It's Baseball Season

Rocky Mount's baseball team opened their new field this afternoon and the Gryphons were a charitable bunch making seven errors and allowed ten unearned runs as as they fall 10-3 to Southern Wayne. The Saints got 8 hits and SW pitching held the Gryphons to only three hits as Jarrell Hunter had two hits and two rbi and Spencer Ramsey found the  Gryphons third Hit.

Ramsey started and pitch the first three innings but the defense was little help. An array of arms threw the 4th, 5th sixth and seventh innings as two Gryphon pitcher Jeremy Johnson and Will Edwards are nursing injuries.  Edwards will be out the first month while Johnson will pitch soon in fact he played center field today.  Not much time to be depressed at the Gryphons travel to Tarboro Friday at 5pm

Three teams from Rocky Mount remain alive for their respective State Championships.  Rocky Mount Prep will play the team that knocked them out of the Regional last year in Plymouth.  That game will be played in Plymouth.  Last year's Regional score was 86-78 but the Jags have maybe their best player playing this year whereas last year he was on the sidelines injured in DeShaun Freeman

Freeman provides inside presence that the Prep did not have last year. 6'8" his bottling up of the middle allows everyone else to take off for the basket in Prep's high powered run and Gun offense.  This game is one of the best matchups in all sectional finals.  It is not the only really good match up state wide however.

If Pam Gainey was to tell you the truth she has a hollow hole in the pit of her stomach after last year's team failed to win the Regional.  Watching the results of the State Championship game she knows the Lady Gryphons could have won a title too but it didn't happen.  Is there redemption available for the Ladies as they travel to West Craven 24-5.  It is as much as any thing about how you are playing today not yesterday and the Lady Gryphons have a shot because they have it together right now.

The Rocky Mount boys could at any time lay and egg and be embarrassed but the door gets wider and wider for Rocky Mount to return to the Regional finals after the #2 seed Triton lost last night.  If the Gryphons are focused there will be no problem against C B Aycock but they had better all have one thing in mind.  Mike Gainey did a great job against South Brunswick keeping them focused.  Less than 200 were in the gym so you can hear every comment and as the game ended a fan yelled good practice.  Their opponent is better this round but if the #2 team in the State shows up it's on to the Regional.

After the boys game last night just about every Gryphon fan at the boys game loaded up and went to Northern.  You could feel the side of the court rise where the Rocky Mount fans were seated when the boys still in uniform warmups enter the building in the  tight contest.  At that point Northern had taken control of the game to some extent even though it was tied at 23-23 just before the half.  The energy just those guys showing up added to the Lady Gryphons play and maybe in a small way took something out of Northern. It may have been the turning point in the game.

Gryphons Break Northern's Heart Boys Don't Break A Sweat

The weekly addition of the Northern- Rocky Mount girls basketball game with the Sectionals finals berth at stake and Rocky Mount stuns Northern 56-53 at Northern.  Tonight I was at the boys game where I personally counted 146 people including the players in the gym and the Gryphons hardly break a sweat in winning 73-53.  Mike Gainey never showed any sweat on his brow in Rocky Mount but after he loaded up the boys for the ride to Northern by the time he found a seat  in the tightly packed gym the sweat was streaming  down his face.

The Lady Gryphons jump out to a big lead in the first quarter 19-8 but the Lady Knights whittled away.  The half was 30-27 Gryphons ,42-all at the end of the third and Northern took the lead at 46-45 with just under five minutes to play. Foul trouble was big as Kelsey Daniels and Tyrekyra Thomas fouled out for the Lady Gryphons and J'Kyra Brown had four but she never fouled out and that was the bad news for Northern.
J'Kyra for the second game in a row throws down 32 to go with 37 on Monday.  Carmen Richardson handled most of the ball dribbling  and scored 14.

If there is one place Northern would love to have back it is at the foul line three times in the last few minutes they had two shots to tie and never tied the game at the line.  Their only lead of the game came on a jump shot from Alexus Hill but Tyrekyra Thomas made a Gryphon jump shot to give the Gryphons back the lead they would not lose again.  Hill and Quineshia Lynch score 14 a piece for Northern Camille Branch was next with 8.

 Rocky Mount will travel to West Craven Friday night for the sectional final at 6:00pm as West Craven beat Conley 59-49 to Host.  They will be part of a double header in Vanceboro but it will be West Craven boys in the second game.

Rocky Mount boys jumped on South Brunswick to a 24-5 lead in the first quarter.  Mike Gainey  suited up 15 players and 13 scored,  and 13 got rebounds.  It was 42-14 at the half and the biggest thing was not get anybody hurt.
 
M JGainey scored 17, Donte Battle 14, Michael Hines 10, Emanuel King 8. and then there was everyone else.  Jaquez Jones 4, Thomas Cooper 1, Mason Hines 4, Broderick Caudle 3, J T Smith 2, Armad Harrell 3, Amir Pittman 2, Tyler Harmonson 2 and Austin Warner 2. 

Rocky Mount won the boards 39-32 but it was about 25-5 with the first team in the game. The Gryphons only had ten turnovers with all of the line up changes while they forced 29 from West Brunswick  Friday night the Gryphon play at home at 7:00pm .  They will play C B Aycock who beat Conley tonight 62-51. 

Hunt was knocked out of the playoffs tonight losing 74-61 at West Craven.  The big upset of the night was Havelock beating Triton the #2 in the east 63-61.   The Rocky Mount Gryphon Boys and Girls still alive in the State Playoffs.

Times Set for Wednesday

Rocky Mount boys will play South Brunswick at 6pm Wednesday at Rocky Mount and Rocky Mount girls will play Northern Nash at 7pm.  at Northern Nash 

 Seven Gryphons head to the State Wrestling Championships:
Regional 145 pound wrestling champion Alex Knight and Anthony Battle the 170 pound champion head line seven Rocky Mount Gryphon Wrestlers heading to Greensboro Thursday for the State Wrestling Championships.  Joining them after qualifying are 138 pounds Rayshawn Elliot, 152 pounds Joseph Cooper, 182 pound Devonte Ricks,195 pounds  Keyaad Coley and 220 pounds Jeffery Person.

Southern Nash  will send five wrestlers including 195 Regional Champ Travis Collins.  Also making the trip will be 106 pounds Dakota Medina, 113 pounds Cody Thorne, 126 Jordan Decosse and Jacoby Benjamin 152 pounds.

Northern Nash has one wrestler and that is Xavier Anistead and he qualified in the 145 pound category.

Wednesday night will be round two on the North Carolina basketball playoffs and Northern Nash 22-1 and Rocky Mount girls 16-9 will tangle for the 10th time in the last two seasons  and the fifth time this year.  Northern leads this year 3-1.  Game time is scheduled for 7pm.  The winner will play for the district finals Friday night.  If Northern wins they play at home against the winner  of D H Conley 21-6 and West Craven 23-5 it doesn't matter which they are the higher seed.  If Rocky Mount wins they travel and it doesn't matter which they are the lower seed.

Rocky Mount boys 23-4 will  host South Brunswick 4-20 At 6pm.  If Rocky Mount wins they host the winner of C B Aycock 14-12/D H Conley  16-11game.  If South Brunswick wins they are on the road it doesn't matter who wins.  Hunt 21-5 goes to West Craven 23-4.  Rocky Mount Prep 20-3 is at Southside of Chocowinity 14-13. 

Rocky Mount baseball is suppose to crank up Wednesday with a home game against Southern Wayne.  However, if we get all the rain  the weather man is calling for I have a feeling the game will be moved to Thursday.  This new field doesn't drain like the old stadium.  If it doesn't get rained out with two basketball games going on it might get moved to Thursday anyway.

Finally I really like this format that they are using for the basketball playoffs this year.  It is easy on everybody trying to look up the match ups.   No format is perfect and let me tell you of a major problem with is seedings this year.  South Brunswick the team  that Rocky Mount boys will play Wednesday played at Currituck which is in Coinjock.  They had to travel 270 miles which by car is four hours and 53 minutes.  The West Brunswick girls played at Currituck and I can tell you from Southport to Coinjock or Shallotte to Coinjock is not five minutes different in miles or time.

  I wonder if the two schools got together and rode together. That's about like asking Rocky Mount and Northern to ride the same bus to Coinjock.  At 50 cents per mile they both paid $135 to travel.  If that came out of the gate receipts I can't imagine  there was any money made on those two games after the refs were paid.

Wednesday Night Dilemma

If you are are  Rocky Mount Gryphon fan you will have a tough choice to make as Tonight the Lady Gryphons looked like a completely different team that lost to South Central in Rocky Mount in December and by doing so won in impressive fashion their opening round 3-A playoff game dumping South Central 67-50.  As expected the Gryphon boys had little trouble with Jacksonville winning 85-51.

J'Kyra Brown's last game in the Rocky Mount gym she rocked for 37 points.  Unlike most games this season the Lady Gryphons didn't need all 37 as it was a total team effort.  When one player score 37of your 67 how can you say that you ask?  Takeyra Thomas had two jump shot baskets, Carmen Richardson had five others.  So far this season this team has been scared to shoot outside other than J'Kyra  and if this trend continues it takes a load of pressure of J'Kyra.

The Lady Gryphons jumped to an 11-2 lead and never looked back leading by 16 at the quarter, 20 at the half 19 at the end of the third.  Carmen Richardson poured in 15 points, Kelsey Daniels controlled the inside with 8 points. Daniels had10 rebounds on the night as Rocky Mount out rebounded the Lady Falcons 41-30.  Rocky Mount forced 17 turnovers on the night but the Lady Gryphons were sloppy after the game was put away and finished with 23 to's themselves .

The boys limited the smaller Jacksonville squad to only two rebounds in the first quarter while they poured in 36 first quarter points  to lead 36-12 after one.  From that point on Mike Gainey played everybody and on the night 12 players scored.

Donte Battle was unstoppable from two feet from the basket and even poured in a three pointer to finish with 19. Michael Hines added 13,Jaquel Bryant 13,  Bryant also had 10 rebounds on the night to lead the way .  The Gryphons dominated the boards 49-23 for much of the Cardinal attack was three point shots.  Jacksonville also turned it over 18 times to RM's 11.

Up next for the boys is South Brunswick who traveled all the way to Currituck and won 62-57 but for them it was only their fourth win of the season.  Up next for the Lady Gryphons is Northern Nash who won at home tonight 81-31 over Southern Wayne

Here is where the dilemma comes in.  Under this new schedule for the playoffs with both the boys and girls both playing the same night, the reason they are doing that is in case of inclement weather there is a empty night in between each game to give everyone a makeup night if needed.  As of right now the Northern Nash Rocky Mount girls game is scheduled for 7:00pm and at the same time Rocky Mount boys will be hosting South Brunswick at 7:00pm. on Wednesday.

I have a feeling Rocky Mount will ask Northern and South Brunswick if the times can be changed in order for fans can get to both games.  Let's say  since South Brunswick has a long trip to go home that the boys game was played at 6pm and the RM/NN girls game didn't tip until 8pm  it would be possible to get to both games.

In order for any schedule change both Northern and South Brunswick would have to agree. Then the NCHSAA has to sign off on it.  That is like asking republicans and democrats to agree and ask the Supreme Court if it is ok.  I would suspect if both are played at the same time the crowd will be at Northern for the game of the century part 10 while most folks will figure Rocky Mount boys will roll on a four win team.

Other games of interest Hunt Boys beat Nash Central 74-30 to give both Big East top two teams wins.  #4 seeded Northern Nash played at Triton and almost pulled the upset losing 52-50.  Rocky Mount Prep traveled to Southeast Halifax and won 91-42 to advance and they play Southside Wednesday at Southside and that is in Chocowinity.

Hunt girls lost at West Craven 53-36 while the Nash Central girls were in a tussle but they lose at D H Conley 44-39.  The Big East still has their top two seeds in the girls and boys still alive.

Double Header Monday

The new Rocky Mount High School will host it's  first basketball playoffs ever Monday night when the defending 3-A State Champions the Rocky Mount Gryphons will play host to the #4 seed from the Coastal Conference Jacksonville 10-15 on the year.   So far in the new gym the Gryphons have lost only once.

The #1 seed  if they play this week as good as their record is 22-2 should find themselves heading to Fayetteville for the fourth straight  year in the East Regional.  The winner of this game will match up with The Currituck- South Brunswick winner and between them they have a total of 12 wins.  The other part of the bracket which would meet in game three there are only two teams with a winning record. That  would be D H Conley 15-11 #13 and C B Aycock #12  13-12 and those two could meet each other.  The biggest question for the Rocky Mount Gryphons is how is this week off going to effect them.  It surely looks like the Gryphons themselves will be their biggest obstacle until the Regional.

The first game of the night Monday will be the Lady Gryphons 15-9 playing in what will probably be the final appearance of J'Kyra Brown in the Rocky Mount Gym.  The Lady Gryphons play South Central 22-6 a team that beat them at Rocky Mount in December. Tip time is 6pm Monday  The winner of that game draws Northern Nash 21-1/Southern Wayne winner and that game will be at Northern if Northern wins..

So the Lady Gryphons get a tough bracket having to face South Central and if they are winners there will catch Northern Nash at Northern in round two.  If there has been one team that needed the week off it has been the Lady Gryphons with J'Kyra needing to get back to 100% healthy.  Injuries are a part of the game but many have forgotten that the Lady Gryphons lost Ty'Ais Cooper their starting point guard to a knee injury before the season started so the injury bug has not been kind to the Lady Gryphons this season.

Northern Nash  21-1 meet Southern Wayne 13-11 should breeze into the second round and they will either catch their top rival Rocky Mount or South Central.  Many of you may remember I said back in December that South Central had the type of lineup to give Northern trouble.  So the Lady Knights road to Fayetteville is more bumpy than the Rocky Mount boys.  It kind of shows you the difference in being a 1 over a 2 seed.

Hunt boys are hosting conference foe Nash Central Monday night while the fourth boys team Northern Nash heads to Triton  the #2 in the east bracket.  Hunt's girls open on the road at West Craven  and Nash Central travels to D H Conley

Rocky Mount Prep 19-3 the winners of the Independent tournament are seeded fifth and travel Southeast Halifax 8-13.  Since the Jags had to win the play in tournament they will travel throughout the playoffs.  Waiting in round two is the Southside13-13/Columbia12-12 winner.  Friday night in the Sectional finals Plymouth will probably be standing waiting on Prep as they stand 23-0 and lost last year in the 1-A State Final game in Chapel Hill.

I hope as easy as it has been to figure these brackets this week football will learn a lesson and go with the same format next year.  The only answers we needed to know this week is who was going to win conference tournament the format was laid out and drop in the names. 

Gryphons #1 Seed/ Northern Girls #2

The Rocky Mount Gryphons will begin their defense of their state title in 2012 by being the top seeded team in the east after they compiled the best overall record of anybody in the East Region.  The Tournament lost in the conference finals has denied the Lady Knights of Northern Nash the top spot in the girls east but still as the #2 as long as they win they get three home games just like the Rocky Mount boys. 

Rocky Mount boys will play Jacksonville the #16 seed in their first game.  Jacksonville record as the #4 from the Coastal is15-10. The winner of that game will play in round two the winner of the Currituck 9-16 and South Brunswick 3-20 the #8 and #9seeds.

Northern Nash  girls at 21-1 will take on Southern Wayne 13-11 in their first game.  The winner of that first round game will meet up with The Rocky Mount 15-9 #7 seed and South Central #10 20-6.  Rocky Mount and South Central tangled in December in Rocky Mount with South Central winning.

Triton who Rocky Mount beat in the regional last year is the #2 seed in the east and if both win all three games next week they would be matched up the the semi final of the regional in Fayetteville in two weeks.  The same applies for Northern at #2.  The top seed in the east is Eastern Wayne 25-1 and if both win all three games next week they would meet in the semi's in Fayetteville.

The Big east boys #2 seed Hunt 20-5 is the 6th seed and they will play at home against Nash Central who at #3 in the Big East is seeded 11th at 13-9.  The other Big East team Northern Nash is seeded 15th which will send them to Triton the #2 seed in the first game.  Hunt-Nash Central- and Northern are all in the same bracket and if they were to survive  they would play each other before the week is out.  Rocky Mount is in the upper bracket and will not face another Big East team next week.  It is possible that if Hunt and Rocky Mount win out next week they could meet in the semi finals  in Fayetteville.

The girls bracket for the Big East #3 Nash Central  13-8 is seeded 11th and they travel D H Conley #6 at 20-6.  The final Big East team Hunt 13-10 as the #14 will travel  to #3 West Craven 22-3.  All four Big east teams are in the lower bracket which will  allow only one Big east team to make it to the regional where the boys could get two if everyone wins out.

Theses brackets will not be official until 6pm

The Other Perspective

We have already talked about this week the great start that North Carolina baseball has had but at the other end of the spectrum is ECU.  Can't blame Billy Godwin for his foe the first weekend as ECU hosted University of Virginia and lost two games and lost another to weather. Tuesday the Fighting Camels of Campbell stepped into Mark Leclair Stadium and went back home to Buies Creek with a win in their pocket to drop ECU to 0-3.  Thursday  ECU has won their first game of the season beating Illinois.  By the way Tyler Joyner from Northern Nash is no longer a member of the ECU baseball team.

The NFL Combines started today in Indianapolis and several players from North Carolina schools are trying to make an impression on the scouts.  Now that the NFL season is over talk continues related to safety in football.  Concussions is the biggest threat to sports facing all sports in fact today.  I think the answer to concussions is put football players in helmets similar to hockey.  Right now players feel safe when they lower their head to either try to run over a runner or tackle a player head first.  In the olden days when I played that was called spearing and you could be thrown out of a game.

I don't know about you but there has been some very dreadful basketball games this year.  It is my opinion in this world of great athletes college  basketball has to get back to 88-85 games on a consistent basis.  Officiating is so awful it is hard for players to figure out how the calls are going to be made.  Don't just say to me it is because the one and done players are ruining college basketball.  Let me tell you this, an NBA game that the final score is 85-73 is worse than a college 52-50 game.  Please don't try to tell me it is because of the great defense played in the NBA.

Rocky Mount baseball scrimmaged at the new baseball  field Wednesday night and I hear they won 7-2.  One week from today high school baseball starts and the Gryphons travel to Tarboro.

Today the Regional wrestling  for 3-A will get underway and it will be at the new Rocky Mount High School.  Every individual who did well in their conference tournaments will be in Rocky Mount and each may have to wrestle three or four matches and win to make it to the State championships next week in Greensboro.  You don't have to win to advance to next week but you must survive and finish high enough.  Last week in the Big East Tournament Rocky Mount and Southern Nash had the most individual champions so both will have the most wrestlers hoping to advance to the State Championships.  First match starts at 4:45 this afternoon then all day Saturday.

The NCHSAA will release the high school basketball brackets at around 6pm Saturday.  I will have the brackets announcement pretty soon at around 7pm.  I would have it closer to six but you know there is a basketball game at 4pm that I will be watching.