Scout.com > Ole Miss Top 100 baseball player coming to town Story URL: http://mississippi.scout.com/2/676973.html Yancy Porter OMSpirit.com Sep 7, 2007 One of Baseball America's Top 100 rising seniors will take an official visit to Ole Miss this weekend. To learn more, read below. "I have had a lot of schools recruit me, but I have narrowed it down to four. They are Missouri, Ole Miss, Wichita State, and Arizona State," stated Kyle Barbeck. The 6' 0", 210 pound flame thrower out of Blue Springs (MO) is excited about the opportunity to see what the Rebels have to offer this weekend. "Their coaches call me weekly. They are always real nice to me, and obviously, they play in the SEC conference which is a tough/tough conference. I hear Oxford is a neat experience so I will see what it is all about this weekend." Kyle has already taken his official visits to Arizona State, Wichita State, and Missouri. "All of their coaches have been really nice to me and my family. It is going to bea tough decision for me." What stood out about each school? "Missouri the past couple of years have been coming on real strong. They hosted the Regionals this year. Anywhere I go, I am hoping to play my freshman year. Missouri only has 4 or 5 left handed pitchers on their roster. And when I get there, they are only going to have a couple. They showed me the list of projected pitchers on their team. Arizona State only has 2 LHP's on their squad. Next year, they are going to have 0 or 1." "Arizona State obviously has a strong history of getting to the World Series. Coach Murphy is a nice guy from what their players have told me. The thing about Arizona, you do not have to worry about cold weather. It is hot all year there." "Wichita State is unique in the fact that they do not have a football program so baseball gets all the ink over there. It is the only show in town. Baseball there is big time. Coach Stevenson and Kemintz have been together for 30 years. Coach Kemintz, their pitching coach, is known to take pitchers who were not drafted out of high school, to a Top 5 round pick." What will be the main factors when it comes decision time? "First, I will look at their depth chart of LHP's. But most of all, I need to go to where I am the most comfortable. You know, where if you blew out your arm, you would be the most happy. I will look at their coaches, players, and history of their baseball program too." What about Kyle the baseball player? Barbeck has enjoyed back-to-back high school and American Legion seasons that one could only dream of. As a junior at Blue Springs High School, Kyle was 8-0 with a 1.41 ERA for the state champion Wildcats and followed that with a 9-0 record and 0.85 ERA for the State Champion Blue Springs Rod's Sports A's, who went 60-11 before falling in the Mid-South Regional in Paducah, Ky. Barbeck closed the Legion season with a four straight wins - including three in postseason action - and 31 consecutive scoreless innings. "I've coached and seen some awfully good baseball players," A's manager Mike Rooney told the Examiner, "but I haven't seen many kids have a season like Kyle." Barbeck, who shared Examiner American Legion Player of the Year honors with teammate Andrew Melanson, also led the A's regulars with a .450 batting average. "I think my best pitch is my fastball," added Kyle Barbeck. "I top out at 93 MPH and pitch it in the 87-89 range consistently. I also throw a 4 seam and 2 seam fastball. A fun little pitch I throw is the knuckle curve and my circle change up is pretty good." Copyright © Scout.com and OMSpirit.com