Hitting Somebody Else

Thursday night at Rocky Mount High school the Gryphon's hosted three other schools varsity and JV programs.  4-A West Johnston had the longest ride traveling their mailing address says Benson but they are near Willow Springs.  2A Goldsboro and Nash County and conference foe the  Firebirds of Southern Nash rounded out the fourth team.

The night started off with referee Shannon Davis led the group of refs who were also there for their preseason workouts.  Davis talked of the points of emphasis by all crews this season.  Points were   Clear and white mouth pieces are acceptable this year.  All pads must be covered.  There will be no exposed pads on any player at any time.  There will no clipping on any play.  In the past lineman could clip along the line of scrimmage but no more.  The final point of emphasis is a rule that I am glad to see.  There will be no cussing of any kind on the sidelines by players, coaches and anyone along the sidelines.

Now for the action.  Southern Nash varsity went 14 minutes on offense and 14 minutes on defense against Goldsboro.  The second segment Rocky Mount went against West Johnston.  Both Rocky Mount and Southern switched teams with  Goldsboro facing Rocky Mount and West Johnston squaring off against the Firebirds.  The third segment Rocky Mount went back against against Goldsboro.  The last half hour each team got four downs to make a first down or continue a drive until a score.  Then two more teams intermingled.

The results:  West Johnston has the best quarterback of the four.  They were big across the front and the qb could throw or take off and run very effectively.  Their front line on D was also big and hard to move.

Goldsboro: Considering they were the 2A school of the bunch they scored twice again Rocky Mount and once on Southern.  Their Defense not as good.

Southern Nash:  Big  on the offensive and defensive line.  Had several big plays on both sides of the ball.  Looks as their big question is replacing their quarterback.

Rocky Mount:  Moved the ball well while running but several pass plays were jail breaks by the defense.  Not only does Rocky Mount  need to find a replacement at quarterback but they need to find protection for the new one.

It is very hard in scrimmages to evaluate the progress of and offensive team or defensive unit  because there is so much switching in and out of players on each play.  There are several players who if they have not got enough practices in so they could not play either.

Impressions:  I thought West Johnston was very good.  Southern Nash is loaded with good athletes and Rocky Mount's defense popped some leather.

Didn't pay all that much attention to the jv's but Rocky Mount  scored a lot.

Rocky Mount will travel to Cardinal Gibbons on Saturday to play South Johnston in the
 highschoolot .com jamboree at 5:40 pm. We are now one week away from the first game of the season when they open up hosting South Granville.  Please note game time next Friday is 7pm.

Trophy Case Ball For B Good

Baseball has roots that go back to the late 1860's.  In all that time baseball has held to many traditions including a pitcher getting the ball  when he gets his first strikeout or win.  Hitters are given the ball when they hit their first homer or even as simple as their first major League hit.

Wednesday afternoon Brian Goodwin got his first start for the Washington Nationals in a game and he played right field for the injured  Bryce Harper.  His first at bat was a strike out. His second time up he hit a sharp one hopper to the first baseman.  His third trip was a come backer to the pitcher.  Finally in the bottom of the eighth Brian Goodwin grounds a ball between the first and second baseman for his first major league.

The good news is two of B Goods  at bats he pulled the ball which indicates to me that major league pitching that he is not over matched.  Let's see if they let him play today.

Down in the Florida State League Benton Moss stands with 22 appearances and 17 starts so far in his first full season in pro baseball.  He has won 7 while being on the losing end eight  times but since around the Fourth of July Benton has really pitched well.  He has pitched a total of 116 innings and walked only 28 on the season.  That is about one walk per four innings and I can assure you from little league to the majors any pitcher who can do that is as good as it gets.

Moss has struck out 103 batters on the season and has one complete game pitched.  His ERA is 4.03 but that has been shrinking since The first of July.  I don't see any problem with Benton moving up to AA next season.

Collins Cuthrell season continues in Florence Kentucky. Every player dreams of one day reaching the majors.  Some it is a long process that never materializes.  This is Collins second season in Florence and after a broken arm last year this looks to be his first full season.  Unfortunately this season is not developing into a season that makes for careers in baseball.

Collins average has risen to 224 but those are not the numbers that Major League Baseball clubs are looking for when they sign free agents.  He has ten home runs and driven in 42 rbi's on 53 hits.  He surely has had effective hits per RBI but just not enough hits.

Hobbs Johnson life in baseball this season has been in AA Buloxi Mississippi, home to Rocky Mount after being released by the Brewers and then a car trip to Sioux City Iowa to play for the Explorers.
Hobbs first outing one inning and one run, outing number two only 1/3 of and  inning and two runs and a loss.

His third time out was much better going two innings and no runs and a victory to boot.  So far his three innings he has given up five hits but the big bug-a-boo is four walks.  He needs more outings like his last before the end of the season to attract more major league teams to give him a look.

Tarboro's Todd Gurley in his second NFL camp but first one when he has been an active participant can bee seen this year on the NFL Network football show Hardknocks.

Gryphon football scrimmages tonight at home 6:00 pm.