Suiter Joins Another Hall Of Fame

Rocky Mount native Tom Suiter was inducted into the North Carolina Broadcasters Association  Hall of Fame on Monday.  How does any one make a Hall of Fame?  In Suitors case it was relentless day after day and night after night broadcast excellence.  There is no doubt his got him over the hump fame that nobody else could touch was football Friday.

If you happen to be in any North Carolina city on any Friday night during football season there was no TV station that could even come close to give you thirty minutes of high school football high lites.  Some tried but didn't try it two years in a row.  The just plain preparation is too much for the Joe average person.  Yet Suitor did it from 1981 through last football season.  There just has to be some Bulldog in a person to do anything that long and that well.

This Thursday Coleman Pitt Post 58 will honor one of their own who was just inducted into the North Carolina American Legion Hall of Fame in March.  Grady Griffin who's birthday is Thursday  when he turns a young 86 years old.  Griffin in the past was the Post  58 Athletic officer  and Joe Bell has been the AO for I think  seven years and many days you might see Grady taking up tickets or just watching Post 58 play ball.  The ceremony honoring Grady starts at 6:45 Thursday at American Legion Field.

Today LeBron James  opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat and the world seems shocked.  Now Heat fans have to wait to see what Wade and Bosh are going to do.  I don't fault any player who test the waters to see how much they can get if money is all you want.  This year's finals proved when teams wanted to win  they will give up money  to add players who make teams better.

The Heat's trio made an average 19 million. While the Spurs trio only averaged less than 13 million.  Already Tim Duncan has approved a 10.8 million contract for next year to make sure that the Spurs can afford to have guys on the bench that make a difference in the clutch not bench Warner's.  It will be interesting to see where the Heat  goes.  Are they going for the money or more championships?

Know Where We Stand

We have gone so far this Legion season only knowing what each teams record was when they showed up and ask the manager what's is your teams record.  We have reached the last week of the season and  and for the first time this season we know where we stand heading into this week.  Oddly enough this looks a lot like what the Big East standings looked like.  One team is pretty much done for the year while the other five have not been eliminated from tying for first

Raleigh Post 1               6-1
Apex Post 124               4-2
Rocky Mount Post 58    4-3
Garner National             3-3
Cary Post 67                   3-4
Roxboro Post 138           0-7

Coleman Pitt is right in the middle of who is going to win the regular season.  P58 plays Raleigh Post 1 in a double header Saturday.  Still unscheduled is the rainout game with Apex from a couple of weeks ago.  If Post 58 sweeps all three games they will be no worse other than tied at the top.

The one objective right now is you don't want to finish in fourth or fifth.  Only five of the six teams in the division make the playoffs. Starting July 3-4-5 four and five play a two out of three and the winner will join the top three teams in the next round starting July 7th.  You surely don't want to be playing during the Holidays.

The second round 1/4-2/3 will play a three out of five starting July 7th.  The division championship is a three out of five and starts July 13th.  The Eastern Championship is a two out of three that begins July 20th.  The Eastern Winner will qualify for the state tournament in Lexington which starts July 25th

Last Thursday night during the Legion game with Cary was the last assignment for the Telegram's Justin Hite. Let's face it our market  regardless of radio or newspapers is a jumping off point.  Justin came here about five years ago and from here is heading to Oklahoma City where he will be covering the Sooners in football.  Good Luck my friend.

Post 58 Gets Revenge

Last Thursday Coleman Pitt Post  58 let one get away when they faced off with Cary just one night after playing possibly their best game in maybe five years when they knocked off previously unbeaten Garner.  They controlled most of the game but a defensive lapse open the door for Cary  to win 10-8.

Sunday afternoon P 58 traveled  to Cary and played at Athens Drive High School.  Cody Smith took the hill for Post 58 and gave Rocky Mount exactly what they needed going eight innings  and only in the ninth did David Williams give Smith a rest.  P 58  scored seven times on the afternoon while Smith and Williams limited Cary to a single run as Post 58 wins their fourth division  game while losing three.

Just 11 days ago Post 58 stood 0-2  and were on the verge of just maybe not making the playoffs but a week off for graduation has spurred the revived P58.  They have won four out of five division games and the season has turned toward P 58 way.  There has been a learning process for Hank Jones in regard to the few days before graduation an a few after.   Years past  players went to the beach and had no desire to play so to offset that take a break at graduation time.  Not only do you not lose games with limited players but fresh players are then ready to drive for the stretch run to seasons in.

Next action for a Post 58 is scheduled for Thursday night at home in a non conference game with Ahoskie.  P 58 still has to make up a rainout at Apex so that could happen before Thursday.  Saturday Post 58 host Raleigh Post one in a double header which depending on the Apex makeup could be the final conference games.  Right now a trip to Wayne County and a home game with Wilson close out the schedule.

Michelle Wie wins the Woman's Open bringing to an end the Pinehurst  14 days reign as the golf Capitol of the world.  It served us all well.

The ACC has a shot to break the the 59 year drought  since the last ACC title.  Virginia after going 3-0 in their bracket  while Vanderbilt was 3-1 start a two out of three Monday.  The Commodores are the offensive team while Virginia is the pitching.  If there is a hope for the ACC is they can look no further than last year at UCLA.  The ball park in Omaha is a pitchers park but the Cavs will still need to score enough runs to win.

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Got The Job Done

Coleman Pitt Post 58 swept a doubleheader from Roxboro Post 138 9-3 and 7-2.  MJ Jones started the first game and except for three runs in the sixth  inning  he pitched five scoreless inning and twice his defense got out of bases loaded jams with double plays.  Chase Roupp pitched the seventh to preserve the victory for Coleman a Pitt.

The offense seven hits but this was a day with the win blowing in and a thick air it was hard for anybody to hit it far.  Coleman Pitt would score once in the first without a hit with a Linwood Jones was walked and scored on a Griffin  Parker sac Fly. CP 58 scored twice more in the second and going into the fifth lead 6-0.  P 138 closed the gap to 6-3 before P 58 added three in the bottom of sixth to ice it.

No one got more than one hit but seven players collected those seven.  Linwood  Jones RBI, David Williams RBI, Carson Arthur, Griffin Parker, Chase Roupp two RBI, Forrest Bell RBI and Garrison Vick.  Roxboro had seven hits in the game and twice loading the bases with no outs an failing to score was big in this game.

The night cap P 138 scored twice in the first inning of P58 starter Pascal Ammons who gave up four hits in the inning.  By games endAmmons will give only one other hit after the first and got relief help in the seventh from Ryan Williams.

Down two nothing coming to bat in the bottom of the first CP 58 opened the game with three singles and a triple  to take the lead they would never relinquish.  By games end another three runs crossed the plate giving P 58 a 7-2 sweep.

The night cap Khalil Macklin two singles produced two RBI.  Garrison Vick also reached twice with hits. Griffin Parker had a triple that produced two runs.  Ryan Williams had a RBI on a ground out.
Forest Bell, Carson Arthur, Linwood Jones and David Williams got hits.

Coleman Pitt goes to 3-3 with a game Sunday afternoon at Cary in division play.  The next home game for CP 58 is Thursday night.  There will be a special pre game ceremony honoring Grady Griffin the long time Post 58 Athletic Officer who was inducted into the North Carolina American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame back in March.  It will also be Grady's 86th birthday and everyone in attendance can join a birthday cake and ice cream starting in the 7th inning.

It's Do Or Die Time For Post 58

Those of you that have been to more than one Legion game this season especially since there was a desire to play in a better quality division.  Post  58 is 5-3-1 on the season.  They are 1-3 in  in division   4-0-1 when playing the eastern division.  Joe Bell Post 58 Athletic Officer and Hank Jones manager have gotten what they wanted.

What they don't want is to finish 6th and not even make the playoffs.  Standing at 1-3 in division Saturday's double header with Roxboro  is as they say in the airline business as the point of no return.  Three and three and they are right in the middle of the playoff hunt.  1-5 then it is time to not lose another division game.

Just a minute here let's talk about what playing better competition has done.  Those two games we lost last week when P 58 made 8 errors and lost 7 to 4 and the next game 5 errors and lost 8-5 we just might have won both in last year's division.  I certainly thinks that tells you the difference this year over last, even Thurdays game when we played in cruise control we would have won last year.

I know this two games Saturday is much needed but it is very difficult to find what everyone's record is.  I have no idea what type team Roxboro is. They just might be the best team in the division but nobody knows where to find everyone's record.

Game time for two seven inning games start at 3pm.  We travel to Cary Sunday night which will leave only three conference games left before July one.  Two will be a double header with Raleigh next Saturday and a make up game with Apex still to be scheduled.  Season is running out and Post 58 is a lap behind .

Different Night

Coleman Pitt Post 58 played host Cary Post 67 and only 24 hours after playing just maybe the best baseball by Post 58 since the State Tournament teams of just a few years ago, Coleman Pitt loses to Post 67 10-8

P58 found out that unless all three phases of the team play well they will struggle.  The  offense did it's part collecting 11 hits lead by Forest Bell who had three straight hits driving in four runs.  Linwood Jones was the only other P 58 player with two hits.  David Williams had a single and RBI, Khalil Macklin a single, Griffin Parker a one base knock along with Chase Roupp who's hit  drove home 2.  Logon Simonowich and Garrison Vick reached base with the bat.

Sitting in the pressbox it had a feel that Post 58 felt comfortable  with the score like 5-3, 5-4, 6-4, 6-7 and 8-7 until the eighth inning when a throwing error  opened the door for three runs and there was no comeback to be made.

The pitching gave up ten hits, walked nine batters and hit two others.  Blake Helms pitch the first five innings and left leading 6-4,  he gave way to MJ Jones who got the first two batters out he faced but found himself trailing 7-6 by the end of the sixth.  Will Edwards who pitched three innings of relief last night got 2 and one third tonight  takes the lost.   Chase Roupp help hold Cary to 10 with a double play in relief in the ninth.

Cary got seven RBI from their 4/5 hitters as between them they were Thomas Yoder 2/3 with three ribbies and Daniel Peterson went 3/5 and four RBI.  Brandon Murphy pitch two inning of relief gave up three runs but got the win.  Nick Vin-Diddy set P 58 down in order in the ninth.

This is a crushing lost after just 24 hours looking as if this team had turned the corner CP 58 drops to 5-3-1 and 1-3 in the western division.  Coleman next plays Saturday afternoon against Roxboro.  I'm not sure exactly what is going to be cooked but grills will be going during the games Saturday.  Game time is 3pm for two seven inning double header.

P58 White Wash Garner

Coleman Pitt has not played a game since a 7-4 lost last Wednesday night. Garner had advanced to 11 straight wins and during the week Post 58 has practiced shoring up it's defensive holes from last week and it paid off tonight. A fresh 58 squad shuts out Garner who loses for the first time 10-0 in eight innings.

Cody Smith pitched the first five innings allowing only two hits struck out five but a big item in the Cody Smith pitching  formula is he walked only a single batter.  Will Edwards pitch the last three innings gave up two hits he struck out five and hit one batters.  So P58's pitching goes eight innings on four hits.  After making 13 errors in two games last week P 58's D did not make a mistake tonight and with pitching like 58 got with the D this team played this club could really do well down the stretch.

The third item of this ball club is batting as they got nine hits on the night. Garner made two errors against last week but their D was covered up by our poor play.  Tonight Garner made four errors which P 58 took advantage of.

Ryan Williams went 3/4 with two doubles,David Wiliams had two hits but reached base all five at bats.  Blake Helms added two more hits. Chase Roupp and Garrison Vick joined the hit parade.  Talk about a big win tonight 0-2 facing maybe 0-3 if a Garner was to win tonight Post 58 made a statement that they will get a chance to add to Thursday as they Host Cary.

Tuesday night Xavier Macklin had his best night in pro baseball getting three hits for GateWay City. One of the hits left the yard for his fifth HR of the spring. X started the night hitting 226 and jumped to 244 by nights end.  Hobbs Johnson continues to pitch impressively in Brevard Florida.  He won his 7th game of the spring and his ERA continues to fall.   Brian Goodwin continues around 230 for a Syracuse who will be in Durham this weekend.

Some high school basketball news to pass along.  Rick Ruffin former Northern Nash basketball coach will be patrolling the sidelines at Halifax Academy next winter

Didn't see all the way to the end but how a bout those Virginia Wahoos.  They have scored five runs but are 2-0 in the college World Series.