Archive for the ‘St. Joe Mustangs’ Tag
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."
I whipped up this design a couple weeks ago for a local professional team named the St. Joe Mustangs and really enjoyed the design. I liked it so much that I decided I had to figure out a way to do something with the Royals in this design. I combined this design with an idea I had for my “2011 Just Fair” set. I thought about making a special parallel/short print type variation with a different picture of the player and their Major League debut on the front of the card. I saw the black line at the bottom of this card and the puzzle pieces really fell right into place.
So I made the set. The set consisted of 6 cards until tonight (Eric Hosmer, Danny Duffy, Everett Teaford, Louis Coleman, Tim Collins and Aaron Crow) and those cards will get posted soon. I decided that the next player to make his Major League debut for the Kansas City Royals would be the launch of this little subset I came up with. It just so happened that it was Mike Moustakas.
For the record Moustakas went 1-3 with a broken bat single(Nick Scott reference not intended) and a walk and run. I predicted 1-3 with a double and a walk and a strikeout with an RBI. I was close.
This is an idea I am proud of and think I would like to continue, possibly for years. I would reserve these cards for only those who made their Major League debut for the Royals from now on. For instance, Lorenzo Cain would not fit in the set because he has logged time with the Brewers. If someone like Iriving Falu would happen to get called up to spell Alcides Escobar, he would get a card in this set. Over the next couple weeks I will occasionally slip one of these cards in as my Custom Card of the Day.
This is the premier of my 2011 original design for the St. Joseph Mustangs cards. Originally I had planned to wait until further in the season to start posting these cards but I had one card made and it just happens that that one player I had a card for had a huge day. Apparently Mustangs starting pitcher Cody Cunningham threw a no-hitter tonight against the Omaha Diamond Spirit in Omaha. I would have killed to see a Mustangs no-hitter at Phil Welch Stadium. It was the first official game of the Mustangs season and it is hard to believe it could have started any better. A big congratulations goes out to Cody Cunningham.
Cunningham threw 124 pitches with 80 strikes, 4 walks and 2 strikeouts. Thanks to Andrew DeWitt on twitter for the info.
Many of the 2010 St. Joe Mustangs have moved on and a few have returned. The team had a high return rate from the 2009 team but brought back fewer players this year. Of the 29 players on Mustangs roster, only 8 players were previously Mustangs. Of those 8, only 4 were members of the inaugural season of 2009. Those 3 players are Ben Baker, Brent Seifert, Drew Garwood and Landinn Eckhart. Eckhart played in 2009 but not in 2010 when he was Matt Johnson’s bullpen coach.
In 2010 I didn’t have a blog to put up Mustangs pictures and summaries but I did do a custom baseball card project with the Mustangs players. These never got posted during that season but I will post some now as a look back at the 2010 Mustangs. I am planning on doing another set for the 2011 season so as soon as I decide on a design for the cards I will begin to post them, most likely with my game summaries.
For the 2010 Mustangs custom card set I decided on the 1980 Topps baseball card design. I ended up with an 18 card set, I will post them all but here are a couple of them in honor of the Mustangs starting their official season this Wednesday at Nevada. I chose to do the 3 players that are entering their 3rd season playing for the team; Ben Baker, Brent Seifert and Drew Garwood. Most of the pictures I took myself but there were a couple I didn’t, Drew Garwood’s picture below was not taken by me, it was posted on the Mustangs facebook page and I wanted to include the local favorite in my set so I used the picture. I would be glad to give credit if anybody can direct me on who to give credit to.
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.
The Mustangs played host to their second consecutive non-conference team on Friday night. This time it was the North Kansas City Apartments coming to Phil Welch stadium. Another strong pitching performance was turned in by the Mustangs for the second straight night. The Mustangs took the game 8-3 to improve their young season’s record to 2-0. It was Cody Cunningham pitching 6 innings while only allowing 1 run on 4 hits. He also struck out 5 while walking 1 and hitting three batters. Overall, another great starting pitching performance from the Mustangs. If the pitching continues on this pace the team could win a lot of games this year.
The night belonged to new first baseman Kris Koerper though. On the night where he would turn 23, he would get serenaded by a crowd of about 800 people singing “Happy Birthday” lead by Mustangs General Manager Rick Muntean. Koerper would finish his night 2-5 with a rocket single in his first at bat of the day and a towering 3-run home run in the 5th inning that broke the game open. His home run was a high shot the other way that the outfielder misjudged but the ball sailed out of the park in the left field corner anyway.
Kris Koerper and teammates celebrate after Koerper's 3-run home run, the long ball made the score 6-0.
Koerper’s home run seemed to break the spirit of the visiting team as they would go on lose the game 8-3. The defensive play of the night came from an unexpected source; catcher TJ Daily. Daily got the start in right field and made a fantastic throw to second base in the 3rd inning to cut down NKC’s leadoff man TJ Brewer trying to stretch a hit into a double. Daily also had a great day at the plate reaching base all four times he came up with 2 walks and 2 singles. The Mustangs only have four outfielders listed on their roster officially but tonight had both Ben Baker in left(listed as a pitcher) and TJ Daily in right(listed as a catcher) playing.
Daily and Koerper both hit the ball very well but another player that impressed me was Mark Robinette. Robinette has played third base both games this season. Robinette is new to the team this year but has done well at the plate going 1-4 with a RBI on opening night getting and robbed by a great defensive play once. He would be 2-5 in the second game with a double but has hit the ball hard consistently and played very good defense as well.
So far two games and two wins for the Mustangs, they take the field on Saturday the 28th against Regal Plastics.
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 