in 2011. Cody Cunningham tossed the first of the two great games. He threw his in Omaha against a good Omaha Diamond Spirit team early in the season.
The Mustangs stayed alive in the NBC World Series by knocking out the team from Derby, KS on Friday. They scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning to break a tied score and win 3-2. The Mustangs pitching is the reason that they are where they are in this tournament. Friday’s game was no exception, Kyle Jackson tossed a great, going 8 innings and only surrendering two runs while picking up a big win.
The Mustangs play on Sunday in another must-win situation. The Mustangs battle the Hutchison Kansas Monarchs at 10:30 in the morning. I don’t know who is starting for the Mustangs but it very well could be Cody Cunningham, the first three games were started by Huett-Maddox-Jackson.
Here is the first of a few “Season Highlights” cards I made for the 2011 Mustangs season. This one if for Kris Koerper who was serenaded on his birthday with the crowd singing to him led by Mustangs general manager Rick Muntean. Koerper responded by hitting an absolute bomb to left center field for a 3-run homer. It may not have been a big moment for the team and their playoff chances but it was one of those cool moments that I will certainly remember from 2011 at Phil Welch Stadium. If you are keeping track this makes 3 cards of Koerper in my 2011 set.
The Mustangs have won their first game of the NBC World Series in Wichita. They defeated the Plaza Tire Capahas 7-3 behind Jayson Huett’s strong start. Jordan Guida drove in 2 runs as the Mustangs jumped out to a 7-0 lead early. They play again on Wednesday at 5pm with Adam Maddox making his first start since his no-hitter.
Brent Seifert was a slam dunk for Player of the Year. He batted .353 in league games this year with 2 homers, 3 triples, an eye-popping 23 doubles and drove in 35 runs in just 43 games. Seifert was also great in the field, he consistently made good plays at both third base and second base for the team. If it weren’t for Peter Barrows’ huge year for the Nevada Griffons I think Seifert would have been the player of the year for the entire MINK League.
Jayson Huett had a very good season. He started 6 games and went 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA. In my mind he had some stiff competition for the Pitcher of the Year award. I have narrowed it down to 4 major candidates. They are Jayson Huett, Adam Maddox, Cody Cunningham and Doug Shields. The first three players are starting pitchers and Doug Shields served as the team’s closer. Maddox had slightly better numbers than Huett but was padded by his no-hitter late in the year that happened after the Pitcher of the Year award was announced. Cunningham had a slightly higher ERA than Maddox and Huett and also had a no-hitter to propel his stats into contention. Of the three starters, I think Huett was the correct choice for the award given that Maddox’s no-hitter came after the award was given so it really didn’t count in this case.
Then there is Doug Shields. Shields came in for the Mustangs and closed out many tight affairs without being hit much at all. His sidearm delivery and great breaking pitches made him extremely hard to hit late in the game. His stats were 3-1 record, 0.62 ERA with 9 saves. The ERA is almost invisible and the 3 wins are a big number for a reliever who pitched in only 20 games. All things considered, I think Shields would be my pick for pitcher of the year for the 2011 Mustangs. Huett pitched great and deserved the award but when the game was on the line in the late innnings the Mustangs constantly called on Shields, and he came through in a big way.
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.
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.
The Mustangs are officially the 2011 MINK North division champions! They clinched that status tonight with a 6-2 win over the Clarinda A’s. The Mustangs have won just under 75% of their games this year and currently hold a 7 game lead as they have the division clinched.
The game featured a looming storm that threatened the game most of the night but never delayed it. It wasn’t 10 after the game before the skies broke open and started to pour, but the Mustangs had already taken care of business. The game itself was largely uneventful. The Mustangs took a 6-0 lead to the 9th inning behind a brilliant start by Cody Cunningham. After a rough start to the 9th the Mustangs closed things out with Doug Shields. Shields only faced 2 batters but had a key part in the game.
Shields faced the tying run twice in his 2/3 of an inning, getting a strikeout and popout to end the game. With Clarinda having the momentum in their favor with one out shield struck out a pinch hitter with an absolutely nasty breaking ball. The Mustangs took all the momentum away with that pitch.
Adam Maddox get the card tonight because everybody who had a large part in tonight’s game has already had a card posted. Maddox will play a huge roll in the postseason for the team as he did so well last year.
Walks lose games. When the bullpen allows walks it is hard to win. The Mustangs fell to the Sedalia Bombers 9-6 and the Mustangs pitchers, including starter Adam Maddox gave out 8 free passes to first base. The Clarinda A’s also fell on Sunday so the Mustangs 6.5 game lead remains intact.
Did you know St. Joe Mustangs center fielder Cameron Bentley was batting a down-right gaudy .536 in MINK league games going into Sunday? He has been lighting up MINK league pitching. He hasn’t hit for much power, he has 2 extra base hits out of 15 and only 4 runs driven in. He has constantly been on base. I hope to see more of him in the lineup to see if he can keep this torrid pace up.
So this is my second St. Joe Mustangs card. It is much higher quality than the first. I did a Cody Cunningham card in honor of his no-hitter bit the picture was sub-par and lower quality than I would like to use. I don’t have a great camera so light is essential to my photographs for these cards. This means I have to get to games early and get pictures while the sun is still up. This Saturday the Mustangs started at 5:00 instead of the normal 7:00, meaning I got an extra 2 hours of sunlight. I took several pictures and comprised most of my team set. I have 18 cards done right now and about 3 of those might get re-done at some point(like Cunningham.) Here is the first of what will likely be a regular stream of posts for the Mustangs cards.
On Saturday the Mustangs swept the double-header against the Omaha Diamond Spirit. I’m not getting in depth about the games but I do have a couple thoughts. Brent Seifert hit a 2-run home run and continues to impress me night after night, he is my favorite player on the team. With Seifert in the lineup, Mark Robinette must sit. From what I have seen, Robinette is a very good hitter (and I believe the Mustangs poached him from the Chillicothe Mudcats too.) At first base and designated hitter, Kris Koerper and Brock Chaffin seem to have those positions filled so Robinette looks like the odd man out.
Ben Baker pitched in the first game of the double-header and struggled. I’m not sure of his line but around the 3rd inning he really started getting knocked around. The second game gave me my first chance of the year to see Adam Maddox pitch. I really like watching him pitch, he is extremely good, again, I don’t know his line but the Mustangs took the game 14-0 so his line had to be very good. Patrick Burkhart continues to impress me as well. He had a costly error that likely costs the Mustangs their only home loss of the year last week but he is looking great at the plate.
Keep up the good work guys, it is a ton of fun to watch!
The Mustangs amazingly had two complete game no-hitters in 2011. Cody Cunningham tossed the first of the two great games. He threw his in Omaha against a good Omaha Diamond Spirit team early in the season.
A Hair Off Square 