I'll throw in a few notes here too. I go to most of their games (although I missed the Nebraska series) so I've got a decent idea about them.
Pitching: Zagurski is easily their ace. But he's the kind of guy that either has it or he doesn't. He's hasn't shown the ability to battle and get it done without his best stuff. But, when he's on he throws in the low 90's with good off-speed stuff. He's already got a 15K game to his credit this year. Kodiak Quick should be the ace of this staff, but he "can't get right" in the head, and has primarily been moved to a long reliever (sound familiar Ray?). Czyz (Chech) has good stuff in relief but can't go through the order more than once. He throws pretty damn hard. Rebar is fairly clutch in long relief.
Hitting:
Van Slyke is easily their most consistent hitter, and he's got the most pop. He can hit the long ball, but he prefers to drive it to the power alleys. Good doubles stroke. Hellacious intensity and isn't afraid to take an extra base if the outfielder loafs a bit. After that, they have a number of decent hitters (which may be more than I can say for us) but no one that would really strike fear into me. Morrison, Milner, Richardson would play on pretty much any team in the Big XII. The Price boys (coach's sons) are hard nosed baseball players and clutch hitters, but not all stars.
Defense:
Reasonably good defensive team. Strong up the middle. Good catcher, 2B (younger Price, Ryne), SS (older Price, Ritchie). Outfielders are all better than average, but not fantastic. Morrison is very good at third. 1st is a platoon position for them, so nothing too fancy over there. They field well, but with the exception of the SS aren't strong enough mentally to get over mistakes. An early miscue could open the floodgates.
If (and I know this is a big if) we can jump on them early and get Zagurski out of the game, it could be the kind of weekend that could jump start those cold bats because I'm not overly impressed with their depth of pitching. Aside from the 4 I mentioned above, none have really shown me much.
Gig 'em Aggies, and Beat the Hell Outta Kansas!
