Tag: Southern Illinois

Cal Bears report: Cal hires Ken Moses as fourth assistant coach

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The Cal Bears welcome newly hired head coach Ken Moses who joins head coach Mark Madsen. Both Moses and Madsen worked together last season coaching the Utah Valley Wolverines. (image from @CalMBBall)

By Michael Duca

BERKELEY–Cal Bears head coach Mark Madsen was proud to bring on newly hired assistant coach Ken Moses. Moses is the fourth assistant coach hired at Cal by Madsen. Like Madsen, Moses is a recent hire from Utah Valley. Moses and Madsen had worked together for just one season last season as Madsen and Moses were on a staff that helped the Wolverines win 28 games and helped the Wolves get into the NITs.

The Wolverines had an impressive regular season going 28-9, 15-3 conference, the Wolves also had an impressive home record losing only one game at 14-1 and were one of the best road teams at 12-5. The Wolverines during the 2022-23 season had an 11 game win streak and a five game win streak.

Coach Madsen upon coming to Cal is confident that he could get the recruits needed and in place for the 2023-24 season and get the Cal program turned around as opposed to this past season where the Bears had won only three games all season long under former Cal head coach Mark Fox.

Moses also was an assistant coach at Montana State under head coach Danny Sprinkle. Moses with Sprinkle coached the Bobcats into a tournament. Moses attended Colorado State University Pueblo in 2006 through 2010. Moses will be a huge factor in finding talent for this upcoming men’s season as he has experience as development and operations when he was at Southern Illinois.

Giants Minor League Spotlight: RHP Sam Coonrod is a fast rising star

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Coonrod 2

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Right-handed pitcher Sam Coonrod is ranked the fifth best player in the Giants farm system, and Sam is having a very good 2016 season.

Coonrod started the year off in San Jose in the high Class-A California League. That assignment had him right on schedule for player development as he had spent 2014 the in short-season rookie league and 2015 at Class-A Augusta.

By June 12th, Coonrod had made 11 starts for San Jose and had posted a record of 5-3 with 1.98 ERA. That outstanding start earned him a promotion to the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels in mid-June.

Since being promoted to Richmond, Coonrod has continued to be successful. He has made 10 starts and has posted a record of 4-2 with a 2.80 ERA. In 61.0-innings pitched, he has 19 runs (14 earned) off 45 hits. Coonrod has allowed just five home runs. The one area that needs immediate improvement is his walk to strike out ratio. He has walked 29 and struck out 34 batters in those 10 starts for the Flying Squirrels. Coonrod has a WHIP of 1.21 and a batting average against of .209.

The 23-year old Coonrod is 6-foot-2 and weights 225 pounds. He was selected by the Giants in the fifth round (148th overall) of the 2014 MLB Draft out of Southern Illinois.

The fastball is is Coonrod’s number one pitch. He throws it in the 91-96 mph range with good command. His second pitch is a plus-slider that hits the mid-80’s. The change-up is Coonrod’s third pitch and it is a work in progress. He will need to master that change-up in order to remain a candidate to be a starter.

Coonrod’s accelerated progress to the Double-A level has moved up the timeline for him to make it to the major leagues. Based on his current success, fans should expect to see Sam Coonrod in a San Francisco Giants uniform sometime in 2017. That would mean he would start the year in Triple-A at Sacramento and move up the show sometime after the All-Star Break and no later than the September call-ups.