Archive for the ‘Nevada Griffons’ Tag
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 St. Joe Mustangs took the field with an 8-2 record on the June 11th game against the Nevada Griffons. Both of the Mustangs losses have come at the hands of Nevada. The Mustangs would go on to win 8-3 and even their season series against the Griffons to 2-2 and improve their overall record to 9-2. The attendance for the game was a season high 3176.
Center fielder Cameron Bentley impressed with a 4-4 performance with 2 runs scored. Brent Seifert was at third for the first home game I have attended this year. He looks to have slimmed down since last year and was almost physically unrecognizable. Seifert would drive in a run on a RBI triple early in the game. Starting pitcher Jayson Huett would pitch into the 7th inning and leave to a nice ovation from a big crowd after a solid performance. He pitched 6 2/3 innings while scattering 7 hits and 2 runs and striking out 6.
It was fitting that Huett would get the start on Saturday. It was “Bearcat Night” in honor of Northwest Missouri State University, the college that Huett attends. The Mustangs donned green jerseys that were auctioned off at a silent auction during the game. The team also wore red hats in honor of Scott Bostwick, the Northwest football coach that recently passed away before ever getting to coach his first game for the team as a Head Coach. Bostwick had been the defensive coordinator for the past several years and always wore a red hat on the sidelines so his players on the field could easily see him in the crowd of green on the Northwest sideline.
The Mustangs wearing green in honor of "Bearcat Night."
A Hair Off Square 