Aug. 17, 2004

Summer baseball leagues around the nation have completed their seasons and several Mizzou Baseball players had very successful summers. Tiger pitchers Nathan Culp and Erik Dessau were part of the Central Illinois Collegiate League championship team, the Bluff City Bombers. Culp and Dessau were each named to Baseball America's Top Summer League Prospects List. Culp, an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection last spring at MU, was named the Co-Pitcher of the Year and the Most Valuable Pitcher of the playoffs. He was 7-0 with a 2.79 ERA in 12 appearances, including 10 starts, for Bluff City. Culp had 48 strikeouts and held opponents to just a .207 batting average. Dessau finished the summer with a 5-2 record, including one complete game, and a 2.05 ERA. He struck out 47 and walked just 10 in 66 innings pitched for the Bombers. Dustin Braud had a team-best 15 saves for the Rochester Honkers of the Northwoods League, finishing third in the league in saves. Braud appeared in 25 games and stuck out 23 batters in 29 innings pitched. Along with his 15 saves, he had a 2-1 record with a 3.10 ERA. Also having success in the Northwoods League was MU pitcher Max Scherzer, who compiled a 2-1 record, including two complete games. He had six saves and a 1.91 ERA in 17 appearances for LaCrosse. Scherzer had 50 strikeouts in 33 innings pitched. Scherzer was also named one of Baseball America's Summer League Top Prospects. Mizzou shortstop Gary Arndt tied for second in triples in the Northwoods League with three for the Thunder Bay Border Cats. He hit .263 and added 10 doubles, two home runs and 22 RBI. Arndt also stole seven bases. Arndt's teammate in Thunder Bay, John McKee, hit .256 with three home runs and 23 RBI. McKee also had 10 doubles and had an on-base percentage of .433. Pitcher Taylor Parker was 1-0 with a 1.82 ERA in helping the Coppell Copperheads claim the Texas Collegiate League championship. Parker held opponents to a .184 batting average and gave up just seven earned runs for the summer. Hunter Mense hit .324 for Hays of the Jayhawk League, which advanced to the NBC World Series. He had four home runs, 16 RBI and a .515 slugging percentage. Tyler Williams had a .329 batting average with five doubles, a home run and 16 RBI for Langley. He added four stolen bases in 26 games played on the summer. Tiger outfielder James Boone helped the Brewster Whitecaps in Massachusetts reach the playoffs of the Cap Cod League. Boone played 39 games, recording four doubles, one home run and 13 RBI. Boone added six stolen bases on the summer. MU infielder Trevor Helms and pitcher Bryan Rider were part of the Nevada Griffons of the Jayhawk League that advanced to the NBC World Series. Helms had five extra-base hits (two doubles, two triples and one home run) this summer and was 3-for-5 in stolen base attempts. Rider made six appearances for Nevada, including four starts. He had a 2-1 record and had 19 strikeouts in 25.2 innings pitched. Dan Pietroburgo, Meade Hedricks and Michael Cole were part of the Quincy Gems that advanced to the playoffs in the Central Illinois Collegiate League. Pietroburgo started 18 of the 22 games he played in for Quincy. He drove in five runs and scored six on the season. Hedricks made seven appearances with the Gems, recording 16 strikeouts in 16 innings pitched. Cole started four games and finished with a 2-1 record and one complete game. He had 17 strikeouts in 20.1 innings of work. In total, ten Mizzou players made it to the postseason with their summer teams and three won league championships.