Southeast product Robinson makes his return to the majors

After an absence of more than a year, it's great to see Kerry Robinson back in the major leagues.

Robinson, the former Southeast Missouri State star who is in his 12th professional season, just completed his first week as the Royals' regular center fielder.

And, despite the Royals entering the weekend with the worst record in the big leagues -- what else is new? -- Robinson has acquitted himself well.

Robinson began play Saturday with a .320 batting average (8-for-25) and has started every game since being promoted from Class AAA Omaha, where he was leading that club in batting average (.367), stolen bases (7) and runs scored (18).

Robinson even made No. 2 on ESPN SportsCenter's list of top 10 plays one night with a spectacular catch, and Friday he had a go-ahead RBI single in a four-run ninth inning as the Royals rallied to beat the White Sox 5-4 for their second straight road win after losing their first 12 road games this season.

Robinson, a St. Louis native, had a nice three-year run as a bench player for the Cardinals from 2001 through 2003. But he was perceived as having a bad attitude by manager Tony La Russa, which led to a trade that sent Robinson to San Diego.

Thus began a frustrating stretch for Robinson, who hit .293 in 80 games for the Padres in 2004 but languished about half the season in the minors and apparently did not fit into their plans, so he was granted free agency.

Robinson spent time in both the Mets' and Braves' systems last year before signing in the offseason with Kansas City.

After tearing things up at Class AAA Omaha, he finally got the break he was looking for by getting the call back to "The Show."

Although no spring chicken, the speedy Robinson is not exactly over the hill at age 32, meaning he still probably has several more good seasons of baseball left.

Here's hoping those years are spent in the major leagues.

n

While Robinson has now spent parts of seven seasons in the majors, Central High School product Talley Haines -- in his ninth minor league season -- is still looking for that call up to baseball's highest level.

Haines, who has had quite a few impressive Class AAA seasons, took another step toward his goal when he was recently promoted from Class AA Reading (Pa.) to Class AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre (Pa.) in the Phillies' organization.

n

When Anna-Jonesboro (Ill.) High School guard Jimmy Drew signed with the Southeast men's basketball program recently, that appeared to fill new Redhawks' coach Scott Edgar's last scholarship.

But, with finals at Southeast ending this week, I've been told it appears likely that freshman guard Eric Jones will not meet his academic requirements, meaning another scholarship likely will open up.

Another player, junior guard Eric Burtin, will almost certainly be redshirted next season, although he will still be on scholarship. Burtin is slowly recovering from the badly broken leg suffered late this past season.

n

Murray State's baseball team entered the weekend last in the Ohio Valley Conference, but you sure can't fault Central High School graduate Seth Hudson.

Hudson, a junior second baseman already in his third season as a starter for the Thoroughbreds, had a .385 batting average that ranked fourth in the league.

But unfortunately for Hudson -- and the Thoroughbreds -- he has missed the last several games with a hand injury that also threatened to sideline him through the weekend and perhaps even longer.

n

Congratulations to the Central High School baseball team for winning the SEMO Conference tournament for the first time.

The Tigers are now 18-5, and it's funny how I don't hear anybody questioning Steve Williams' coaching ability this year.

Williams, a former minor league star who reached as high as the Class AAA level, has long been regarded as one of the top baseball people in the area.

It's unfortunate that whenever a squad has something of a down year -- in high school sports, you're not always going to have the talent necessary to be really successful -- people seem to come out of the woodwork criticizing the coach.

Unfortunately, Williams has had to put up with that in the not-too-distant past -- as all coaches probably have -- but it's still a shame.

That's one of the reason's I'm particularly happy the Tigers are having such a solid season.

n

It wasn't a banner year for OVC football as far as the NFL draft was concerned, but Samford safety Cortland Finnegan did keep the conference from getting shut out as he went to the Titans in the seventh and final round.

Several other OVC players signed free agent contracts, as generally happens.

Now it will be interesting to see what OVC products actually make the NFL to join the several that are already in the league, including three from Southeast: Willie Ponder, Eugene Amano and Dan Connolly.

n

Sam Weaver, who had been the boys basketball coach at Kennett High School, will move across the river to take over the Cairo (Ill). High School program.

Weaver was an assistant coach at Southeast in the early 1980s, and he was also an assistant at Southern Illinois in the early 1990s.

In addition, Weaver has been head coach at Alcorn State and Northern Iowa, and he also worked as an assistant at Mississippi State and Iowa State.

n

I, like probably most people who follow OVC women's basketball, was taken by surprise when longtime Tennessee Tech coach Bill Worrell recently announced his retirement.

Who the heck is going to become Southeast coach B.J. Smith's main antagonist now?

n

The NBA playoffs got off to a rousing start with some great first-round series.

Topping the list in my book is the incredible duel between the Cavaliers' LeBron James and the Wizards' Gilbert Arenas, along with the fantastic battle between Kobe Bryant's Lakers and Steve Nash's Suns.

If future rounds produce the type of drama that has taken place so far, then basketball fans are in for a treat.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.