Link Report for Wed. 6/11 -- Weaver Rocked in Nashville Matinee

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Anundsen, Dickert combine for shutout against Kannapolis

By Tommy R. Atkinson

Charleston Gazette Staff writer

 

It's starting to come together for West Virginia Power pitcher Evan Anundsen and his teammates.

 

Anundsen and reliever Reed Dickert combined for a seven-hit shutout and the Power bats were again electric in a 7-0 victory over the Kannapolis (N.C.) Intimidators Wednesday night. A paid crowd of 2,427 saw the Power win its second straight home game in the South Atlantic League matchup at Appalachian Power Park.

 

Anundsen (5-4) scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out a season-high eight in 6 1/3 innings. He was helped by three double plays, which erased a walk in the second inning and leadoff singles in the fourth and sixth. Dickert, who also induced a double play, didn't allow a run or hit in 2 2/3 innings.

 

"It's nice,'' said Anundsen, a fourth-round draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2006. "We've been struggling at home a little bit.

 

Everybody contributed. All the pitches were there and I was throwing them all for strikes. I've got to give credit to my infield. You can't ask for a better defense than that.''

 

"The beauty of this one [was] he came back against a team that he faced his last time out and mystified them again,'' said Power pitching coach John Curtis of Anundsen. "He mixed up his pitches and varied his speeds [and that] great combination carried us into the seventh. A beautiful, beautiful job.''

 

Anundsen's outing Wednesday was just the continuation of progress that he's been making while working between starts with Curtis.

 

Anundsen's last start was also against the Intimidators (28-38) and he allowed two runs on four hits in five innings with six punchouts.

 

"It kind of came together the last time we faced Kannapolis,'' said Anundsen, a 6-foot-3 right-hander from Columbine, Colo. "I'm able to throw a change-up that I haven't been able to throw in a while. It's mainly just getting ahead in counts and staying ahead in counts [and] being able to throw all three of my pitches over the plate for strikes at any time in any situation.''

 

Curtis said Anundsen is becoming the anchor to the rotation that the organization envisioned coming out of spring training.

 

"His change-up has improved considerably in the last month or so,'' said Curtis, a 15-year Major League pitcher. "He's got terrific movement on his fastball. When he's hitting his spots he's not giving guys a straight look at his fastball.

 

"They come in diving and darting and all that stuff. You start with that and mix in a curveball that he changes speeds on and a change-up that's become very effective it's a pretty tough mix. His game will get better.''

 

The Power (29-36) grabbed the lead in the third and never looked back. Eric Farris hit a grounder to first and beat out the relay on the attempted double play, allowing Eric Fryer to score from third for a 1-0 advantage. Caleb Gindl sent the first pitch her saw over the right-center field fence for a two-run home run in the fourth and a 3-0 edge.

 

Farris drove in another run in the fifth and Eric Haydel, who singled, scored on an error for a 5-0 lead. Farris, who went 1-for-3, knocked in his third run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh as the Power went ahead 6-0 and Fryer's RBI double in the eighth completed the scoring.

 

The Power, which earned just its third home win since May 10, improved to 10-19 at the APP. West Virginia entered Wednesday with the worst home record in the 16-team league.

 

"It's two wins in a row now,'' Anundsen said. "I think we're turning a corner. Now I think we're going to start playing some real ball.''

 

POWER POINTS: Power infielder Zelous Wheeler extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fourth. ... West Virginia catcher Jonathan Lucroy also singled in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to nine games. ... The Power will begin a four-game series against the Greensboro (N.C.) Grasshoppers at 7:05 tonight (6:05 Central). West Virginia will send left-hander Chris Cody (2-0, 1.08 ERA), who was named last week's Sally League pitcher of the week, to the mound while Greensboro (37-29) will counter with righty Brett Durand (6-3, 4.57).

 

Caleb Gindl (right) gets a hand from Power manager Jeff Isom after smacking a two-run home run.

Charleston Gazette Photo by Chip Ellis

 

http://www.wvgazette.com/images/thumbs275/PowerK3_G0806113ch23o.jpg

[lexi881]

This was on the front page of the sports section of the sports section of the Florida-Times Union (Jacksonville Newspaper) today (6/12/08)

Last modified 6/12/2008 - 6:43 am
Originally created 061208

The makings of a Star

Click-2-Listen http://jacksonville.com/images/Dancing-News-32-29.gif

BK grad Gamel is new to fast track

By GENE FRENETTE, The Times-Union

http://www.jacksonville.com/images/mdControlled/cms/2008/06/12/289392158.jpg

Jon M. Fletcher / The Florida Times-Union

JON M. FLETCHER/The Times-Union
Huntsville's Matt Gamel, a former Bishop Kenny standout, has a chance to win the Southern League triple crown.

Mat Gamel's first appearance Wednesday night as a professional ballplayer in his hometown of Jacksonville comes at a time when everything is close to perfect in his baseball world.

The Huntsville Stars third baseman and Bishop Kenny High graduate is a rising star in the Milwaukee Brewers' farm system. Gamel, after putting together a 33-game hitting streak last year in the pitcher-friendly Class A Florida State League, is now tearing up the Southern League with a top-two standing in every Triple Crown category.

He's on the fast track to becoming Jacksonville's next big-leaguer, an amazing feat considering that Gamel almost gave up baseball four years ago. You'd never know looking at Gamel's current statistics with Huntsville (.376 batting average, 14 home runs, 60 RBI) that he almost resigned himself to never picking up a bat after a nightmarish 2004 season at Daytona Beach Community College.

Gamel, who went 1-for-3 in Huntsville's 5-0 win over the Jacksonville Suns on Wednesday, was unexpectedly released from the DBCC program midway through 2004 by coach Tim Touma, leaving a dismayed bench-warmer to wonder if he had a future in the sport. Gamel says his mother, Ceri, called his high school coach, Tommy Edwards, to ask about the rule about when Mat could start talking to other schools about a transfer.

The Gamel family claims it was an innocent inquiry to prepare him for a possible change. But when Touma found out that Gamel was thinking about leaving, the coach immediately dismissed him from the team.

"I was ready to quit baseball after that. I'm glad I didn't," Gamel said while seated in his parents' Neptune Beach home Tuesday night. "I could tell going through that season they probably weren't going to renew my scholarship. It definitely made me a stronger person, to overcome the worst baseball year of my life."

Touma verified Gamel's account of his dismissal in a Wednesday phone interview, but he says despite the tough circumstances over Gamel's departure, Touma admires his ex-player for orchestrating one of baseball's stunning turnarounds.

"I have no ill will toward [Gamel]," Touma said. "While I'm not happy with the way things ended here, Mat has taken advantage of every opportunity given him since he left. It's a great story."

Here's the remarkable part: In just 14 months, Gamel went from having minimal playing time and being kicked off his junior college team to being handed a $200,000 signing bonus as the Brewers' fourth-round draft pick.

"The [baseball] draft wasn't even a thought in our minds at that point [after Gamel's dismissal from DBCC]," Ceri said.

But one thing Gamel knew about his game is he could always hit. It was just a matter of finding the right situation, which turned out to be a one-year stop at Chipola Junior College. The same third baseman who was stuck behind DBCC's Marquez Smith, a future Clemson star now in Class A ball with the Peoria Chiefs, became the state's Junior College Player of the Year in 2005. Gamel's redemption included hitting a home run against his former team to help Chipola reach the state championship game.

"I'm not a power hitter, but I've got power if pitchers don't make a good pitch," Gamel said. "In Double-A, I'm seeing a lot more pitches around the strike zone and it's easier for me to hit."

At every minor-league stop, the 6-foot, 205-pound Gamel has continued to put up impressive offensive statistics, so much so that left-handed slugger and teammate Matt LaPorta, an ex-University of Florida standout, are considered two of the best prospects in the Brewers' organization. They're part of a Stars lineup that features the top four hitters in the Southern League and the leading home run hitter in LaPorta (18).

"The man [Gamel] can hit. He can left-handers as good as righties because he stays on the ball. He's got a great approach," Stars manager Don Money said. "The one spot the Brewers have is the third-base spot. If he keeps hitting like that, he's next in line."

What Gamel hasn't had until this season is much confidence in his fielding, which had been a weakness because of a propensity to make errant throws to first base. Last year, Gamel made 53 errors at Class A Brevard County, but has cut that total to 12 near the midway point this season. Gamel credits Money, a former Brewers third baseman, with helping him to improve his defensive mechanics.

"It got to the point warming up [on the field before an inning] where I couldn't throw a ball to first base," Gamel said. "It got crazy. I'd get the yips. My fielding is night-and-day better from what it was."

It's hard to look at Gamel's game now and see a lot of flaws. The kid whose baseball career appeared to be going nowhere at age 18 just might be the Milwaukee Brewers' third baseman of the future.

Mat Gamel still carries a chip on his shoulder from being cut from his first junior college team. In retrospect, the worst year of his baseball life might be the best thing that ever happened to him.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061208/spf_289389409.shtml

[Mass Haas]

Hi Lexi, we did link to that earlier in our '2008 Huntsville Stars" thread, but it's certainly worth noting again.

 

Front page, not just of the sports section, but the paper, nice. Hopefully the entire extended Gamel family will enjoy a playoff-clinching series this week.

[lexi881]

Hi Lexi, we did link to that earlier in our '2008 Huntsville Stars" thread, but it's certainly worth noting again.

 

Front page, not just of the sports section, but the paper, nice. Hopefully the entire extended Gamel family will enjoy a playoff-clinching series this

Oops - my bad...typo - it was on the front page of the SPORTS SECTION.....not the paper!

And I didnt see it in the other thread....Sorry!!!!!

It is fun to see him play at home though!