Tonight Rocky Mount High with one foot in the coffin for no playoff life knock off one of the four leaders tied at the top of Big East Baseball beating Hunt 4-3 in nine innings.
Cody Smith did all he could do but gets a no decision for his pitching effort. Josh Carter who on the night made three errors in the field but gets the winning hit in the bottom of the ninth gets the Gryphons a much needed win. Blake Helms in relief gets the pitching win.
The Gryphons raised their conference record to 3-4 while Hunt who entered the night in a four way tie for first drops to 4-3 with three conference games to play. Hunt has it's next conference game at home Friday hosting Southern Nash while the Gryphons have no celebration time they travel to Fike Wednesday night in another one foot in the coffin game.
That game begins at 6pm tonight.
Tonight I was in Raleigh and went to the Campbell/State baseball game won by Campbell 9-0. Boy with all the expectations N C State had and even started 14-2 they are playing like a team going the wrong way on a one way street.
I ran into Derrick Whittenburg and we spoke to each other and I asked him if he remembered me. If you are a dedicated reader of this blog at some point I have told the story about playing basketball in an ACC All Star traveling show way back in 1986.
To remind you of the story while living in Ahoskie I was the play by play voice of Chowan College basketball during the time Nate McMillan play there and later he played two years at State. McMillan's senior year someone gets Nate and the Senior all stars to come to Murfreesboro high school and I am playing for the news media.
This just happens to be the first Duke team in 86 that made it to the final four and their four seniors Jay Bilas, Johnny Dawkins, Mark Allarie and David Henderson are playing as well as McMillan and McMillan brings along a friend to play in the game Derrick Whittenburg who is three years removed from college basketball.
The news media clowns are warming up shooting lay ups like a regular team would do and each all star is announced one at a time and a full house of about 800 stands and cheers but the big roar is for home town hero Nate McMillan.
The last player announced was the surprise player who is the sixth player Derrick Whittenburg. I am just shooting a layup and I am running back to the end of the line while Whit is being introduced. All of a sudden I feel this arm go around my shoulder and it is Whittenburg and he says to me "Hey man how you doing"? The whole time he is leading me down to the far end of the court where the all stars are warming up.
The entire 20 yard walk he is just talking away to me still with his arm around my shoulders. Everybody in the place thinks I'm buddies with Whittenburg. Finally when it's time to start warming up he leans over to me and says "I need to ask you a question. What's a fat guy like you playing in this game"? I told him I would show him why I was playing.
I did too scored three points in the game and we loss about 139-49. We had'em for a while.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Wide Open Two Weeks
There is a tie at the top of Big East Baseball with two weeks and four games to go. Just who is going to win the three playoff spots is wide open for debate. Looking at the first six games nobody seems to have an edge. There is one thing for sure somebody who is just as good as everybody else will not make the playoffs because these next four games they will lose more than they win.
The four teams tied at the top are Hunt, Fike, Northern Nash and Nash Central. So far through six conference games Hunt by far has the best offense. They have scored 54 runs in six games which is just short of nine runs per game. 25 of those runs came in one game against Southern. Against all others they are scoring just under six per game.
The other end of the offense machine is Northern Nash who has scored only sixteen runs in their six conferences. That is a measly two and a half runs per contest. Rocky Mount who stands in fifth spot in the standings has scored twenty six runs. That's almost two runs per game more than Northern has scored. Both Fike and Nash Central have crossed the plate twenty nine times which is still twenty five runs behind Hunt. Poor old Southern has scored but three runs in six games. It is easy to see why they are winless in six games.
The opposite end of the spectrum is the defense. Northern Nash despite scoring but sixteen has given up only 13. That is a tad more than two per game given up but less than half run per game difference every game. Hunt not only has scored the most runs but they are tied with Northern giving up the least. It begs the question how has Hunt lost twice in conference scoring the most and tied giving up the least.
Fike has given up twenty three runs while Nash Central has allowed thirty one. Fike has score one run a game more than they have given up while the Bulldogs have given up more than they have scored.
Rocky Mount who sits in fifth a full two games behind the top four has scored the fourth most in twenty six while they are third best in runs allowed in twenty two. This does point to how close all five teams are and if Rocky Mount won all of their remaining four games they could not only make the playoff but just might tie for the top.
One would think that of the four tied for the lead the one that wins three of the final four will win the conference. There is a good chance two or three just might tie for the top and then how are they going to figure seedings. It is for sure if one team tied at the top wins all four of their remaining games they will win the conference title. Just who is that going to be is wide open.
The four teams tied at the top are Hunt, Fike, Northern Nash and Nash Central. So far through six conference games Hunt by far has the best offense. They have scored 54 runs in six games which is just short of nine runs per game. 25 of those runs came in one game against Southern. Against all others they are scoring just under six per game.
The other end of the offense machine is Northern Nash who has scored only sixteen runs in their six conferences. That is a measly two and a half runs per contest. Rocky Mount who stands in fifth spot in the standings has scored twenty six runs. That's almost two runs per game more than Northern has scored. Both Fike and Nash Central have crossed the plate twenty nine times which is still twenty five runs behind Hunt. Poor old Southern has scored but three runs in six games. It is easy to see why they are winless in six games.
The opposite end of the spectrum is the defense. Northern Nash despite scoring but sixteen has given up only 13. That is a tad more than two per game given up but less than half run per game difference every game. Hunt not only has scored the most runs but they are tied with Northern giving up the least. It begs the question how has Hunt lost twice in conference scoring the most and tied giving up the least.
Fike has given up twenty three runs while Nash Central has allowed thirty one. Fike has score one run a game more than they have given up while the Bulldogs have given up more than they have scored.
Rocky Mount who sits in fifth a full two games behind the top four has scored the fourth most in twenty six while they are third best in runs allowed in twenty two. This does point to how close all five teams are and if Rocky Mount won all of their remaining four games they could not only make the playoff but just might tie for the top.
One would think that of the four tied for the lead the one that wins three of the final four will win the conference. There is a good chance two or three just might tie for the top and then how are they going to figure seedings. It is for sure if one team tied at the top wins all four of their remaining games they will win the conference title. Just who is that going to be is wide open.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
