Catching up on loose ends and such ...

Lots of little things to get to ...

-- Greg Gary is the first member of Robert McCullum's staff to latch on elsewhere -- he was announced Thursday as a new assistant at Duquesne, so call him the assistant to be named later in the deal that sent Charles Cunningham to USF last summer. Gary played for Duquesne coach Ron Everhart at Tulane and later coached under him, so he's landing with someone he has a longstanding relationship with. USF's postseason basketball banquet, by the way, is Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Tampa Palms. McCullum and his staff won't be there, but new coach Stan Heath and athletic director Doug Woolard will be.

-- Minor-league baseball? Former Bulls slugger Myron Leslie took the mound for two scoreless innings in an 18-inning loss for the Texas League's Midland RockHounds. He also played first and third base and leftfield in the same game. Leslie, who turns 25 next week, hasn't done much at the plate this season, batting .250 with one RBI in 52 at-bats.

A more promising start would be that of former Bulls closer Chase Lirette, who is with the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League. He's allowed just one earned run in his first 18.1 innings for a sparkling 0.49 ERA, holding opposing batters to a .143 average. That follows a strong 2006 debut in which he went 4-1 with a 2.26 ERA in the New York-Penn League. Lirette won't even turn 22 until June, so it's an encouraging start to his pro career.

Speaking of RockHounds, perhaps just this mention will change a rough couple of days for Jeff Baisley, who is 0-for-17 in his last three games for Midland, dropping his average to .268, with three home runs and 10 RBIs. Last year's Midwest League MVP

-- As the Blog Of Record for all things walk-on, we'll update that kicker Anthony Leandri, who made the team last fall as a freshman from Clearwater Central Catholic, has transferred to Northern Michigan, a Division II program. In retrospect, the blog might have chased Leandri away with too many comments about his height, or lackthereof. Thanks to the Times' Joe Smith for the update.

-- NFL Draft? ESPN.com's seven-round mock from Scouts Inc. guru Todd McShay (is it me, or is ESPN starting to move him in and move Kiper out?) has Nicholas going in the third round. Same projection from the Sporting News, which had former USF safety Jeremy Burnett sneaking into the draft as a seventh-rounder. Lots more on the draft this weekend. ...

Questions? Comments? Surely there are e-mails to be sent, comments to be posted, and strange rumors to be floated elsewhere with reckless abandon ... Send 'em all here, or to auman@sptimes.com.

Comments

[Sherrie]

I'm still waiting with bated breath for news on the trio of stupid arrests...for some sick reason that stuff amuses the heck out of me.
Sherrie

[Dave]

I thought Burnett was a nice player, worthy of free agent consideration, but I guess his "measurables" were pretty good.

I really Lirette- he has big league potential. Too bad about Baisley and Leslie struggling; I was sure one of the two would make it. It's still too early in the season to give up on Baisley, but Leslie needs to be outstanding to make it.

Speaking of baseball, who are the professional prospects of our current players? Surely Diaz and Otero are on the "draft watch" for this year (Diaz is eligible, correct?).