Final Four Bound

When I make this comment you must remember that I have only lived in the area since 1995.  Montrezl Harrell freshman basketball player of the Louisville Cardinals is heading to the final four.  My knowledge tells me that no Twin County area player has played in the NCAA final four since Rocky Mount's George McLean was of member of the 1983 N C State WolfPack.  If you know of any other player let me hear it.

After the way Louisville played last night you might say that Harrell made the right decision when after committing to play at Virginia Tech but changed his mind once VT fired their coach.  I have Louisville in  everyone of pools and thought they would beat Duke last night.  Once the Cardinal player broke his leg in the first half  I thought that gave the Cardinals  that added inspiration to win.

I commend CBS's coverage of the injury.  Since it is easy when watching on TV to be able to see what is happening there are no words to improve the situation. Their silence through most of the nine minutes was the right thing to do. Radio you have a different situation that you have to describe what happened but TV did the right thing here.  The injury was about the worst on field injury since Joe Theisman broke his leg back in 1986 on Monday night football.

Sure does seem that the only way to beat Benton Moss these days for the UNC baseball team is to rain him out.  I hope you had the opportunity to watch Benton in the two and two thirds innings  before the rains came last night of Fox Sports South.  He struck out six and no one reached base until a walk in the pouring rain.  The game will be finished today without Benton going back out in the game.  The Tar Heels are again on ESPNU at 6pm tonight and there is a good chance that Hobbs Johnson will start that game for the Heels.

Rocky Mount High  game was rained out and whether it is made up at this point not sure.  They will play at 10am Tuesday against Greene Central.

Easter Break

The Rocky Mount Gryphons fresh off a shutout of Hunt on Friday night headed to Pitt County on Saturday night to take part in the Pitt County Easter Tournament. Spurred by the pitching performance of Spenser Ramsey on Friday coach Kent Cox used Will Edwards for the first time this year coming off a foot injury. Edwards who just started practicing this week pitched into the fifth inning before getting help from Sam Lilley.  Lilley gave way to Cody Smith in the seventh but by the time the last out was made Rocky Mount had beaten North Pitt 7-5.

This gives the Gryphons a two game winning streak and  and they will head into Monday and Tuesday Easter tournament games with all of the available pitchers healthy for the first time this year.  They will tangle with West Craven at noon Monday at North Pitt High School and will play Greene Central at 10am Tuesday at Guy Smith Stadium in Greenville.  The halfway point in the high school season the Gryphons stand at 6-5 and 2-1 in Big East play.

Today is the biggest church attendance day of all Sunday's during the year.  Today is Easter and the Christian world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.  We have come to live in a world of Political correctness.  Sin is every where and every where you turn people are denying that they know who Jesus Christ is and don't believe in him.  Yet today they make their annual pilgrimage to make up for their sins because apparently they do believe or they otherwise would not show their face in any house of the Lord that they have denied.

Jesus died for all mankind sins and he told us that if you believe in him you will have everlasting life. He rose on this day to prove to the world  that he was the son of God.  If he proved that to the world some 2,000 years ago why are there so many who deny him today? Yet today many will be in a house of worship thinking that they can be forgiven their sins.  Yes they can be forgiven as long as they truly ask forgiveness. 

Asking forgiveness truly means that tomorrow you will honor God to the best of your ability not just today while you are in a church..  We all sin every day and if you really are a believer you will ask for forgiveness every day not just this Easter Sunday.

Our country and our world fall farther  and farther away from Jesus.  We all who believe need to tell others there is a better way.  The more and more we rely on the government to give us what we need the world gets further from Christ.  Today is a good day to start to stand on your own feet and bow down to a God.  He can give you that inner feeling of happiness that no government can.  All you have today  is ask for forgiveness.  Now is a good time to start!

Gryphon Trivia

Since this is Good Friday it would be a good time to talk about Gryphon Heaven.  If there has ever been a player in the history of Rocky Mount sports that has done anything Charles Alston could tell you when he did it.  Tonight up in Gryphon Heaven Charles Alston added the name of Trevor Hayworth to the Gryphon Honor roll as Hayworth hit the first home run ever recorded at the new Gryphon Stadium and that one run would hold up to be the winning run as Spenser Ramsey pitches a three hit shutout as the Gryphons beat Hunt 3-0.

Ramsey is considered the Gryphon #3 pitcher but it is not that he is not as good as any Gryphon pitcher but he is too valuable at shortstop so when you consider that factor  he is 3rd on the pitching chart.  He has had a sore arm most of the spring and with all this cold weather Kent Cox has limited his pitch count.  There was nothing wrong with his arm tonight as he goes the distance gives up three hits strikes out ten walks three batters and only once was he in any trouble.  When you add that Will Edwards who is considered the Gryphons #2 pitcher played left field coming off a cracked/broken foot and hopefully when conference play starts again in ten days the Gryphon pitching is set for the run in conference action.

Hayworth's home run came as the leadoff batter in the top of the second of Hunt starter Jacob Williamson who pitched well for four inning but did so with out help from his teammate batters who could scratch only three on the night.   The third inning Jeremy Johnson doubled and came home on an rbi single by Micah Varnell.  The third run scored when Jarrell Hunter walked was replaced by Ben Yates who scored on a two out hit by Sam Lilley.

Rocky Mount had seven  hits on the night with three coming from Jeremy Johnson.  The three rbi came from the Hayworth homer, singles by Micah Varnell and Sam Lilley.  Spenser Ramsey capped his night off adding a double.  The three hits for the Warriors two came from Jacob Williamson and the other Coltan Griffin single.

Rocky Mount is now tied with Fike at 2-1 in conference play while Hunt, Nash Central and Northern are 1-1.  Southern Nash is 0-2.  When conference play restarts after next week Easter break it is wide open as to who is the favorite to take the Big East regular season championship and the top seed in the playoffs.  The way it has started a team that wins five conference games may not make the playoffs if the rest of the conference season is like the first week.

Just about ten minutes before game time WHIG-TV was in the house to do TV coverage which by the way this game can be seen Sunday night at 8pm on the ALL NEW SPORTS  SHOW.  Wes Bradshaw who was going to do play by play for TV got called away and I did both PA and TV play by play.   It took a couple of innings to figure out which mic I was suppose to be talking in and at times had to have both going at once but I think everyone in the ball park survived.

They Are Better

Thursday night Rocky Mount High school softball team played their second conference game of the season.  They are improved greatly this year but you would never know it after a 21-0 drubbing Tuesday night against rival Nash Central.  One question to ask when was the last time that Rocky Mount softball was at 500 at any point in their conference season.  It doesn't matter how long it has been they are there now after beating Hunt 5-3 Thursday.  Now they are on a hot streak but  they will not play again until April 8th.

Spring training sites are on the verge of shutting down as major league teams will begin play next week.  Looks as if Former Gryphon Brian Goodwin will begin where he left off last year in Harrisburg Pa. in AA.  If you were to go to the Washington Nationals website you will see that they have Brian listed as the second best prospect in their organization.  The Nationals blogger states that Brian has been tagged to be the starting center fielder for the Nationals opening day in 2015.  Why so long you might ask?  The Nationals starting center fielder is under contract at a rather high salary until the end of 2014.

If it works out that Brian is on a 2015 path then you might expect him to be called to AAA before the end of the season and spend all of next year  at AAA.  As we all know everyone needs a plan B in life because plan A gets changed a lot. If Brian doesn't play well the next two years that could slow his progress up the ladder.  If there is an injury at the big club  and Brain is tearing it up who knows what might happen.  Just remember Mike Trout didn't start out on the varsity last year for the Angels but is considered now one of the best players in Major league baseball.

Xavier Macklin former Bulldog of Nash Central  is still recovering from his shoulder surgery last season and so far this spring in Arizona he has been used as a Designated hitter.   It will be interesting  to see if X Man will be sent to one of the A's minor league teams or stay in Zona  while he heals fully.

John Wooten the Eastern Wayne product and ECU baseball player who is the son of Former Gryphon Sonny Wooten has been assigned to start the season off in Beloit Wisconsin for the A's.  Wooten is playing first base now.  Pirate fans remember that Wooten just about played every where in the infield for the Pirates but the A's want him at first.

Don't look now but those Fighting  Camels of Campbell University are 21-3 so far this season.  Former Gryphon player "Baseball" Brett Johnson who is still an assistant coach at Lander College in South Carolina so far this season Lander is #2 in the nation with a 24-5 record and lead their league at 15-3.

Tonight at 7pm Rocky Mount baseball will play their third straight home conference  game of the season.  Hunt will be game three.  The Gryphons are 1-1 right now in conference play.

Collins, Brown Leaving Gottfried Staying

Wednesday Northwestern University announce that Duke assistant basketball coach Chris Collins will be their new basketball coach at the end of the Duke basketball season.  Collins has not only been a player at Duke but on coach K's staff his entire working life.  You would almost expect that Duke will probably need a new basketball coach within five years as Coach K approaches 70 years old.  Collins has been the point man as many half time interviews have fallen to Collins  instead of K.

If the next coach of Duke will fall to one of K's assistants the only way to prove you are a legit candidate is to become a head coach and create a track record .  Northwestern which is one of the worse basketball schools in the Big Ten is a safe place to be.  All Collins would have to do is make the NCAA tournament one time before K leaves and his stock as the next Duke  coach would go through the roof.  If they don't nobody would consider it a coaching failure.

Several former assistants of Coach K lay in waiting.  Johnny Dawkins at Stanford, Mike Brey at Notre Dame, or Tommy Amaker who just this year won a NCAA game with Harvard.  Chris Collins comes from a basketball family as his father Doug has been in the NBA as a coach or TV annalist his entire life.  He is now the head coach of the Philadelphia 76's and was the coach of the Chicago Bulls while Chris was growing up.   I don't know if you remember this or not but but Chris's father was a member of the 1972 Olympic team that the Russians stole the gold metal game from back in 1972.

Expect  N C State to announce soon that Lorenzo Brown will enter the NBA draft and not return to the Pack next year.  He is the only player from the Triangle that is NBA ready.

Wednesday night Mark Gottfried put at end to the rumors that he was leaving N C State to be the Next coach at UCLA.  He tweeted that he is as committed to N C State today as he was two years ago when he took the head basketball job.  I know a lot of WolfPack fans are disappointed that they did not win the national championship this season but Gottfried is only the third ACC coach to win 20 games in his first two years on the job.   Bill Guthridge and Roy Williams are the only other two.  Let me ask this question.  When was the last time any other school showed any interest in an  N C State coach in any sport?  He must be doing something right.

Miami's quest to break the all time winning streak of 33 games in the NBA is over.  The Chicago Bulls beat them Wednesday night ending their 27 game winning streak. I don't care who you pull for but  winning 27 in a row  is a steak all to itself.   Here's something for you to look up.  When was the last time that Miami lost a game and the Charlotte Bobcats won all on the same night.  I doubt that it has happened to often.

Bulldogs Squeeze Gryphons

Starting pitcher Tyler King squeeze bunt in the top of the fourth inning produced the only run that Nash Central would need but three unearned runs in the fourth lead Nash Central to a 4-0 shutout of Rocky Mount.  King went the distance striking out 12 Gryphons and allowed four hits for the Bulldogs.  Jeremy Johnson  started  for the Gryphons but was pulled in the fifth and the Gryphons were on the verge of getting out of a major jam when  a throwing error  on what would have been the third out helped produce the Bulldogs three runs.  Cody Smith pitched the last 2 an one third innings for the Gryphons.

Two errors in the fifth aided the Bulldogs in their three run rally.  The Bulldogs collected only five hits themselves.  Colton Vaughn and Davis Johnson had two hits a piece and Kyle Taylor had the Bulldogs final hit.  Jeremy Johnson singled twice and Andy Morris and Ben Yates had the Gryphons other hits.  The middle of the Gryphon lineup the 4-5 and 6 hitters were a combined 0-8 with 8 strikeouts.

The Gryphons fall to 4-5 and 1-1 in Big East play while the Bulldogs have yet to lose this season as they stand 6-0.  Rocky Mount plays their next game Friday night at 7pm at Gryphon Stadium  against conference foe Hunt High.  Surprisingly there was a nice crowd on hand considering the cold weather.

If you thought the baseball score might be bad, over on the softball field Nash Central won that game in five innings 21-0.

J'Kyra Brown keeps making All State teams as Monday NC Preps.com named Brown all State.  All state teams most of the time include all classifications and this is at least the second all state team that J'Kyra has made.

The Rocky Mount booster club is having a fund raiser in the form of a golf ball drop.  If you buy one golf ball for $25 or 5 for $100.  The booster club will be selling 1,000 balls.  May 18th on the driving range of Northgreen Country Club those 1000 balls will be dropped by helicopter and if only one ball goes in the hole that person who owns that ball will win $5,000.  If more than one ball goes in they will divide the money equally.  If no ball goes in the the closes ball to the hole wins.  You can't win the big money if you don't buy a ticket.

I have never seen this event before but I think it would be neat to go watch the helicopter drop those balls on May 18th.  Might not be to good an idea to stand under them as they are dropped.

Who Stays ? Who Goes?

We have reached the point in the college basketball season where those that just go to college to get a college education decide whether they have had enough education and turn pro.  Lets review where we are and who can we expect to turn pro.

I would like to remind everyone when all the hullabaloo about N C State winning the ACC this year my goal was that when ever the season finished that we would only have single digits losses for the season it didn't happen.  The Pack finishes 24-11 which is not much better than last year when they finished 24-13.  So I am disappointed that it couldn't have been 24-9.  Who is leaving from the Pack?

C J Leslie?  I am shocked he stayed three years.  Remember when he had the news conference to announce he was coming to State and he was going to make the Pack into a national power in one year.  It's three years now and where is the national power?  Leslie goes but he shouldn't.  He can't defend any power player down low.  He can't dribble the ball at all in a crowd.  He is good on help defense when he can come over and block shots.  Who really wants him in the NBA?  I would suggest to you it would be a good idea if Leslie came back to State next year and grew up, showed up every night and be a team player.  I bet Gottfried will do every thing he can to convince him to leave. I say Leslie is the reason that State never reached any where close to their potential.  I doubt there is anyone in Raleigh that wants him back.  So long C J Leslie and welcome to basketball in Turkey.

Of all the players who can go early on either Carolina or State the only one ready is Lorenzo Brown.  Remember he came to Raleigh as a shooting guard and has developed into a solid point guard.  He is what the NBA wants in a guard.  I see him as a Rondo in the NBA.  NBA and first round here we come.

Last year at this time Carolina fans were worried that James Michael McAdoo just might leave early. If he is smart he will come back.  Why didn't Carolina win more was they couldn't match up in the middle.  Mac needs to come back.  I don't buy all this potential stuff.  If he leaves now it will be five years before you hear his name again.

If there is any other player on the Tar Heels that might go it would be Reggie Bullock.  Reggie Bullock is like every shooting guard in the NBA.  When I say that what do I mean?  There are a dime  a dozen players just like him in the NBA.  He needs to get better in every aspect to get beyond the dime a dozen .  Come back and lead the Heels to the final four and a first round pick next year. 

He is a senior and is still playing but Mason Plumlee will play ten years in the NBA and you will never hear his name.  Because of his size every team wants someone like him but he got pushed around Sunday night against  a no name who has NBA size.

You know the Big Four in the NCAA has been just like this whole year has gone.  Duke joins everyone else at home by the end of the weekend.