Archive for the ‘Saint Joseph Mustangs’ Tag
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.
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.
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.
As a huge baseball fan and a resident of St. Joseph, MO it is only natural that I would follow the St. Joe Mustangs closely. They are an unaffiliated college level wood bat league. The Mustangs are made up of mostly local college baseball players participating in this summer league. They play at historic Phil Welch Stadium where several Hall of Fame baseball players have passed through over the years. This is the Mustangs third season as a franchise, last year they took a run deep into the postseason tournament before taking 4th place.
A shot of the St. Joe Mustangs playing at Phil Welch Stadium from 2010.
Gone are the two local favorites from the last two seasons, Johnny Coy and Ryan Hook. Back are two other great holdovers for the team, pitcher Adam Maddox and infielder Brent Seifert. The Mustangs had a huge roster turnover this off-season so there are many new faces in St. Joseph.
Tonight was the first game (5/26/11) a non-conference game against UMB. The Mustangs started with a solid win by blanking UMB 3-0. The most credit for the game belongs to left-handed starting pitcher Andrew Polly who looked dominant. Polly tossed 7 shutout innings while allowing no runs and just 3 hits. He also walked 2 and struck out 5.
The offense was sparse in the game. The Mustangs were only able to get 5 hits but it was enough to get 3 runs along with 6 walks and an error that led to a run. The only extra base hit of the day was a 6th inning double by Alex Heidman. Heidman scored on a sacrifice fly by the game’s offensive star, DH, Landinn Eckhardt. Eckhardt went 1-3 with a perfect bunt down the third base line for a hit. His 2 RBI would come in productive at-bats where he made an out, the aforementioned sacrifice fly and a fielders choice.
The big guns were on hold for the Mustangs tonight, both Maddox and Seifert did not play in the non-conference game. I will try to post several reviews this year of this local team. It is hard to access information on the team through limited local media outlets so I hope some local fans will follow the site to get a summary of hopefully most home games.
A Hair Off Square 