St. Louis area spring baseball options in ’09

With the economy in the shape it is, finding baseball alternatives in 2009 might help out your budget this year. I know baseball is a very important part of my entertainment budget. I’m a Cardinal season ticket holder and try to get to as many games as possible. However, for me to go to a game, it’s usually going to set me back $35, minimum. This is just my ticket, transportation/parking, 1 beer, and something to eat. I’m not giving up my season tickets any time soon and will still get to about 15 games this year. That’s going to be a drop from the 20 – 30 I’ve attended at Busch Stadium the past 2 or 3 years. I’m going to get my baseball fix in 2009, and here are some of the other games I will be trying to attend in the St. Louis area.

With the Cardinals not getting to St. Louis until April 6th, there is a lot of other baseball taking place in the region. In less than 2 hours, you can get to Taylor Stadium in Columbia, MO to watch a top 25 college baseball team in the Mizzou Tigers. Mizzou is led by top college prospect Kyle Gibson. Gibson is a top 10 college prospect according to most sources. There are other options for baseball in the St. Louis area that don’t include a trip to Columbia, MO. You can catch Mizzou in the St. Louis area a couple of times this spring.

Kyle Gibson - Mizzou Pitcher

You can catch Mizzou at TR Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, MO. The Missouri Tigers face Eastern Illinois in a game on April 28th. The Tigers also visit the St. Louis area earlier on April 1st to take on St. Louis University at Busch Stadium. Not exactly sure how the tickets work for this game, but it is another opportunity to catch one of the top collegiate teams in the country.

One of the best places to catch baseball this spring is at GCS Ballpark, the home of the Gateway Grizzlies, in Sauget, IL. The Grizzlies have posted their extra events schedule on their website. Games start on February 28th with a college baseball tournament hosted by Webster University. Webster University plays many of their home games at GCS Ballpark, but the stadium also will host collegiate games between Saint Louis University and SIU-Edwardsville, University of Indianapolis and SIU-Edwardsville, and the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament. Not only does GCS host all these college games, they have 22 high school games, including many border war contests with Illinois high school teams matching up against Missouri high school teams. The great thing about these games is that the max cost of attending is only $5 and many are free.

The schedules for local colleges are loaded this spring, so catching a good game in your area won’t be to difficult.

Missouri Tigers
Saint Louis University
Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville
Southeast Missouri State University

SEMO actually just defeated the 16th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday. You can catch some good baseball all over the area this spring.

One more game you may may want to catch would be a Westminster Christian Academy game started by high school pitching phenon Jacob Turner. Turner is projecting to be a top ten pick in this years amateur baseball draft. I’ll try and keep this site updated with dates he will be pitching this spring.

Jacob Turner - Westminster Academy

I was going to include the Gateway Grizzlies and River City Rascals as other St. Louis area baseball options, but I’ll save these for another post. The Grizzlies and Rascals don’t kick off their Frontier League season’s until late May. I’ll have a full Frontier League preview in a few weeks.

Until then, go out an enjoy some good baseball this spring, while we wait for the Cardinals to leave Jupiter and head back to St. Louis.

Matt Wilson

Kyle Gibson Photo – Baseball America Top Prospecs
Jacob Turner Photo – AFLAC All America Team

Jacob Priday

Dewitt shines in MLB debut

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Taken in a place with no name (See more photos here)

(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

 Blake Dewitt made his big league debut in impressive fashion on Monday.  The rookie third baseman got a hit in his first at bat, a single to left/center.  He would come around to score on a hit by Rafeal Furcal.  Blake would fly out to the warning track in his second at bat and would walk twice in his final two plate appearances.  Not a bad day indeed.

From Dodgers.com:

There is still plenty of youth to either blend — or clash — with veterans like Kent. For example, there’s Blake DeWitt, whose three-week meteoric rise from Minor League camp to Opening Day third baseman included starting a key second-inning double play and singling in his first Major League at-bat.

DeWitt’s unusually calm exterior finally cracked, but not until the final play when Takashi Saito threw out Ray Durham on a comebacker.

“That’s when I started shaking,” said DeWitt. “I can’t explain it. Nothing bothered me before or during the game.”

DeWitt, however, credited some of his cool to the advice of Kent, a teammate perceived by some as a troublemaker last year for sounding off about his frustration with the approach of some young players. But DeWitt said Kent made a difference for him Monday.

“He came up to me and was great before the game, telling me to stay within myself and not try to do too much,” DeWitt said of Kent. “I think I was relaxed as much from that as anything.”

Here is Blake’s reaction about making his first start, from the AP: 

“I’m pretty excited to get out there and play,” the 22-year-old DeWitt said 90 minutes before game time. “This has been a pretty wild spring, starting in the minor league camp and ending up here.”

When asked if he was nervous, DeWitt replied: “Not yet. I’m sure I’ll feel a few pregame jitters. I feel pretty good.”

His reaction after the game, also from the AP: 

“I felt great. I was really pumped up to get out there. I don’t think I’ve ever run that first in my life,” DeWitt said regarding his trip to first base. “I felt like I was floating. I was pretty excited. You dream about it when you’re a little kid. It was a great day.”

From his teammates:

“He played good, man,” winning pitcher Brad Penney said. “That kid’s a good player. He’s going to be around for a while.”

From the prickly Jeff Kent, “”Because of injuries, he’s been on a fast track, he’s handled everything right. That’s more than half the battle, being able to be emotionally stable in a game.”

Dodger manager Joe Torre, “”We’re not asking him to do anything other than play his position. We’re not asking him to carry us. He’s a quiet kid, not trying to convince any one of anything. He’s very calm. He’s got me tricked if he’s not.”

The Cardinals were rained out after jumping on the Rockies early.  Yes, it is was only three innings but it was nice to see the team produce some runs against a talented left hander.

Mizzou dropped to Number 4 in this week’s Baseball America Top 25.

J.R. Bizzell is hitting .317 in the leadoff spot for the Number 23 ranked Rhodes College Lynx.