Mizzou v. Kansas State: what didn't make The Maneater.

Before starting this blog, I was (and still am) one of The Maneater's baseball beat writers. I still cover these games, and there are things that didn't make into my game recaps (like this one which I have to fit into 550-600 words. So here they are.

• Kansas State left their starter, Matt Applegate, in the game for a really long time. Which was odd, given that he gave up a lot of runs, as in 13, with eight earned. And these runs came early, with nine in the innings he stayed in the whole time and the other four in the seventh inning, in which he stayed in long enough to have all the runs be listed as earned for him. Maybe K-State's bullpen was depleted, maybe they didn't want to use anyone who could make their way in to the starting staff, I don't really know. But it seemed weird that they left him in when the game was basically done and he was serving as someone to simply eat up pitches. He threw 134 pitches, which is a lot even for someone who stays in during a winning effort. 
• Andreas Plackis seems like a genuinely great guy. He started the season as the primary first baseman, but was knocked out first by Landon Lucansky and then by Gavin Stark. He didn't seem bitter at all when I talked to him, though, and thought of his bench time as "character building." I don't have an emotional investment in anyone at this position, but I'd be fine if Plackis ended up locking it up. And if he hits like he did Friday, that'd be doubly great for Mizzou.  
• When second baseman Dillon Everett came up, some of the young fans at the game would chant "Dill-on Ev-erett." It might have been the cadence inspired by his name or the chant in general, but it was genuinely creepy. So there's that. But Everett has shown that he really isn't a good hitter. I thought he would be coming around during the Tigers' 10-game winning streak, but he has shown that he just hasn't. He's still hitting pretty close to the Mendoza line, at .209. And he hasn't been the best situationally, as he failed to get a sacrifice bunt down in the second inning, even with multiple chances. He's a decent defender at second, but he's been far from that offensively. 
• In their four-run first inning, Mizzou had more runs than hits (three). That ratio swung back and forth throughout the game, and it eventually ended up at 14 hits, 13 runs. You can look at that in a negative or positive light: either they capitalize on walks and errors or they need lots of walks and errors to score as many runs as they did. You can really look at it either way.
• Again, Mizzou's baserunners were subject to a TON of pickoff attempts. This has happened enough that you really can't prescribe it to a certain team. The Tigers really don't steal that much (Blake Brown has the most with 13 and Brannon Champagne has 9), but coach Jamieson said that because Brown stole in the first inning last night, it put pressure on Applegate to be a bit more vigilant with whomever got on base. 
• Brannon Champagne has been on base in 28 straight games, the second-best streak in the Big 12. It's huge for Mizzou to have someone like that at the top of the lineup who can consistently do that. He has been one of the only people in the lineup (Everett being the other) that hasn't been shuffled around the batting order.
• In the bottom of the fifth, Blake Brown hit an unbelievably high pop-up on the infield. Every K-State infielder converged on the mound like a drum circle and Applegate ended up catching the ball not a foot from the rubber. So that was kinda funny to watch.
• Rob Z had a great start, and basically every one of his pitches can be used as an out pitch. Once he starts throwing strikes a higher percentage of the time, he's going to be really, really, really good and most likely a pretty high draft pick. He's only a sophomore, so there's no telling how far he can get. 
• There were no 4/20-related promotions to speak of. The Taco Bell ad in the eighth is a regular occurrence.