OCTOBER 1996 MISSISSIPPI STATE BASEBALL NEWS

• 10/25/96. Here's the individual stats for the 3 Banana Split Series games I saw.

Player	AB-H-AVG		Pitcher	IP	ER	H	K	BB	ERA
Scott Nash	11-5-.455		Barry Walters	3	0	1	4	1	0.00
Brian Terry	12-5-.417		Brian Wiese	4	0	3	4	3	0.00
Richard Lee	12-5-.417		Jay Lewis	3	0	1	2	0	0.00
Sparky Sparkman	12-5-.417		Mark Freed	4	0	7	2	0	0.00
Jason Willcutt	10-4-.400		Chris Reinike	5	0	2	9	3	0.00
Barry Patton	9-3-.333		Keith Dilgard	4	0	5	2	2	0.00
Brad Freeman	6-2-.333		Eric DuBose	8	1	2	9	4	1.13
Travis Chapman	12-3-.250		Brett Wheeler	5	1	4	3	1	1.80
Mark Power	12-3-.250		Matt Ginter	5	1	5	4	2	1.80
Brian Wiese	13-3-.231		Scott Polk	4	1	4	4	0	2.25
Brooks Bryan	9-2-.222		Travis Chapman	3	1	3	1	2	3.00
Ryan McGrath	9-2-.222		Kevin Donovan	5	2	5	4	2	3.60
Brad Shumaker	9-2-.222		Justin Estel	5	2	2	4	5	3.60
Adam Sauls	5-1-.200		Jeremy Jackson	5	2	5	6	3	3.60
Dustin Dabbs	12-2-.167		Van Johnson	5	4	5	2	4	7.20
Matt Peeples	12-2-.167
Rusty Thoms	7-1-.143
Brett Muhlhan	7-1-.143
Wash Respess	9-1-.111
Justin Estel	10-1-.100
Mike Uzdavines	12-1-.083
Adam Piatt	3-0-.000
Hank Thoms	5-0-.000
Mark Freed	11-0-.000
Jon Knott	9-0-.000

Don't make too much out of these stats, they only cover three games. Some of these guys faced tougher pitchers than others. An example of this is Mark Freed. In his 11 ABs, he faced DuBose, Reinike, Wiese and Polk 9 times. That alone could knock your average down. Those are probably 4 of our top 6 pitchers.

• 10/25/96. Thursday's game was won by the White Team 5-2. Here's the hitting and pitching stars.
Barry Patton was 2-3, 1 double, 2 RBI. He really looks good behind the plate. I look for him to be our starting catcher based on what little I have seen.
Even though he didn't get a hit, I was very impressed with Travis Chapman's bat control. He had three opportunities to move the runner over and he did it all three times. Bunted him over two times.
Richard Lee was 2-3, 1 double, 1 RBI, 1 walk. He has really looked good hitting this series.
Brian Terry was 2-4, 2 runs scored. He hit the ball well all four times. This kid looks like a very good hitter and he is just a redshirt freshman.
Sparky Sparkman was 2-3, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 walk, 2 runs scored. He has really looked good so far. Good speed on the base paths.
Scott Polk pitched 4 innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 run, 4 Ks and 1 walk.
Barry Walters pitched 3 innings, allowing 1 hit, 0 runs, 4 Ks, 1 walk.
Eric DuBose pitched 4 innings, allowing 1 hit, 1 run, 6 Ks, 3 walks.
Kevin Donovan pitched 3 innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 3 Ks, 1 walk.
Brett Wheeler pitched 5 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 runs - 1 earned, 3 Ks, 1 walk. He pitched well, but he still does not have his velocity back.

It is raining right now, so I don't expect there to be a game today. I'm not going to be able to go to either of the games Saturday or Sunday. I'll get all the statistics for the three games I saw this week and post them later this afternoon. I hope all of you have enjoyed these daily Banana Split Series updates.

• 10/23/96. I didn't tell all of you one interesting thing about each Banana Split Series game. All of the games are 11 innings each. If a game goes past the 11th inning, each batter comes to the plate with a 3-2 count on him. Really puts the pressure on the players. You'll see what I mean during this update.

Several players are injured and have not played in one or both of the games: Rob Hauswald, Scott Clark, Damian Scioneaux and Adam Piatt.

The White Team won the game Wednesday 8-3 in 12 innings. They scored 6 runs in the 12th. Here's some of the hitting and pitching stars during Wednesday's game.

Mark Power was 2-4, 1 double, 1 run scored and 1 stolen base.
Richard Lee was 3-5, 1 RBI and 1 run scored.
Brian Terry, a redshirt freshman, was 3-6, 1 double, 2 runs scored and 1 RBI. He looks like he is going to be a good hitter.
Scott Nash, a walkon freshman from Lufkin, Texas, was 4-5, 1 run scored, 1 RBI.
Sparky Sparkman, a redshirt freshman, was 2-5, 1 walk, 1 triple, 1 run scored. He's got a lot of speed.
Brad Freeman was 2-3, 1 walk, 1 RBI. Played a solid shortstop.
Jason Willcutt, a redshirt freshman from Columbus, Ms., was 2-3, 1 walk, 1 RBI, 1 stolen base.
Brian Wiese pitched 4 innings, allowed 1 run, 3 hits, 4 Ks, 3 walks.
Jay Lewis, a true freshman from Petal, Ms., pitched 3 innings, allowed no runs, 1 hit, 2 Ks, 0 walks. He doesn't throw hard, 82-83, but he is a lefthander and he has good control. He is 6-4 190, so he could gain some velocity when he fills out. Carlton Loewer was similar in size when he came to State and he added about 4-5 miles to his fastball before he left.
Jeremy Jackson pitched the best tonight. He allowed 2 runs during his 5 innings. Also allowed 2 hits, 5 hits, 6 Ks and 3 walks. He pitched the 12th inning, allowing all 3 of his walks during that inning.
Barry Patton didn't do much offensively today, but he sure has a gun for an arm. He is tough to steal against. He threw out 4 of 6 runners.

Two true freshmen, Matt Ginter and Mark Freed also pitched tonight. Ginter, who was throwing in the 86-89 range, pitched 5 innings, allowing 6 hits, 4 Ks, 2 walks and 1 run. Freed, who seemed to get stronger and throw harder each inning, pitched 4 innings, allowing 7 hits, 2 Ks, 0 walks, and no runs. He will probably be redshirted, but he really looks like he can be very good with a little more weight and strength. He is 6-4, 180. Plenty of room to grow. The same thing I said about Jay Lewis can also be said about Mark, although, I believe Mark throws a little harder. In the 83-84 range.

The future looks bright with what I have seen of the freshmen pitchers and hitters.

• 10/22/96. Tuesday's Banana Split Series game was rained out.
• 10/22/96. Here's some highlights from Monday night's Banana Split Game won by the Maroon team 4-3 in 12 innings.
  Brad Freeman was 0-0, with 2 runs scored and 3 stolen bases. 0-0 you say? He was hit by a pitch 3 times and walked another time. Hit by Eric DuBose 2 times. He has now been hit 10 times this fall.
  Barry Patton was 1-3, with 3 RBI. Two of those RBI came off a 91 MPH fastball by Eric DuBose. During that at bat, Patton saw three 91 MPH fastballs and one 90 MPH fastball.
  Travis Chapman, a true freshman, was 2-4 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored.
  Scott Nash, a true freshman walkon, was 2-4, with a double, 1 RBI and 1 stolen base. In fact, he knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.
  The pitching was very good tonight. Eric DuBose pitched 4 innings, allowing 2 unearned runs, 1 hit, 5 Ks, 1 BB, 2 HBP.
  Chris Reinike, a transfer from USM who will be eligible to pitch this year, pitched 5 innings, allowing no runs, 2 hits, 9 Ks, 3 BBs. He was the winner. Looks like a very good candidate, along with Brian Wiese, for the closer's job. He throws a 86-90 MPH fastball.
  Keith Dilgard pitched 4 innings, allowing 2 unearned runs, 5 hits, 2 Ks, 2 BBs.
  Justin Estel, a true freshman from Jackson, Ms., pitched 3 innings, allowing 1 run, 1 hit, 2 Ks, 2 BBs.
  Justin also played third base during the game. He reminds me of Pete Young when he throws the ball from third to first. He'll get the ball in his hand, hesitate a moment and then throw a bullet to first base. He's got a great arm. Tonight, when he pitched, he threw 86-89MPH.
  Weather permitting, Tuesday's game will be played at 3:00 PM. Brett Wheeler will start for the Maroon Team.
  At the end of the series, I will give individual statistics for all of the players so you can see who was hot and who was not.
• 10/20/96. The MSU Banana Split Series starts Monday, 10/21/96. The first game is at 7:30 and all the rest are at 3:00. Look for daily updates.
• 10/15/96. Two Miss State freshmen were drafted in this past Major League Draft: Matt Ginter - RHP, 17th Round by the New York Yankees. Mark Freed - LHP, 24th Round by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Source: Baseball America.

• 10/10/96. Miss State's recruiting class was rated the 24th best in the country by Collegiate Baseball. Below, I have listed all SEC teams that made the top 30.

Ranking	Team	Recruits	Frosh	JC	Trans
4	Florida	21	13	6	2
5	Auburn	7	5	0	2
7	Alabama	13	1	10	2
10	Louisiana State	12	5	7	0
17	Tennessee	12	2	9	1
24	Mississippi State	8	6	1	1

You may not believe this, but Florida didn't sign the highest number of recruits. Texas Tech did with 25 signees.

• 10/5/96. Jason Butler, a position player from Bartow, Fla., has received a baseball scholarship offer from Miss State, but he's holding out for a football offer from Florida. Butler has received letters of interest, in regards to football, from Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Miami and South Carolina. "I've been a Gator fan since I was little," Butler said. "If I could go anywhere, that's where I'd like to go. We'll just have to wait and see." Butler, who wants to play football and baseball in college, last season batted .454 with four homers and 48 RBI.
• 10/5/96. While at the intrasquad game today, I talked to Joe Campbell, a Dodger scout, who told me that the Dodgers are expecting former Bulldog pitcher Gary Rath to make the big league team next year.
• 10/5/96. I went to the intrasquad game today and I found out the four pitchers who can throw 90 MPH are DuBose, Wiese, Reinike and Ginter. Chris Reinike, who is a transfer from USM, is a 6-1 192 So RHP and Matt Ginter is a 6-2 200 Fr RHP from Winchester, KY.
• 10/5/96. Here's a rundown on the velocity of each pitcher from watching the scouts' guns at the game today. Most of the pitchers only threw one inning and they knew the scouts were there, so they were probably throwing as hard as they possibly could, but it is still very interesting.

  Pitchers' Name	Class	Consistent Range	High	Low
  Eric DuBose	Junior	89-91	95	87
  Brian Wiese	Sophomore	88-90	90	88
  Chris Reinike	Sophomore	87-90	91	87
  Scott Polk	Junior	86-89	89	86
  Keith Dilgard	Senior	87-88	89	86
  Matt Ginter	Freshman	87-88	90	86
  Justin Estel	Freshman	87-88	88	85
  Jeremy Jackson	Junior	86-87	87	83
  Hank Thoms	Sophomore	86	86	79
  Travis Chapman	Freshman	82-83	83	82
  Van Johnson	Junior	82-83	83	80
  Brett Wheeler	Junior	82	83	80
  Mark Freed	Freshman	81-83	84	79
  Kevin Donovan	Redshirt Freshman	79-82	84	79
  Barry Walters	Junior	82-80	82	79
  Jon Knott	Freshman	78-80	78	81
  Jay Lewis	Freshman	Injured	N/A	N/A

• Adam Piatt was selected by the league managers as the 9th best prospect in the Alaska Baseball Federation Summer League according to Baseball America. His scouting report: Gap Power, good speed, plus arm.

• Also reported in Baseball America, in the Central Illinois Collegiate Summer League playoffs, the best performance by a pitcher was our very own Brian Wiese, who no-hit the Springfield Rifles, 7-0, with a CICL-record 19 strikeouts.

• The following MSU players were selected as Summer League All-Stars, according to Baseball America: Adam Piatt, Utility Infielder, Alaska League; Brian Wiese, Relief Pitcher, Central Illinois League.

• According to reports from MSU officials, only two of the baseball recruits signed pro contracts during the summer: Josh Pugh, a catcher from Kentucky; and an unnamed Junior College pitcher. All other signees are enrolled and on campus.

• According to Collegiate Baseball, MSU was fourth in total attendance with a count of 118,250, averaging 3,942 per game, third in the country.
• In the October 13, 1996 issue of Baseball America, Brian Wiese was voted to the all-star summer league second team as a pitcher. This team was selected from ALL of the summer leagues, including the olympic team. There were five pitchers on each all-star team. Brian's stats are as follows: 6-0, 0.54, 33 IP, 63 SO.

Please contact me at swindoll@ebicom.net if you have any Miss State baseball info you would like to share. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

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