As always, here's the recap, but this post will hopefully fill in any gaps. Enjoy!
- Dane Opel's home run in the bottom of the 5th might have been the hardest hit home run I've seen from a Mizzou bat this year. Opel's shot was on a line and almost cleared the trees beyond the 340-foot right field fence. He just cheated on an offspeed pitch on the inside part of the plate and ripped it.
- A big part of how Mizzou was able to curtail K-State's offensive production in the series was holding the Wildcats' #3 and #4 batters, Jared King and Wade Hinkle, to a combined 2 for 19. King is leading the team with a .372 average and Hinkle has seven homers and 33 RBIs. By basically taking those two out of the game, the Tigers forced the Wildcats to rely on the rest of their lineup to drive the offense. They couldn't do that, and seven runs in three games isn't going to win many series unless you have a stud pitching staff, which K-State doesn't.
- Kayvon Bahramzadeh, K-State's starter, looked pretty good despite getting saddled with the loss. He only gave up four hits in his six innings, with two in the first, one coming from Opel's homer and the other on a seeing-eye single up the middle by Conner Mach in the sixth. After the two-run first inning, he settled in quite well. Bahramzadeh had five strikeouts and showed good velocity as well as the ability to make batters look silly with his curveball. He made Mach and Blake Brown, two very good hitters, flail wildly on that pitch to strike them out. I could see Bahramzadeh being a decent reliever should he get drafted.
- Once he got his offspeed and breaking stuff under control, Graves started to induce a lot of weak popups and flairs that were either jam shots or hit off the end of the bat. If he keeps his velocity up and can get his other pitches in the strike zone, the change of speed, not even the movement as much, could be a big weapon for him.
- The biggest chances K-State had to score were in the third and sixth innings. In the third, Tanner Witt and Ross Kivett singled consecutively to put runners on first and second with one out. King flew out to Opel and it looked like Witt might try to tag up. He waited long enough for Opel to throw to second, though, and somewhere in between Witt decided to go for third, where Dillon Everett threw him out for the double play. That play seemed to kill any momentum the Wildcats might have had. In the sixth, Witt singled, stole second and was advanced to third on a King sac fly. Hinkle smoked a grounder to first, but it was right at Andreas Plackis' glove, and he went to first for the third out.
- Eric Garcia is a better defensive shortstop than his .923 fielding percentage suggests. He has the range to make good plays to either side and the arm to throw guys out on grounders in the 5-6 hole, something he has done multiple times this season. He made a great play on a pop-up to shallow center today, running back and making an over-the-shoulder catch. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a UZR (ultimate zone rating) database for college ball, but if there was I bet Garcia's would be pretty good.
- Ben Turner has the best OBP (.430) on the team. He is hitting .320 and has been hot as of late, but also has the most walks on the team, with 21. His plate discipline has been the key to his success. Maybe Tim Jamieson should stick him in the leadoff spot!
- Dusty Ross has quietly become a stud in the bullpen. While the closer role has shuffled between Jeff Emens and Jake Walsh and Eric Anderson's absence has drawn some awkward spot starts from Emens, John Miles and even Kyle Barbeck, Ross has stuck in his role and been very, very good this season. He has held opponents to a .220 batting average, the lowest on the team and a number that would place him sixth in the Big 12 if you were to go from the conference's April 19 release.
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