PLAYING GAMES WITH COACHES, KIDS, AND NAMES ON MY NAPKIN
 
We open this toy box edition of Notes on My Napkin with a June Gloom game edition of dominoes where we play with the fame and fortunes of college baseball coaches.
 
Of local interest are the folks at Fullerton where the sub-plots are titled “Is there a Father for Baseball at Fullerton” or “The Arrogance of Orange and Blue.” This scenario was set in motion when the high paid SEC post of head coach at Tennessee was cut loose and the good bubbas of Knoxville began a looking for another big name to return Vol baseball to fame and fortune.
 
Not on the search committee, but in town, were their ex-football coach Lane Kiffin and ex-basketball boss Bruce Pearl. Both former UT men are in the news but not as a search committee, rather as witnesses before an NCAA star chamber investigating rule violations. When all of the inquiring got the best of the Tennessee AD he quit and that set the dominoes in motion.
 
The local name of great interest is Titan field boss Dave Serrano who was an assistant for a short time at UT.  And if Serrano splits, the Titan insiders have a long list of almost anybody who has noodled down Nutwood. That includes in no order: Steve Rousey, Rick Vanderhook, Mike Batesole, Chris Gill, Dave Snow, Augie Garrido and Titan Fan 1, Ira. And how inflated is the Titan view of their possible opening, “My only concern about the Snowman is his age . . . Does he have the energy to assume duties in the Goodwin Field dugout.“
 
On a note of self-reflection a F-Hay insider adds, “But a ‘small fry’ school like ours can’t afford many missteps. Simply put, we have no other sports that put us in the national, or even local, spotlight to make up for a sub-par baseball program.”

 Another spot on the BWC coaching carousel is UCSB where two names are Andrew Checketts of Oregon and former ASU coach Pat Murphy.
 
Numbers in the news
The merger moments are still being mumbled about including San Jose State who plays that old fashioned game of football at Spartan Stadium with its capacity of 30,456. Bad number their 2010 Average Attendance: 14,474.

Vanderbilt University has 6,789 undergrads and 12 drafted players in 2011, therefore figuring half are females then one in every 250 Commodore lads has a job that comes with a nifty uniform, transportation, health care and a sack lunch. Best of the rest producers of ballplayers was Fresno State with 11.

Back to names, one of my faves was ex-Niner T.J. Mittelstaedt. He plays in the Brewer org for their minor league Wisconsin Timber Rattlers  and manager Matt Erickson who says this of TJ, “He’s a nice guy to have on your ballclub for a manager because he’s pretty versatile. He can play a number of positions. As a left-handed stick he’s very patient at the plate. He has good plate discipline. He’s one of the top on-base percentage guys on our team, presently. And he’s kind of a crazy character; he’s got a loose personality in the clubhouse.”
 
As a kid, T.J. liked another local alphabet guy in J.T. Snow. “He played centerfield, then first base, and that’s how I grew up, playing everywhere. Plus, he was No. 6, too, and that was my number.” Favorite food:  “My mom makes some good Chicken Alfredo” and favorite place: Mission Viejo. “I’m pretty much two hours away from doing anything. There are days in the winter where I’ve gone to the beach in the morning and at night ended up at Big Bear, up in the mountains and barbequing up at the cabin. So being able to do anything at anytime of the year is probably my favorite thing.”

Reminder to young ‘uns wanting to give up college for the minors, T.J.’s  team just got back from a 13-game road trip. What was that like? “Awful. The bus trips, we’d get in around 4 a.m. everywhere we went. Then you’d try to sleep, get a little bite to eat and get to the field and get back in the routine. You really have to conserve your energy, taking a little less BP and mentally preparing as opposed to physically.” Right now he leads the Rattlers with a .295 batting average and .420 on-base percentage.
 
Another Long Beach State player on the move up is Joey Terdoslavich out of Sarasota via the U of Miami. He is on the watch list after his bat got hot, .304 with four homers and 20 RBIs for the Lynchburg Hillcats of the Carolina League. He has 15 extra-base hits, 11 doubles and 20 RBIs. The Atlanta Braves selected Terdoslavich in the sixth round last year out of Dirtbag nation. Need more prospects than catch the upcoming Area Code Games scheduled for Aug. 5-10 at Blair Field. Need more, then see earlier Post coverage about the MLB draft in general and Bryan Shaw in particular.
 
Here are the Big West Players Selected In 2011 MLB Draft 
(Player, School – Club (Round, PIck) from 100 (our guy Gagnon) to 1500 Tony Nix, UC Riverside – Washington Nationals (50th, 1507th)
 

Andrew Gagnon, Long Beach State – Milwaukee Brewers (3rd, 100th)

Matt Andriese, UC Riverside – San Diego Padres (3rd, 112th)

Nick Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton – Milwaukee Brewers – (4th, 131st)

Tyler Pill, Cal State Fullerton – New York Mets (4th, 132nd)

Bobby Crocker, Cal Poly – Oakland Athletics (4th, 136th)

Noe Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton – Boston Red Sox (4th, 142nd)

Matt Summers, UC Irvine – Minnesota Twins (4th, 148th) 

Jake Floethe, Cal State Fullerton – Tampa Bay Rays (6th,210th) 

Colin OConnell, Cal State Fullerton – Oakland Athletics (8th, 256th) 

Jeff Johnson, Cal Poly – Cleveland Indians (10th, 308th) 

Scott Lyman, UC Davis – Florida Marlins (10th, 313th) 

Branden Pinder, Long Beach State – New York Yankees (16th, 509th) 

Trevor Harigrove, UC Riverside – Los Angeles Angels (18th, 555th)

Drew Hillman, UC Irvine – Philadelphia Phillies (18th, 571st)

Jesse Meaux, UC Santa Barbara – Colorado Rockies (19th, 588th) 

Carlos Gonzalez, Cal State Northridge – Cincinnati Reds (21st , 655th) 

Andrew Muren, Cal State Northridge – Houston Astros (22nd, 670th) 

Michael Marjama, Long Beach State – Chicago White Sox (23rd, 711th) 

Mark Haddox, UC Santa Barbara – Chicago White Sox (24th, 741st) 

Christopher Devenski, Cal State Fullerton – Chicago White Sox (25th, 771st)

Ryan Goetz, UC Riverside – Florida Marlins (26th, 793rd) 

Michael Wolford, UC Riverside – Colorado Rockies (26th, 798th) 

Joe Biagini, UC Davis – San Francisco Giants (26th, 807th) 

Frankie Reed, Cal Poly – Florida Marlins (27th, 823rd) 

Brian Hernandez, UC Irvine – Los Angeles Angels (27th, 825th) 

David Hurlbut, Cal State Fullerton – Minnesota Twins (28th, 868th) 

Kirk Singer, Long Beach State – Pittsburgh Pirates (29th, 872nd) 

Joe Terry, Cal State Fullerton – Cincinnati Reds (30th, 925th) 

Matt Jensen, Cal Poly – Arizona Diamondbacks (31st, 934th)

Mason Radeke, Cal Poly – Cleveland Indians (35th, 1058th) 

D.J. Crumlich, UC Irvine – Pittsburgh Pirates (38th, 1142nd)

Dustin Emmons, UC Riverside – New York Mets (38th, 1152nd) 

Jordan Leyland, UC Irvine – Tampa Bay Rays (44th, 1350th) 

Justin Shults, UC Riverside – Houston Astros (46th, 1390th) 

Raymond Hernandez, Cal State Fullerton – Arizona Diamondbacks (48th, 1444th) 

Matthew Vedo, UC Santa Barbara – Los Angeles Angels (49th, 1485th) 

Tony Nix, UC Riverside – Washington Nationals (50th, 1507th)