Jim Goulart

Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona taking pride in Hiram Burgos' call-up

Reminder that we had previously linked to Jeff Hem's April 13th audio interview with Chris Jakubauskas here. *** Nashville Sounds' Chris Jakubauskas keeps chasing big league dreams Sounds' reliever hopes for another call to big leagues by Nick Cole, The Tennessean The path to the big leagues can be a long and windy road, and no one knows that better than Sounds pitcher Chris Jakubauskas. The 34-year-old has embarked on his 11th professional season as a relief pitcher for Triple-A Nashville — his 16th professional team — in search of a fourth opportunity to crack a Major League roster. To fully appreciate the persistence shown to still be chasing that dream, one must first understand where the 6-foot-3 righty has been. Jakubauskas was not a fire-balling, top-round draft pick like many of his Sounds teammates. In fact, he wasn’t drafted at all. Jakubauskas spent his college career making headlines as a hitter, not a pitcher. He split time between Citrus College in Glendora, Calif. — where he set school records for home runs, doubles and RBI — Santa Clara and a final season with the University of Oklahoma. “I grew up pitching and hitting when I was young,” Jakubauskas said. “I did both all the way up through junior college until I got to the University of Oklahoma, where I just mainly focused on hitting. And one day, my swing just left me. I couldn’t hit anymore. I couldn’t hit water if I fell out of a boat.” With his senior season behind him and no swing to fall back on, opportunities seemed limited for Jakubauskas to continue playing the game he loved. The California-native decided to a make a trip to Lakeland, Fla., in search of a tryout for the independent Frontier League. It was there that an impressive showing on the mound earned him a chance to continue his baseball career as a pitcher. He signed his first professional contract with the Florence (Ky.) Freedom in 2003, earning as little as $608 per month to pitch and be the team’s designated hitter on non-pitching days. “A leap of faith is probably an understatement,” he said about the decision to play in the independent leagues. “It’s a crapshoot. You’re hoping that one day you do well that somebody is there to see you, and you’re hoping you did well enough for them to take a chance on you.” Jakubauskas spent four years in independent ball, battling through Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for nine months and working odd jobs to make ends meet, before finally finding that break he was looking for at age 28. The Seattle Mariners signed him to a minor-league contract on June 13, 2007, and assigned him to Double-A West Tennessee. Sensing that time was short for a 28-year-old prospect, Jakubauskas knew he had to work quickly to impress the organization to avoid being released. Posting an 8-1 record and 1.88 ERA in his first full minor league season did plenty to prove that he belonged in professional baseball. He opened the 2009 season as a member of the Mariners, Jakubauskas had reached his ultimate goal as a 30-year-old rookie. “It was funny, I didn’t really care that I was 30. I would have a 24-year-old kid ask me to go get a cup of coffee, and I was glad to do it,” he said. Jakubauskas finished his rookie season with a 5.32 ERA and 6-7 record in 35 appearances (eight starts) for the Mariners. After his debut season, he was claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates. After spending the beginning of the 2010 season at Triple-A Indianapolis, Jakubauskas finally got the call to return to the bigs for a start with the Pirates. That’s when things took a turn for the worse. Jakubauskas was not even a full inning into his first appearance for the Pirates when he took a Lance Berkman line drive off his head — effectively ending his season. “It pretty much cost me the whole year, and it almost got me out of the game,” Jakubauskas said. “It pretty much took me until almost February to sign with another team following that season.” Battling the psychological impact that goes with taking a line drive off the skull, Jakubauskas was able to make Baltimore’s roster out of spring training in 2011. He posted a 5.72 ERA in 33 appearances for the Orioles that season, which marks his last appearance in the big leagues at age 32. He has since spent time with the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays organizations, but was unable to crack their Major League rosters. This season with Milwaukee may be the last opportunity for Jakubauskas to make one final attempt at beating the odds, but the veteran says he’s content with the way everything has worked out. “I took the road least-traveled, but it got me to this place that I wanted to be,” he said. “I have had some success, got some time in the big leagues and really enjoyed myself along the way.” Chris Jakubauskas (39) was hit in the head by a line drive while with Pittsburgh in 2010. / Pat Sullivan / File / AP http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20130417&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=304170113&Ref=V1&Profile=2072&MaxW=600&Border=0 Jakubauskas made his first trip to the Major Leagues with Seattle in 2009, when he pitched in 35 games. / Elaine Thompson / File / AP http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20130417&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=304170113&Ref=AR&Profile=2072&MaxW=640&Border=0&Nashville-Sounds-Chris-Jakubauskas-keeps-chasing-big-league-dreams

As Brad noted, no Manatee game story, but audio highlights are available, including the three home run calls; look for "Manatees at Threshers" highlights here.

Stars Fall in Extras By Alex Cohen / Huntsville Stars After breaking out to an early 3-0 lead, the Huntsville Stars allowed the Tennessee Smokies score five unanswered runs to finish the game, losing in 11 innings by a final score of 5-3 on Thursday night at Joe Davis Stadium. Bucking a trend of trailing first in games, the Stars got off to a quick start in the bottom of the second inning against Smokies starter Kyle Hendricks. With one out, right fielder Brock Kjeldgaard began the Stars rally with a double down the left field line. One batter later, third baseman Mike Walker mimicked Kjeldgaard with a double of his own that gave the Stars the first run of the ballgame. Following an RBI single by catcher Robinzon Diaz and a single by stars starting pitcher Andy Moye, another RBI single by infielder Nick Shaw put Huntsville up 3-0. Speaking of Moye, the only blemish on his night was giving up a two-run single to Smokies first basemen Justin Bour in the third inning to make the score 3-2. The 25-year-old righty earned a no-decision after giving up just two hits over 5.0 innings while striking out six batters. His second inning single was also the first hit a Stars pitcher has had this season, snapping an 0-for-24 skid. The score remained 3-2 until Stars reliever Greg Holle ran into some trouble in the seventh inning. After allowing three of the first four batters to reach base via two singles and a walk, Holle walked Bour with the bases loaded to score Smokies outfielder Matt Sczcur to tie up the game at 3-3. Since neither team could get the job done during regulation, the Stars played their first extra-inning game of 2013, where they lost control of the game in the top half of the eleventh. In his third inning of relief, Stars righty Casey Medlen (L, 1-1) loaded the bases with one out and then walked third baseman Christian Villanueva, scoring second basemen Ronald Torreyes to give the Smokies the lead. Later in the inning, a run-scoring groundout by outfielder Rubi Silva scored outfielder Jae-Hoon Ha to put Tennessee up for good. Smokies closer Frank Batista threw a scoreless 11th inning to notch his third save of the season and his second of the series. Tennessee reliever Trey McNutt improved to 1-1 on the year, earning a win in two innings of relief. On offense, the Stars were paced by seven players had one hit each. Both Shaw and Kjeldgaard reached base four times as well. The loss for Huntsville means they will now have lost each series during their 10-game homestand. To begin the home set, the Stars lost four our of five games to the Jacksonville Suns. The Stars and Smokies will finish off their five-game series at Joe Davis Stadium on Friday. Huntsville will send RHP Arcenio Leon (0-1, 2.61 ERA) to the bump to square off against Tennessee RHP Dae-Eun Rhee (1-0, 0.87 ERA). First pitch is at 6:43 PM. After wrapping up their five-game series and ten-game homestand against the Smokies on Friday, the Stars will immediately hit the road for five games against the Birmingham Barons.

Rattler Radio Blog

Thursday’s Wisconsin game in Clinton postponed Teams will try to play series with a single game on Friday and doubleheader on Saturday CLINTON, IA – Thursday evening’s game between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Clinton LumberKings at Ashford University Field has been postponed due to wet grounds. The heavy rain that caused Wisconsin’s Wednesday game in Cedar Rapids, Iowa hit Clinton hard overnight and flooded portions of the field to make the grounds unplayable for the first meeting of the season between the Rattlers and LumberKings. This was the seventh game that Wisconsin has had either postponed or canceled by weather this season. Clinton has been just as affected by the lack of spring. The LumberKings were rained out at home on April 10 and April 11. They were also rained out in road games at the Quad Cities on April 15 and April 17. Wisconsin and Clinton will try to get their series started on Friday night with a single game starting at 6:30 pm. Thursday’s game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. The first game of Saturday’s twinbill is scheduled to start at 4:00 PM. The reason the game will be made up on Saturday is due to Clinton having played three doubleheaders since April 13 (April 13, 14, and 16). By rule, no minor league team may play three doubleheaders in a seven-day period. Tomorrow would have been their fourth twinbill in a seven-day period. So, Thursday’s game had to be rescheduled for Saturday.

Rattlers postponed, wet (OK, saturated) grounds. Thursday's game will be made up as part of a twinbill on Saturday with game one starting at 4:00 PM.

Audio highlights of the unique 6-5 14-inning Manatee win Tuesday night have been posted today (Thursday).

Nashville rained out again in Des Moines - no makeup date announced yet.

Audio highlights from the Manatee 3-0 victory

Jeff Hem talked all things Nashville Sounds Thurs. AM, you'll find audio archive among the list here.

NEW FEATURE! Weather.com: Des Moines, Iowa Huntsville Clearwater Clinton

Look for Nashville and Wisconsin media notes at the links just prior to their game times. New this season: Brevard County has media notes; as of now, it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here. Once we're aware of the new online location for Huntsville's Media Notes this season, we'll let you know. (Coming soon, we're told!)

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division

Follow Thursday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin New MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

Huntsville Game Video, comment from Manager Darnell Coles

Thursday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Johnny Hellweg at Iowa (Cubs), 6:20 PM pre-game, 6:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $39.99 season-long package ($9.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Andy Moye at home vs. Tennessee (Cubs), 6:28 PM pre-game, 6:43 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. It appears four Southern League teams air their home games on MiLB.TV, and we'll let you know when those dates pop up on the schedule. ********** Brevard County: RHP Jacob Barnes at Clearwater (Phillies), 5:30 PM pre-game, 6:00 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Brevard County feed from the MiLB main audio page Manatees audio, hooray! Dave Walkovic is the first play-by-play voice of the 'Tees since 2007, he's joined by Andy Towne; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio. All home games and many road games are scheduled to be broadcast. When road games are only available via the opponents' audio feed, we'll let you know that. NOTE: Dave indicates that he hopes to include a pre-game interview prior to each game; it's a 30-minute pre-game! We'll fill you in if Brevard masters archiving a la Nashville and/or Helena. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Preston Gainey at Clinton (Mariners), 6:10 PM pre-game, 6:30 gametime Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from four Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: 32 of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel has seventeen games scheduled and WACY-TV My NEW32 plans to show fifteen games. We'll let you know when, but won't be providing day-before DVR reminders, so regularly check for proper channel and time planning (scroll to the bottom of this link).

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

Rattler Radio Blog - Walkup Music Nice going, Damien Magnifico - makes sense...

Chris Mehring: Tonight's Timber Rattlers game against the Kernels has been rained out. It will not be rescheduled.

Minigoon, our Link Report Friend, feel free to expand with your own box score thoughts if you wish, just helping out with the matinee summary: *** STARS DROP “EDUCATION DAY” GAME TO SMOKIES Alex Cohen, Huntsville Stars With 3,000+ screaming kids in attendance for “Education Day” at Joe Davis Stadium late Wednesday morning, the Huntsville Stars dropped their sixth game in their last seven games, falling to the Tennessee Smokies by a score of 4-1. What first starting as a pitchers duel between Stars starter Taylor Jungmann and Smokies starter Eric Jokisch turned into a one-sided affair with one swing of the at-bat. After holding the Smokies scoreless for the first five innings of the game, Jungmann ran into trouble trying to finish out the sixth inning. With two outs, Jungmann walked both shortstop Arismendy Alcantra and first basemen Justin Bour. During the next at-bat, third basemen Christian Villanueva turned on a hanging breaking ball that just cleared the left-field wall and the outstretched arms of Stars outfielder T.J Mittlestaedt that gave Tennessee the lead for good. Jungmann fell to 1-2 on the season with the loss, giving up those three runs on just two hits while striking out three and walking four. Following a scoreless 2.1 innings pitched by Stars relievers Alan Williams and Eric Marzec, lefty Brian Garman gave up a run in the 9th inning on a RBI single by Smokies second basemen Jonathan Mota to make the score 4-0. The Stars got their only run in the bottom half of the ninth, as an error by Alcantra at short on a sharp grounder from center fielder Brock Kjeldgaard scored right fielder Kentrail Davis to avoid the shutout. Huntsville had the potential game-tying run at the plate in the ninth as well, but Tennessee reliever Brian Schlitter got pinch-hitter Mike Walker to groundout to end the ballgame. Jokish was the story for the Smokies, improving to 2-0 on the year by shutting out the Stars offense through six innings of work. The southpaw only gave up three hits and struck out seven batters without walking anyone in the process. On offense, the Stars were only able to piece together four hits, one of them from shortstop Jeff Bianchi, who played his first full game with the Stars since being assigned to Huntsville on a MLB rehab stint. The Brewers utility infielder went 1-for-3 with a walk, and now 4-for-10 in four games with the Stars. Besides Bianchi, third basemen Shea Vucinich, catcher Shawn Zarraga and pinch-hitter Adam Weisenburger were the only others to have a hit. The Stars and Smokies will play game four of a five-game series at Joe Davis Stadium on Thursday. Huntsville will send RHP Andy Moye (1-1, 5.19 ERA) to the bump to square off against Tennessee RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-1, 4.09 ERA). First pitch is at the regular time of 6:43 PM. After wrapping up their five-game series and ten game homestand against the Smokies on Friday, the Stars will immediately hit the road for five games against the Birmingham Barons.

Via Jeff Hem's blog -- Both portions of the audio discussion with new Brewers Pitching Coordinator Rick Tomlin are now available.

The open roster spot at Brevard County has been filled by RHP Matt Miller, the 2010 5th rounder (career stats), who opened this season at extended spring training for unknown (injury, we imagine) reasons.

Sounds game postponed in Des Moines; no makeup date announced yet. UPDATE: Doubleheader Wednesday, June 19 at 5PM