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Brandon Webb:Perfect No More

Posted May 22nd, 2008 by Kenny Colston

Sadly, former UK product Brandon Webb was denied his chance at perfect, dropping to 9-1 after giving up three runs in Arizona’s loss to Florida last night.

If Webb had won, he would have been only the third pitcher since World War I to have started the season 10-0.

Keep your head up, you old Ashland boy you, there’s hope still out there for a Cy Young and maybe a World Series ring too!

Posted in Brandon Webb, Kentucky Baseball, UK baseball. No Comments

UK Baseball Notebook

Posted May 16th, 2008 by Kenny Colston

Lots of UK baseball news today, so I’m going all old school on a blog (aka, using a newspaper format). This is your UK baseball notebook. Just a reminder, first pitch for tonight’s game is at 6:30 p.m.

Carroll, Cowgill named semifinalists for national POY award

Carroll, who had six RBIs on his own in last night’s win, and Cowgill, the do-everything outfielder, have been named semifinalists for the Dick Howser trophy. The trophy is the national player of the year award given by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

The duo gives UK the honor of being only one of two teams to land two players on the semifinal list. No. 3 Arizona State is the other.

Carroll leads the SEC in batting average and RBIs (Note: Carroll is two shy of the all-time UK RBI record). Cowgill leads the SEC with 70 runs scored and leads the team with 18 home runs.

Both players are also on the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list and the Brooks Wallace Award watch list–two other player of the year trophies. Only 16 players were named to the semifinalist list.

UK will Celebrate Senior Night

After hitting the 40-win mark in last night’s 12-4 win, the Cats will honor the many seniors on the roster tonight in Game 2 of the three game series. The following players are seniors:

4 OF Colin Cowgil (Henry Clay High School/ Lexington )
8 C/RHP Tyler Howe (Kirkwood CC/Clinton, Iowa)
14 LHP Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Saskatchwan)
17 INF Ryan Wilkes (Harrison, Tn.)
19 OF/1B Sawyer Carroll (Henryetta, Okla./Seminole CC)
28 RHP Brock Baber (Bath County H.S./ Sharpsburg, Ky.)
30 INF/C Brian Spear (Wichita State/Gary, Ind.)
33 RHP Aaron Lovett (Brownstown, Ill./Kaskaskia CC)
37 RHP Greg Dumbroski (Rome, N.Y.)
44 LHP Tommy Warner (Lafayette H.S./ Lexington)

Brandon Webb inching towards Record

Former UK pitcher Brandon Webb recorded his 9th win, starting the MLB season a perfect 9-for-9. The start gets Webb one win away from the best start by a pitcher since 1985–a 23-year span.

Dating back to last year, Webb has 12 wins in his last 13 starts and is currently on an 11-for-11 streak. Webb’s Diamondbacks are in first place in the NL West and hold the best record in the National League.
Posted in Brandon Webb, Colin Cowgill, Kentucky Basketball, Sawyer Carroll, UK baseball. No Comments

Checking In With: Brandon Webb

Posted May 5th, 2008 by Kenny Colston

What you are witnessing is hopefully the first in a series of look-backs at successful Wildcats in their own professional sports. We’ll leave no stone unturned–baseball, basketball, football, maybe even hockey!–in order to give you the rundown on what’s happening with these former Wildcats.

Yes, we might repeat, especially if some of these players are wildly successful (like today’s choice). If we are lucky, we’ll get to interview some of these guys as well. Without further ado, here’s is the inaugural Checking In With player profile: Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Webb.

The 6-2, 228 lbs hurler is not only a UK alumni, but an Ashland, Ky. native as well. You can’t beat homegrown. And his birthday is in four days, so make sure you run by Walgreens and pick up that birthday card and drop it in the mail. He’ll be 29.

Why is Webb worthy of leading us off? Well, quite frankly, he’s dominating not only the National League West and the entire National League, but all of Major League Baseball.

Webb is 7-0 with a 2.49 earned run average (ERA). His 37 strikeouts are 10th in the NL. In eight different statistically categories, Webb is no worse than tenth.

It’s safe to say one month into the season, we have a Cy Young frontrunner. It’s easy to say that because with Dan Haren backing him up as a No. 2 pitcher and the rest of a solid rotation in addition to a good, young, solid lineup, Webb has a little wiggle room.

And if Webb does continue his strong start, he can add his 2008 Cy Young to the one he picked up in 2006.

Not bad for an eighth round draft pick who was paid only $300,000 dollars for his first contract. What does Webb make now? A cool $5.5 million.

Needless to say, this Wildcat has come a long way from his time at UK. Webb pitched from 1998-2000 for the Cats, and in those three seasons the only winning season was Webb’s last season in 2000. That year, Webb tied for the team led with seven wins. He lead that 2000 Bat Cat team with three complete games as well. No surprise here: Webb also had the lowest amount of earned runs, hits and walks and the most strikeouts in 2000.

If that last year was any indication, the Diamondbacks must have known they were getting a steal. Now, the five year veteran is doing for the D-backs what he did at UK eight years ago.

And there you go, that’s Checking in With: Brandon Webb. Tip you hat, because this Ashland boy sure is something special. This won’t be the last time we hear from you, Mr. Cy Young.
Posted in Brandon Webb, Kentucky Baseball, UK baseball. No Comments