Now that the season is well under way, lets take a look at some of the players around the NAIA that are really producing on the diamond.
Andrew Brouillette, C, LSU-Shreveport
Andrew, through 27 games, is hitting a whopping .538 with 7 dingers and 49 RBI. He has already had three games with 5+ RBI including 12 in three games against Tougaloo College.
Brent Weaver, 1B, Oklahoma City University
Brent has already powered 16 balls out of the yard this season. To show that he is not only about the long ball, Brent is sporting a hefty .430 average and has knocked in 45 runs. Brent has had three multi home run games on the season.
Brice Cutspec, 1B, Azusa Pacific University
Brice has shown that there is not a power shortage in California this year as he has hit 15 home runs in only 22 games. Brice also has a .421 batting average and has driven in 38 runs for Azusa.
Kenny Kysar, CF, Union College
Kenny is out to show the world that the home run is not the only way to create offense. Through only 18 games, Kenny has already stolen 21 bases while only being caught twice. Kenny is hitting .423 and has walked 17 times already this season.
Brent Lavallee, C, LSU-Shreveport
Brent has become another offensive weapon for the Pilots this season. While playing in 26 games, Brent has a .404 average while hitting 13 home runs and driving in 53.
While offense and scoring runs is important, the old adage is that defense wins championships. Lets take a look at those who are using the leather to shine on the field.
Brad Holstein, 1B, Spring Hill College
Through 24 games, Brad has amasses a whopping 184 put outs already to go along with 8 assists and has taken part in 11 double plays.
Brennan Ingram, SS, Concordia University Oregon
In only 16 games, Brennan already has had 94 chances at short stop. Out of those chances, 20 putouts and 71 assists. Brennan has been involved in 9 double plays.
Mike Davis, 1B, Lambuth University
Mike has flashed the leather quite a bit already this season with 172 chances in 21 games. Mike has been successful in all 172 of those chances having recorded 164 put outs and 8 assists for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Most coaches will tell you that good pitching will always stop good hitting. If that is the case, opposing hitters are lucky to ever get a hit off of these guys.
Todd Weldon, P, Wayland Baptist University
Todd has already collected 7 wins on the season in 9 appearances. Todd has a 2.25 ERA while striking out 64 in only 44 innings pitched.
Marcus Limon, P, Wayland Baptist University
Marcus has appeared in 9 games this season and has 4 wins against only 1 loss and has picked up a save. While those numbers are good, his strikeout numbers are incredible. Marcus has struck out 62 batters in only 33 innings pitched, including three outings with 10+ strikeouts.
Julian Moya, P, University of Texas at Brownsville
Julian has picked up 4 wins for the Scorpions this season but he as struck out 55 batters in only 33 innings. That is an average of 14.85 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched.
Ivan Sada, P, Voorhees College
Ivan has pitched in 7 games so far this season and has already pitched a total of 54.1 innings. Everyone of Ivan’s starts have been at least 6 innings including his last two starts in which he has pitched a total of 18 innings.
Kyle Medley, P, Belhaven College
Kyle is the early leader in saves for the season with 8. He has appeared in 11 games on the season and has a 2.38 ERA. Kyle has also stuck out 10 in only 11.1 innings pitched.
Mitch Davidson, P, Lee University
No look at early season success would be complete without mentioning the accomplishments of Mitch Davidson from Lee University. The 5-11 senior lefthander has pitched in 4 games on the season for the flames and has a 1.96 ERA in 18.1 innings pitched while picking up 2 wins. It is those two wins that really stand out as Davidson threw back to back no hitters in his first two starts of the season.
Of course while we are recognizing the early season accomplishment of the players, the coaches deserve to be honored as well.
Denny Crabaugh, Oklahoma City University
On February, 26th, Coach Crabaugh became part of a select group of coaches as he reached the 1,000 win plateau. In 21 seasons of coaching, Denny has 1,000 wins against only 313 losses with two ties.
Rocke Musgraves, LSU-Sheveport
The Pilots, led by coach Musgraves, became the first team in NAIA baseball to hit 20 wins on the 2009 season with their win on March 2nd.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Weather Strikes Again
One look at the calendar shows you that Spring is right around the corner. One look at the weather would make you think it was still winter. This past Sunday, I had every intention of going to watch a baseball game. It was set up perfectly as this would be my first chance to watch a sports team from Valley City State University. As a student at VCSU, I was excited to see the Vikings play baseball.
As the weekend approached, I began to watch the weather carefully as I knew it was not looking real promising for the weekend down here in Iowa. My home is located about 80 miles from Fremont, Nebraska which is where Midland Lutheran, the Vikings first opponent of the baseball season, is located.
The season ended up getting off to an earlier start than usual as the weather forced the schedule to be moved up to Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday. While I was not able to see any of the Vikings games, I can give you a quick recap thanks to the VCSU Athletics web site.
On Friday, in game 1, Midland Lutheran scored in the bottom of the 7th inning to win the game 7-6. The second game did not go as well for the Vikings as they lost 6-0. Both games scheduled for Saturday were rained out as the bad weather began to makes its way into Nebraska. The Warriors and the Vikings were not able to play on Sunday either as a rain, snow, and wintery mix began to makes its way into the area.
The Vikings will stay in Nebraska for the week as they next play about 20 miles down the road in Blair, NE. It will be an all Viking match as the VCSU Vikings take on the Dana Vikings in a four game series. There will be two games on Friday followed up by two games on Saturday.
As the weekend approached, I began to watch the weather carefully as I knew it was not looking real promising for the weekend down here in Iowa. My home is located about 80 miles from Fremont, Nebraska which is where Midland Lutheran, the Vikings first opponent of the baseball season, is located.
The season ended up getting off to an earlier start than usual as the weather forced the schedule to be moved up to Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday. While I was not able to see any of the Vikings games, I can give you a quick recap thanks to the VCSU Athletics web site.
On Friday, in game 1, Midland Lutheran scored in the bottom of the 7th inning to win the game 7-6. The second game did not go as well for the Vikings as they lost 6-0. Both games scheduled for Saturday were rained out as the bad weather began to makes its way into Nebraska. The Warriors and the Vikings were not able to play on Sunday either as a rain, snow, and wintery mix began to makes its way into the area.
The Vikings will stay in Nebraska for the week as they next play about 20 miles down the road in Blair, NE. It will be an all Viking match as the VCSU Vikings take on the Dana Vikings in a four game series. There will be two games on Friday followed up by two games on Saturday.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Listen to the beat
A good beat can be useful for more than just music. It is also an very useful tool for a reporter to top the competition and get the story before everyone else. The beat reporter has a major advantage over the competition by being proactive, going to the source himself, instead of being reactive, and waiting for the story to come to him or her.
A journalist is not any different than a professional in any other line of work, the best are able to specialize. A reporter needs to be able to handle a general news story, but at the same time needs to have one area that they know inside and out. One topic that they are able to find and maintain sources. These sources will in turn help that reporter find out details that they would otherwise not have access to.
I’ll use my writing as an example. I was lucky enough to have my name given to every NAIA baseball coach in the country. These people have now heard my name and been given an example of my work. I have also heard from some of them already. Each time that they have contacted me, I have made sure that I have responded to them with a kind and thankful word and filed away their contact information.
Now that I have been in touch with these sources, and started building a relationship with them, I will be able to gain their trust. I know that they will include me on updates about their team and their season. I will be on their mailing lists with the latest team news. All of this information can in turn be used to write a story that I wouldn’t be able to get from watching the scoreboards or stat pages.
The best part about having a specific beat is that it is a topic that I love. If I had to write articles about movies or entertainment, I would struggle with my research and my writing because I don’t have that passion for the topic. Baseball on the other hand is perfect for me. Send me to city hall to cover a budget meeting and I will be bored out of my mind. Send me to the ballpark to watch games for eight hours and I am in heaven.
A journalist is not any different than a professional in any other line of work, the best are able to specialize. A reporter needs to be able to handle a general news story, but at the same time needs to have one area that they know inside and out. One topic that they are able to find and maintain sources. These sources will in turn help that reporter find out details that they would otherwise not have access to.
I’ll use my writing as an example. I was lucky enough to have my name given to every NAIA baseball coach in the country. These people have now heard my name and been given an example of my work. I have also heard from some of them already. Each time that they have contacted me, I have made sure that I have responded to them with a kind and thankful word and filed away their contact information.
Now that I have been in touch with these sources, and started building a relationship with them, I will be able to gain their trust. I know that they will include me on updates about their team and their season. I will be on their mailing lists with the latest team news. All of this information can in turn be used to write a story that I wouldn’t be able to get from watching the scoreboards or stat pages.
The best part about having a specific beat is that it is a topic that I love. If I had to write articles about movies or entertainment, I would struggle with my research and my writing because I don’t have that passion for the topic. Baseball on the other hand is perfect for me. Send me to city hall to cover a budget meeting and I will be bored out of my mind. Send me to the ballpark to watch games for eight hours and I am in heaven.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
How much coverage is enough?
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/harristrial
http://www.ktiv.com/Global/story.asp?s=9640498
http://kscj.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/harris-trial-may-be-postponed
There is one major news story that has been the focus point lately and it is the trial of Lawrence Harris. Lawrence Harris has been accused of the ritualistic slaying of his step-daughters a little over one year ago.
The Sioux City Fire Department responded to a house fire call at the residence. When they were there, they found the girls dead in their room. Lawrence Harris told the police that he was performing a witchcraft spell and it had gone wrong.
From that date, the media in Sioux City have been all over the case. You can’t blame the media though. They are doing their job. The media is giving the community the information they need.
The local television media have had their cameras at each event containing Mr. Harris. From the initial coverage of the story to his first hearings and at every court appearance along the way.
The local newspaper has had a live blog from the courtroom everyday. It is on the front page of the newspaper and is the first item on the web site. If the newspaper follows their previous examples, there will be a special section on the web site for years to come.
This trial has been delayed for some time because of motions involving the psychiatric well being of the defendant. Lately, the main focus of the defense attorneys has been the location of the trial. They feel there is no way that Lawrence Harris can receive a fair trial in Sioux City.
The defense may have a point. With the amount of media coverage that has taken place, is it possible for the potential jurors to be completely fair? At this point it must be as the jurors were sworn in yesterday and the trial has started.
Sioux City is a town of about 100,000 people. News of this magnitude very rarely happens in our quiet community. The people want to know about this crime, these little girls, and the resulting trial. The media is performing their duty to the community by giving them access to the information they crave. When is there a line crossed between what is needed for the community and what is needed for the courts.
http://www.ktiv.com/Global/story.asp?s=9640498
http://kscj.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/harris-trial-may-be-postponed
There is one major news story that has been the focus point lately and it is the trial of Lawrence Harris. Lawrence Harris has been accused of the ritualistic slaying of his step-daughters a little over one year ago.
The Sioux City Fire Department responded to a house fire call at the residence. When they were there, they found the girls dead in their room. Lawrence Harris told the police that he was performing a witchcraft spell and it had gone wrong.
From that date, the media in Sioux City have been all over the case. You can’t blame the media though. They are doing their job. The media is giving the community the information they need.
The local television media have had their cameras at each event containing Mr. Harris. From the initial coverage of the story to his first hearings and at every court appearance along the way.
The local newspaper has had a live blog from the courtroom everyday. It is on the front page of the newspaper and is the first item on the web site. If the newspaper follows their previous examples, there will be a special section on the web site for years to come.
This trial has been delayed for some time because of motions involving the psychiatric well being of the defendant. Lately, the main focus of the defense attorneys has been the location of the trial. They feel there is no way that Lawrence Harris can receive a fair trial in Sioux City.
The defense may have a point. With the amount of media coverage that has taken place, is it possible for the potential jurors to be completely fair? At this point it must be as the jurors were sworn in yesterday and the trial has started.
Sioux City is a town of about 100,000 people. News of this magnitude very rarely happens in our quiet community. The people want to know about this crime, these little girls, and the resulting trial. The media is performing their duty to the community by giving them access to the information they crave. When is there a line crossed between what is needed for the community and what is needed for the courts.
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