Archive for the ‘Kris Koerper’ Tag
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.
So here are a couple “Award Winners” cards I put together for the 2011 season. First is Matt Johnson who won the MINK League manager of the year award. This was well deserved, he managed what was almost undoubtedly the best squad in the MINK League. I have also always liked the way Matt Johnson uses his pitchers as well. I know pitching coach Matt Wilson has a lot to do with this as well. The pitching staff for a summer league team like this is a tricky situation. These players all play for colleges that could get very upset if their players are overused and it effects their performance for the universities. The Mustangs rotation varied but had about 7 starting pitchers in it.
Kris Koerper won the Community Service award this year. The award just gave me an opportunity to use this nice pic I had of him waiting just outside the batter’s box.
The Mustangs finished their long homestand with another big win. This time they defeated the Joplin Outlaws 18-1. Several Mustangs had big wins in the route. Kyle Jackson picked up the win and Jordan Guida drove in 4 runs. I’m posting Kris Koerper’s card today because of the way he heated up on this homestand. He finished the string of games with a 3-5 performance raising his MINK league average to an impressive .296.
No surprise that it was another good game from Cameron, MO’s own Brent Seifert, he was 3-4 with 2 RBI. Shortstop Spiker Helms went 4-4 and has jumped his average all the way up to .336. This is a huge improvement from his average last year with the Mustangs which I believe was well under .250. Mark Robinette also put together a multi-hit and multi-RBI game with 2 of each.
With the Clarinda A’s losing their last two games, the Mustangs have stretched their lead in the division to 6.5 games. With just 8 games left on the Mustangs schedule, they could wrap up the division early next week. The Mustangs have had two successful seasons in St. Joseph but have yet to win a division title.
Andrew Polly picked up the win tonight in the 12-3 victory over rival Chillicothe. Polly had a solid game, pitching 6 1/3 innings while giving up 3 runs on 8 hits. He also struck out 4 while not allowing any Mudcats to reach base by walk or hit by pitch. The Mustangs offense was led by the amazingly consistent Brent Seifert who drove in another 3 runs giving him 25 RBI in MINK league play while sporting a .343 average.
Kris Koerper also knocked in a couple runs on his way to a 2-3 day. The true offensive hero was Jake Kretzer. The Northwest Bearcat went 4-5 and drove in a huge 5 runs. Kretzer mixed a double in with 3 singles to compile his 4 hits. His most impressive at bat in my opinion was the at bat where he planned to give the Mudcats and out. After TJ Daily got hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning, Kretzer squared around for a sacrifice bunt and put the ball perfectly between the first baseman, second baseman and pitcher for a hit. I have seen Kretzer come through with a couple good bunts this year, I think bunting is one of the lost arts of the game and I really like watching a team willing to bunt and have the players with the ability to do so.
Brock Chaffin appears to be the “replacement” for Johnny Coy who recently was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays. Chaffin and Koerper are the teams first basemen and appear to have the necessary power to fill that role. From the games I have seen, it looks like Chaffin is the primary first baseman and Koerper is the primary designated hitter.
Brock Chaffin had a bin RBI double tonight in the top of the 8th inning to tie the game at 6-6 against Joplin. The game is still active as I write this but either Chaffin had a very big hit to allow this game to go to extra innings. As of the 10th inning Chaffin is 3-4 with a walk and a run and at least one RBI that Pointstreak is not displaying for some reason.
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 St. Joe Mustangs improved to 3-0 on the season with a 12-3 win over Regal Plastics on Saturday. The Mustangs don’t play at home again until next Saturday the 4th against MINK south rivals, the Sadalia Bombers. I could not stay for the entire game this Saturday but I still got to see my share of action.
Kris Koerper hit another long ball in the bottom of the first to give the Mustangs a lead they would not relinquish. Koerper has now hit 2 home runs on the young season an both have went the other way. The first was a moonshot down the left field line and this long ball was an absolute bomb to the deepest part of the ballpark, center field. It was slightly to the left side of center field but still appeared to fly over 400 feet.
Mustangs first baseman Kris Koerper crosses home plate after hitting his second home run in two days. The shot was a solo home run in the first inning and flew 400+ feet.
Ben Baker got the start for the Mustangs on the mound after starting in left field the last two nights. He struck out 6 through 5 innings while allowing 2 runs. Baker was effective on the mound but was a little wild, he walked four and let one walk score on a costly wild pitch with 2 outs in the inning. He would also impressively pick-off one his walks on first base. I know I have seen the Mustangs long-stay pitch before but I’m not sure if I had ever seen him start or not. He had the Regal Plastics over-matched for much of his time in the game except for a line drive solo home run to left field hit by catcher Michael Wasche.
The Mustangs were running a lot as they have so far this year, the stolen bases in the first few innings against Regal Plastics included Landinn Eckhardt, TJ Daily, Alex Heideman, Patrick Burkhart, Jake Kretzer and even big first baseman Kris Koerper. I would like to see the team stay this aggressive and give their pitching staff good run supports throughout the year.
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.
A Hair Off Square 