Thursday, May 27, 2010

Glad to have some help around the office

Finally it is really going to happen. After two months on the job I am going to finally be able to unveil my new assistant coaches. Coach Bobby Williams and Ms. Bobbie Hilliard were very gracious in letting me get the two candidates that I wanted from the beginning.

I am so excited about these two young, energetic and hard working guys. They both have been in winning programs, and worked under some great head coaches already at such an early stage in their careers. They will officially begin working Monday June 1. They have officially been hired so I can release there names at this time, Alvin Brooks III and Chris Mudge.

Alvin has been at Bradley University the past three years, and before that won a national championship as an assistant at Arkansas Fort Smith and Midland College. Back to back years at two different places is pretty amazing! He will bring a lot of great things to the table: recruiting, coaching, player development, academic monitoring and the list goes on and on. Alvin is a young guy who we coaches call a budding star. I am looking forward to working with him and hopefully helping his career grow even more. He is really excited to be at Sam Houston State and back at HOME!!!

Chris Mudge is what we coaches in the business call a GRINDER! He works 24-7 and loves the game of basketball. He will always turn over every rock and never leave a loose end untied. I am really excited about Chris because in essence he really reminds me of myself when I was that age many moons ago. His tireless work ethic will come in handy with recruiting, film preparation, player development, and all the ends in outs of the day to day operation of a program.

Chris is very intelligent and has also been a part of some Championship caliber basketball at Midland College as an assistant coach. He also was under the tutelage of coach Barnes at the University of Texas as a graduate assistant. Coach Barnes is a very good friend of mine and called on Chris's behalf. Was very complimentary of his work ethic and desire to become a Division One assistant coach. By the way, we will be making a trip to Austin, Texas, on November 23rd of this upcoming season for a contest with the Horns.

As for the basketball program, we are starting to slow down just a bit. Our guys finished up the semester strong academically, and we are looking forward to summer school where we will have the largest participation of our players that we've ever had. Lance and Josten will graduate first summer session and walk in August. Of course they both have another year of eligibility remaining and will use it! Corey finishes up in the Fall semester with two classes that he can take on line while he pursues a professional basketball career. Preston as I mentioned in an earlier piece, will have to take all of next year to finish due to his preparation to get into Physical Therapy School. Arthur and DeLuis finished this May.

Our recruiting is almost complete. I know a lot of you are wondering how we can sign all these people when there are only a certain amount of scholarships available. This will all take care of itself in due time. Until all the grades are in and decisions are made, we will continue to look at possibilities to improve our basketball program. We feel good about the guys we have signed up to this point, and when the dust settles in the next couple of weeks the makeup of our team will be complete.

Jason Hooten
Head basketball coach

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Andres looks to make it 24

Hitting streaks can be fun to watch. Each day presents a new challenge and a new set of hurdles. Right now Sam Houston State designated hitter Chris Andres has a pretty good run going.

The junior from Brenham has hit successfully in 23 straight games going back to the Texas Southern game April 7. The streak is the third-longest in school history behind Terry Pirtle’s 34-game streak in 1987 and Andrew Kasparek’s 28 game streak in 2003 and the first game of the 2004 season. The streak is currently the 8th-longest current streak in the nation. Florida International’s Garrett Wittels is on an amazing 45-game hit streak.

Three players in the Southland have had longer streaks this season with one still current. Northwestern State’s Eric DeBlanc is on a 24-game hitting streak. Tanner Hines at SFA had a 24-game streak snapped and Jermaine Marek had a 25-game streak this season.

Taking a look at the hitting streak for Andreas, his average during this span is .383 and he has eight multi-hit games during the streak. Nine times he extended the streak in his first at bat, and one of those times it was a pinch-hit homer against McNeese, his only at bat of the game.

Twice, Andres pushed the streak to his last at bat of the game, and both times were late in the streak. He picked up a single in the eighth against Southeastern Louisiana to extend the streak to 18 games. The hit to extend the streak to 22 games might have been the most dramatic of the streak.

He did it on the bottom of the ninth this past weekend against Central Arkansas. With two outs, Andreas ripped a single to extend the streak. The story there happened the play before, however. With two outs, Braeden Riley hit a grounder on the infield. Payton Wisner was at first base and hustled to second, sliding in just ahead of the throw to keep the inning alive.

With three games left in the season, Andreas has a chance to extend the streak to 26. He then will have nine months to think about game No. 27.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Martin to face Strasburg on Tuesday

EDIT (5-19-10): The game was rained out on Tuesday, and will be played tonight. It will be video streamed on www.milb.com

Former Sam Houston State outfielder Dustin Martin is on a pretty good run right now at AAA Rochester. He has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games, including seven straight. He also has five consecutive multi-hit games.

Martin is now hitting .339, with five homers and 31 RBI, which leads the team in all three categories.

He will get a chance to test himself against the best on Tuesday when the Red Wigs welcome Stephen Strasburg and the Syracuse Chiefs to town.

It will be Martin’s second outing against one of the top pitching prospects in Minor League Baseball. Last week, Martin faced Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, and was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. Chapman signed a $30.2 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds in the offseason and entered Friday’s game with a 2.84 earned-run average.

Strasburg, 21, who entered the 2010 season as Baseball America’s No. 2 prospect (Atlanta outfielder Jason Hayward No. 1), was the first overall pick in the 2009 June baseball draft.

In seven minor league starts between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse, Strasburg has a 5-1 record with a 1.06 ERA. In 34.0 innings of work, Strasburg has allowed nine runs (four earned) on 14 hits while walking eight and striking out 40. Opponents are batting just .121 (14-for-116) against him.

In his two starts for Triple-A Syracuse, Strasburg has a 2-0 record with a 0.00 ERA. In 12.0 innings of work, Strasburg has allowed just one hit and struck out 13.

There is no live video of the game listed, but if you want to give it a listen, the Red Wings offer free audio.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Kats set for double-dip today at The Don

The Bearkats are set to play a double header today (assuming the weather permits) against Central Arkansas. This series will g a long way in determining if the Bearkats will be in Corpus Christi for the Southland Conference Championship in two weeks.

This will be the fourth double header day for the Bearkats this season and the third time against the same team. This year, the Kats are 3-3 this season on double header days. They were swept in the home opening series against Utah on Feb. 27. A week later, the Bearkats took two from Creighton and Northern Colorado. They have one Southland Conference double header this season, splitting a pair with Texas State in Huntsville.

The Bearkats enter the day 1 ½ games back of Nicholls, which lost last night to Texas State, for the eighth and final tournament spot. Since the Colonels have the tie breaker, the Kats will have to finish a game ahead of them.

In Mark Johnson’s four years in Huntsville, the Bearkats are 23-17 on double-header days with six sweeps. In double headers played in Huntsville the Bearkats sport a 17-9 record, and they are 17-11 in double headers against the same team.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Katy chipping in to help Southland Tournament

In three years of hosting the Southland Conference basketball tournament in Katy, the crowds have steadily increased. This past March when the Bearkats knocked off SFA in the championship game, it featured the largest attended championship game the Southland has had since moving back to a neutral court. In fact, this year's game had a larger crowd (3,573) than the previous two years in Katy combined (1,006 in 2008 and 2,531 in 2009).

Now the city of Katy wants to do its part to ensure the tournament is a success and continues to grow. The City of Katy is awarding a $110,000 grant to the Southland Conference to help fund promotional and operational costs of the 2011 college basketball tournament at the Merrell Center.

Council unanimously approved the Convention and Tourism Bureau application request during a regular meeting Monday night. The amount includes last year’s request of $65,000 for tourism-related advertising and promotion of the city, as well as an additional $45,000 for facility rental and operational cost.

“On the days they play, we actually get national coverage on ESPN, and that’s the only national thing we have in Katy,” city finance director Byron Hebert said. “Hotel money can be used to promote the city, and that’s probably the biggest stage we can do at this time.”

Read the rest of the story in The Katy Times

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

An unexpected record

It is always fun at the end of the season to go back and add the stats from the year to the record book. Every year, players move up the career lists, and on occasion set a new school record.

Most of the time, the accomplishment is not unexpected. During the year we are checking the record book to see where people stand. Sometimes, you do get a surprise.

We got one today when updating the softball record book – sort of. Amy Brown has been a four-year starter for the Bearkats at first base. The nature of the position will get you a lot of putouts over a career.

So when Amy was added to the top of the list for career putouts with 1,734, it was really no surprise. She was at the top of the list to start the season. Even the fact she beat Kim Nevil by more than 500 is also not a huge surprise.

However, we had no idea how quickly she was climbing the NCAA all-time list. Although the national list won’t be updated until the end of the season, Brown ranks in a tie for No. 10 on the list for most putouts in NCAA history.

Oddly enough, the player she is tied with is also a Southland Conference softball player. Shante Jones of Northwestern State had the same number of putouts during her four-year career with the Lady Demons from 1996-1999.

The NCAA doesn’t keep up with fielding percentage, but I’d have to think Amy’s would rank pretty high. In 1,837 career chances, she committed just 18 errors.

Bearkats in the News: Former baseball player Todd Sebek

Tivy-ex Sebek content without baseball
By Richard Oliver, San Antonio Express News

Todd Sebek says he doesn't harbor bitterness today. But it doesn't mean that he doesn't have a long memory.

The former Kerrville Tivy star recalls his 2007 summer with the Alaska Baseball League, leading the circuit by hitting .440. He remembers his All-America senior season at Sam Houston State, collecting nearly 100 hits, 33 for extra bases, en route to a .356 average.

But he also recollects sitting in front of his computer for long hours in June 2008, shell-shocked as his name failed to appear in 50 rounds of selections in the major-league amateur draft.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Sebek, 24. “I'm an All-American, and I'm not picked up in 1,500 picks? I was as blue-collar a player as they come. I thought I was the prototype of the kind of person you want in the ring with you.”

Instead, today Sebek sells medical supplies in San Antonio, more content to pick up a fishing rod than a bat. He's a baseball fan, no longer a player, and claims to be perfectly content with that evolution.

Read entire story