Ticket Prices

For those of you thinking of buying Golden Giants tickets at the June 2nd Media Night.

Season tickets are $50.

Single game tickets are $4 for adults, $3 for children 18 and under.

Summer league article from the Wichita Eagle

This story about the difficulties of filling a summer collegiate/semi-pro roster was in Sunday's Wichita Eagle, plus a schedule for all the Wichita area teams.

WJL Update: It appears the Wichita Dawgs have been renamed as or replaced by the "Park City Cowboys."

Media Night on June 2nd is open to the public

The Golden Giants will hold a practice and media day event on June 2nd at 5 p.m., which is open to the public as well. Both single game and season tickets will be on sale. Come out and check out Topeka's baseball team.

Opening game in Omaha postponed

The Golden Giants will not play their first game in Omaha on June 1st as planned. Omaha Varsity Gold does not anticipate having enough players to field a team at that time. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader later in the season. The home opener on June 3rd against Omaha is still scheduled, and there are plans for it to be broadcast on 1440 AM.

Golf Tourney photos

See below for pictures of Golden Giant players participating in the Golden Giants Golf Tournament. Thanks to GM Brett Cowdin for emailing in the pictures.

Tych Cowdin 

Truman Marek 

Daniel Heflin 

Player Info: 2B Jason Cooper

New Golden Giant Jason Cooper is a 6'1"-185 lbs. right handed second basemen in his second year at Johnson County Community College. He previously plated for Lee's Summit North High School in Missouri.

According to the stats currently posted on the JCCC site, Jason is hitting .313 with 19 RBIs and a .446 OBP. He has 9 stolen bases in 10 attempts.

Player Info: C Brandon Farr

Brandon Farr is in his junior year at K-State, after transfering from Blinn Junior College in Texas (same juco as GG pitcher Brett Muegge). He is currently hitting .348 for the Wildcats. 21 walks and 5 hit-by-pitches elevate his OBP to .447. His .348 average is the third highest on a Wildcat team which currently has the highest team batting average in the Big 12 Conference.

At Blinn JC, Brandon hit .360 and was named team captain. At Humble High School he had a .353 average over 4 years as a starter.

Brandon is an aspiring singer/songwriter whose father and older brother also played collegiate baseball.

Lenherr makes all-MIAA Second Team

And while were on the subject of Golden Giants from the MIAA, Jesse Schmidt (profiled below) was all-MIAA Honorable Mention this season along with fellow GGs Randy Wild, Jerad Head, and Michael Grosdidier. Pitcher Jake Lenherr was awarded all-MIAA second team.

CJ article
WU press release
MIAA release

Player Info: 1B/DH Jesse Schmidt

New Golden Giant Jesse Schmidt is Washburn's big (6'6" 200 lbs.) power-hitting junior first baseman. He hit .337 for the Ichabods this spring. He led the team in slugging percentage (.553), hits (64), RBIs (56), home runs (9), total bases (105), sacrifice flies (6), at-bats (190), and strikeouts (41).

Prior to Washburn, Jesse played locally at Shawnee Heights High School. Here's the description of his high schol career from the Ichabod media guide:

A 2001 graduate of Shawnee Heights High School, where he played baseball, basketball and football for the T-Birds. Was first team all-city and All-Centennial League and second team all-state in both baseball and basketball. Was All-Centennial League and all-city in football. Played in the Kansas All-Star games in both basketball and baseball after his senior year at Shawnee Heights. Helped Shawnee Heights to a basketball state title his junior season and a state title in baseball during his senior year. Was a nominee for Wendy’s High School Heisman Award.

Roster Changes

This just in from the GM. Golden Giants Tyler Sweezey and Raub Kirkwood will start the season in an injured reserve status, and OF Lindy Wray is no longer on the Golden Giants roster. There have also been some new additions:

C Brandon Farr KSU
P Tommy Smoot CMSU
IF/DH Jesse Schmidt WU
IF Jason Cooper JCCC
OF Zach Walton CCCC
OF Kyle Edwards WU

Details on new players will be posted in the next few days. Please stay tuned.

NMSU Aggies sweep UALR

The New Mexico State Aggies won all three games in their conference series against Arkansas-Little Rock. In that three game series, Golden Giant Vince Rodden was 4 for 8, with 2 runs scored and 3 batted in. On the season, Vince is currently hitting .365 with a .496 OBP. He has 24 stolen bases in 31 attempts.

Fellow Golden Giant Trevor Clay was the starting (and losing) pitcher for UALR in Sunday's game. He threw 124 pitches over 6.2 innings, allowing 5 earned runs on a dozen hits. On the season Trevor is 5-4 with a 5.75 ERA, striking out 36 batters and allowing 16 walks.

The series ended with a Vince Rodden defensive gem (zero errors on the season by the way). Vince had entered the game as a pinch runner and stayed in to play center field. Here's the description from the Aggies press release:

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Junior Vince Rodden made a leaping catch up against the center field wall with the bases loaded and the New Mexico State baseball team held on for the series sweep Sunday, defeating Arkansas-Little Rock, 5-3 in the finale of a Sun Belt Conference series at Presley Askew Field.

Down by two, the Trojans rallied to load the bases in the top of the ninth inning. After shortstop Derek Eilers led off the frame with a base hit through the left side, freshman Tyler Sturdevant (Littleton, Colo.) struck out the next two batters, but third baseman Steve Bilokur singled up the middle and UALR loaded the bases on an error to put the tying run into scoring position. After two straight balls from Sturdevant to start the at-bat, left fielder Jimmy Scott turned on a 2-0 pitch and sent it sailing back to center, but Rodden made a spectacular leaping grab against the wall the seal the win for the Aggies.

Here's what the Trojan's article said about the same play:

UALR stranded three base runners in the top of the ninth in a 5-3 loss to New Mexico State on Sunday afternoon in Las Cruces and the Aggies swept the Trojans over the weekend.

The Trojans (23-30, 6-13 Sun Belt) had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the ninth with Jimmy Scott at the plate. Scott belted one to deep center field, but Vince Rodden robbed Scott of thoughts of heroics as he made a leaping grab against the wall to end the game.

game 1 box
game 2 box
game 3 box
NMSU season stats
UALR season stats

9 stars!

Thanks to anyone who has used the "Rate this Baseball Links site" button on the right side of the page.

I just noticed 9 stars next to our link on
http://www.baseball-links.com/links/College_Baseball/Summer_Leagues/.

Pitt State final stats

Golden Giant Michael Grosdidier ended the season for Pitt State with a team-leading 2.21 ERA and 9 saves. He stuck 21 batters out and walked 11. Mike was the only Gorilla pitcher not to allow a single home run.

Golden Giant Keith Lancaster was a workhorse for the Gorillas. He finished with a 5.43 ERA and 6-4 record in a team leading 13 starts (66.1 innings pitched). He stuck out 52 batters (second on the team) and allowed 43 walks. Keith also led the team in hit-batters with 15.

Pitt State season stats

WU season stats

Washburn's season has ended. Here are the final stats for all the Ichabods on the Golden Giants roster.

Jerad Head ended the season with a team leading .376 batting average and 30 RBIs. He had 25 stolen bases (2nd on the team) in 27 attempts.

Randy Wild finishes with a .364 batting average and 33 RBIs. As a pitcher Randy was 5-4 with a 3.14 ERA. Randy hit 4 home runs as a batter but allowed none as a pitcher.

Brian Martinek ended the season with a .237 batting average, but 21 walks and 4 hit-by -pitches raise his OBP to .356. He started 45 games behind the plate for Washburn and had a .978 fielding percentage.

Jake Lehnerr finished the season with a 7-3 record and a 3.89 ERA. He was the Ichabod team leader in victories, win-loss percentage, pickoffs (3), strikeouts (75, 24 looking), and innings pitched (83.1).

A's web site updated for 2005

The Clarinda A's have updated their web site for 2005, adding a 2005 schedule.

K-State vs. OU

On Friday, Chase Mitchell threw 8.1 innings of K-State's lone victory over Oklahoma. He allowed 5 earned runs on 7 hits., walking 2 and striking out 5. He picked up the win, making him 6-5 on the season witha 4.93 ERA.

On Sunday Adam Cowart threw 8.1 innings of a ten inning game. He allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 8 hits and 3 walks. He struck 8 batters out. K-State eventually lost the game in the 10th, Cowart did not figure in the decision. He is 6-3 on the season with a 4.31 ERA.

game 1 box
game 2 box (no GGs)
game 3 box
game 1 release
game 2 release
game 3 release

Washburn loses at KSU

In a rescheduled game last night, Washburn scored 7 runs to K-State's 26.

Golden Giant Brett Muegge started for the Wildcats allowing 3 earned runs on 8 hits in 4.1 innings, walking 2 and striking out 1.

The GG hitters from Washburn did well against K-State:

Jerad Head was 2 for 5 with a run scored.

Randy Wild was 3 for 4 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.

Brian Martinek was 2 for 4 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.


box score
KSU release

Chase Mitchell named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week

Golden Giant Chase Mitchell has been named the Big 12 pitcher of the week. From the K-State release:

Junior Chase Mitchell was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week Tuesday after firing a complete game, two-hit shutout last weekend against Kansas, the league office announced. Mitchell was joined by Texas’ David Maroul, who was named the hitter of the week.

The honor is the first for Mitchell and the second for a Wildcat this season as senior Terry Blunt was honored as the league’s hitter of the week back on March 9.

Mitchell, a junior from Mont Belvieu, Texas, and Alvin Community College became the first K-State pitcher in Big 12 play to toss a complete-game shutout over nine innings and the second ever as Jonathan Guiterrez tossed a complete-game, seven-inning shutout of Kansas back in 2002. Mitchell scattered two singles, struck out five and walked two over 9.0 innings and retired 17 in a row at one point until a one-out single in the ninth.

The righthander improved to 5-5 on the season after his win over Kansas and is 2-0 in his last two Big 12 starts against Texas A&M and Kansas.

Also, Mitchell was named to the College Baseball Foundation’s National Honor Roll Tuesday, a list that salutes the finest performances of the previous week’s action in college baseball.

From the Big 12 release:

Mitchell fired a complete-game, two-hit shutout as Kansas State defeated rival Kansas 7-0 last Friday night in Manhattan as the Wildcats won their eighth win in nine decisions. The route-going shutout for Mitchell (5-5) was the first-ever for a K-State pitcher in Big 12 play over nine innings and the second ever after Jonathan Guiterrez tossed a complete-game, seven-inning shutout against Kansas in 2002. The junior scattered two singles, struck out five and walked two over nine innings and retired 17 in a row at one point. A one-out bloop single in the ninth fell in for the second safety as Mitchell, who threw 108 pitches, was one out away from KSU's first-ever one-hitter in Big 12 play.

JCCC Update

More updated, but not necessarily completely up to date, Golden Giants stats from the JCCC website:

After 40 games:

Tych Cowdin is hitting .304
Tommy Mangino is hitting .313
Daniel Heflin is hitting .319
Truman Marek is hitting .406 and has a 2.73 ERA
Peter Davenport has a 3.47 ERA

Also of note on the Golden Giants at JCCC front is this press release regarding JCCC head coach Kent Shelley's 500th win (emailed in by Golden Giants GM Brett Cowdin):

The Cavaliers scored in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, sophomore Truman Marek lined a single to right field, scoring sophomore John Winter who drew a base-on-balls to begin the inning. The game was also highlighted by back-to-back-to-back home runs by sophomores Tommy Mangino and Dan Heflin and freshman Tych Cowdin.

One Month to Home Opener

The June 3rd Topeka Golden Giants home opener is only a month away!

Rodden 5 for 13 over weekend

Golden Giant Vince Rodden was 5 for 13 with 1 RBI, 3 runs scored, a walk, a strikeout and 2 stolen bases in the weekend series against New Orleans.

game 1 box
game 2 box
game 3 box