Baseball Front And Center

I understand that Luke Cockrell freshman baseball player for Faith Christian hit a grand slam home run Thursday night for the Patriots. That was only a small part of his night.  He went 5-5 and drove in 10 runs.  Now you have to understand Luke as a freshman you will probably never have another game in your life better than this one.  Luke is the younger brother of former Gryphon Dillion Cockrell who I think is a sophomore at Carolina and plays on the Club team but is out of action right now with broken ribs.  He got drilled by a Wolfpack pitcher  in a recent series with the Wolfpack club team.

Lander University came to Pembroke for three very important games in Division ll College baseball.  One of Landers coaches is former Gryphon "Baseball" Britt Johnson  who I think as some point in time coached Alex Pearce in Babe Ruth Baseball.  Pearce pitched the rubber game of the three game series Saturday as they played one on Friday and a double headed today.  Pearce continues to win games for UNC Pembroke and he has done it by having runners on base all the time today.  Pearce makes it into the eighth inning but gave up 13 hits but still won the game 7-4.  Alex has won four games in a row and his record is now 6-3 for the Braves.

Speaking of Babe Ruth Baseball.  The North Carolina Baseball Museum located down the 3rd baseline in Fleming Stadium in Wilson will soon be adding to it's baseball collections. Wilson County over the last ten years or so have hosted more Babe Ruth World Series than any other place.  The Museum will be adding Babe Ruth baseball section in honor of Wilson hosting over the years so many events with Babe Ruth Baseball.

Brian Goodwin has started off his pro baseball career as if he doesn't like being in Hagerstown Maryland.  You may have seen on the Gryphon Grapevine that he homered in his first game.  Friday night was not quite as good but from the lead off position he walked four  times in five trips to the plate.  He has been on base seven of his ten at bats as the lead off hitter for the Suns. Double A here he comes if he keeps this up.

All during the spring training I have not heard one word on Xavier Macklin.  Does anybody know what the deal with X man is?  Is he hurt, traded to another team or what?  He is not listed on any of the A's minor league rosters.