Pitching Dominates First Night

Would you expect when most of this baseball season when teams are having trouble getting on the practice field would hitting or pitching be ahead at this point? If the first night of Big East baseball conference is any indication pitching is way ahead of batting. All three conference games produced a total of 12 runs.

Nash Central has won only one game coming into tonight's game but Tony Guzzo sent sophomore Zach Patterson to the mound and Patterson shut the door on Rocky Mount for five innings but Gryphon starter Blake Helms went toe to toe with Patterson until the fifth.  Nash Central took a lead off hit by Tristan Bateman, went to second on a wild pitch was bunted to third by John Kelly and Bulldog catcher Zach Denton hit a fly ball to left which was Central's first run but it would prove to be the only one needed.

Just for good measure the Bulldogs  added a run in the seventh when relief pitcher Joshea Carter walked the first batter he pitched to.  The Bulldogs tried to sacrificed the runner to second which they did but the Gryphons couldn't get anybody out so both runners were safe. The Bulldogs sacrificed both runners to second and third and Noah Schrock hit a grounder and the only play the Gryphons had was to get the out a first scoring the second run.

Tyler Barrow pitched the last two innings.  The Gryphons had their chance in the sixth getting runners on 2nd and 3rd after two were out but got nothing.  Patterson held the Gryphons to two hits and Barrow gave up two more in the sixth. Blake Helms becomes the hard luck loser going six innings allowing one run on five hits.

Fike pitcher Brandon Winstead carried a no hitter into the 7th inning but Southern Nash managed to get a hit and score one run but one was not enough as Fike beats Southern Nash 2-1.

Northern Nash looked like the team everyone thought they would be this year when they beat Hunt 7-0.  The Knights got the hits and the pitching in throwing a shut out over the Warriors. Northern's seven runs were more than all five other conference teams scored combined five.

Northern, Fike and Nash Central take 1-0 records to game two in conference Friday night.  Rocky Mount, Southern and Hunt start off tie at the bottom heading for game two.

Conference Starts Tonight!

Big East baseball begins play tonight unless of course it rains or snows.  So far the way this baseball season has gone Big East coaches shutter every time they look at a weather forecast because so far this year it has meant  a postponement or cancelation from the schedule.

So far Big East teams  have managed from four to six games played when they all wanted at least ten under their belt heading into the night.  What the limited games has done is coaches will put a starting line up on the field and they will not quite know if these are the best players they have because not every player has had a equal opportunity to see what they can do when they get a start in non-conference play because there simply has not been enough games played for players to get into playing shape much less find out what you can do when it is your time in the game.

Tonight the WHIG TV cameras will be at Rocky Mount for the game with Nash Central.  The Gryphons are 3-1 but who have they played so far?  Normally by this time they would have played Rose twice and any team that plays the Rampants will have some idea how good they stack up with the Big Dogs of high school baseball.

Nash Central comes in to the game having played six times winning only once 1-5.  The question for the Bulldogs are they as bad as their record or will practice time help them get into playing mode since there has been very little practice because when they have had an opportunity to play they have played but not had practice time to help cure mistakes.

Hunt 2-2 heads to Northern Nash 2-4 and if these two are the preseason conference favorites who can tell it with their records so.  A cure all for any team if they have ability is get on the field and practice.  
Any player who has limited ability can only improve so much with practice but if your teams are loaded with talent once you finally get on the field and practice you will come around to playing shape.

Why do you think Major League players spent six weeks in Florida or Arizona getting in shape?
The final game of the night will send Southern Nash 3-3 to Fike 2-4.   What every team in the league faces is it might be a couple more weeks before teams round in to playing conditions and then 40 per cent of conference play will be over by Easter Tournament times for all team.

There is no doubt the Triangle will be going batty over the Sweet Sixteen  by this weekend.  This weekend will feature a local player on the court when State takes on Louisville in Syracuse.  Montrezl Harrell the junior from between Tarboro and Leggett will be the starting power forward for the Cardinals..  Every game Montrezl plays in just might be his last because as a junior of course he just might declare for the NBA draft.

Montrezl is averaging 15.4 points a game for the Cardinals and is pulling down 9.2 rebounds.  Any player is capable of declaring for the draft after any season in college basketball  but his junior year he could be the top big man if he declares. If you are one of the top ten picks as a junior there is not much higher you can go by playing in college as a senior.  I suspect he goes top five and that is hard to turn down that kind of money.

Duke Joins Heels-Pack In Sweet 16

Can basketball get any better for the Triangle?   It could if all three could win twice next weekend but every step up the ladder the steps get farther apart and the competition stiffer.  Nobody is left that any of our three will blow out like Duke did San Diego State.    State will play Louisville another conference foe while the Tar Heels get a number one seed in Wisconsin.  Duke  draws Utah which since they are from out west we don't know much about but let me tell you they can play.

I think  what  sets the NCAA tournament apart from all most every other playoff whether pro or amateur is the one and done.  You can be 32-2 and lose to a 21-13 team who is playing at their best level all year.  Don't care how great you are and how well you are playing one bad night and you are gone.

Collins Cuthrell continues to lead division II baseball in home runs after this weekend.  He is up to 15 on the season and that is one ahead of second.  He is still hitting 452 on the season with 15 doubles and 45 RBI.  All of us who have followed Collins high school career  and at Barton and now at Pembroke didn't see this type season coming.

Just last year helping coach Legion you could see a stronger built player.  His one year sitting out for a redshirt year with an injury he not only got older  with maturity but he physical strength improved.  The type year he is having should draw interest from baseball scouts when the upcoming draft happens in June.  Who in the world just two months ago could see that coming?

Three weeks ago or so Benton Moss missed a start for the Tar Heels and rumors were floating around that Benton had a sore elbow which is the worse news any pitcher could possibly have especially in your senior season and you have decided you want to see how far you can go in professional baseball.

A second week passed an another missed start for the former Gryphon.  Good news to report how ever as Moss started the second game of a double header at Georgia Tech Saturday and pitched six strong innings striking out eight as the Tar Heels beat Tech 5-1.  It was Benton Moss 22nd career win and that puts him in the all time Carolina wins list top ten. His eight strike outs also moves him in the top ten and yes and he is now in the top ten of innings pitched all time for the Heels.  He is 3-0 on the season with a 2.08 Era.

ACC Shining

I think if you are one of those people like me who wonders why a team like NC State plays like world beaters one game and loses to a bottom level team the next I think the start by the ACC in the NCAA tournament almost will help explain why.

RPI is about as accurate as any thing to tell us how good teams really are.  All six ACC  teams are in the top 40 in the RPI and at least seeded as 32nd in the NCAA tournament.  The Big Ten can say hey, we won the Big Ten/ACC challenge but do you realize that was back the first part of December and that was ages ago.

State finished sixth and Carolina fifth in the ACC.  Villanova was second in the polls, first in the Big East and yet this was not the first time this year the Pack had play a team as good as Nova.  They seemed to have been through the wars playing Duke twice and Virginia twice and both are right at the same area of the rankings as Nova.

Carolina drew Arkanas who finished second in the SEC.  Once again the Tar Heels have played just as many teams equal to the Hogs so there is something about being prepared by the competition you play.  Now back to the question of why do teams play like world beaters one night and duds the next?

Game after game you play top competition then you slip against a Clemson.  It is hard for any team to be up every game night in and night out and when one of the lower tier teams is next if you are going to relax that would be the time and you catch that team hot.  Kentucky has not had to play two games in a row against top 25 teams and yet it seems the top teams in the ACC are doing it every night.
Carolina's victory over Arkansas to me is not a good sign for Kentucky.

The Triangle still has three teams left in this year's tournament.  Duke has lost only once since they  kicked a player off and I think we can say they have played at a higher level since.  Carolina has played better lately because Marcus Paige the last three weeks has looked like the 2014 Paige.  I don't know whether he is 100 per cent or not but he sure is playing like he is.  State started going with Lennard Freeman more the last month and Washington, Lee have played less but with what few minutes they have gotten they have contributed.

Is it conceivable that all three could make the Final Four?  Possible, but not likely.  Can't wait to see what the next seven days brings.  If it happens the state of North Caroina will have to shut down the week leading up to the final four for a week of national holidays.  If two wind up playing each other for the title April 6th the entire state will shut down that Monday like it was a snow day.  Does anybody know what the weather forecast is?

Another Rainout

The rains were over by noon and many teams in the area were able to play baseball by late afternoon. That was not the case at Rocky Mount where another game was lost due to the weather as the field was soaked.   Rocky Mount High is towards the end of their third year in the new building and the building is magnificent.

However, that is not exactly what you can say about any of the athletic fields.  The old Memorial Stadium and later Gryphon Stadium was one of the most emaculate high school baseball fields in North Carolina.  It could rain heavy for several minutes and be ready to play within an hour because the field was made to drain. The  new field has no drainage at all.  Not one dime of the millions to build the school was given to help the fields drain.

So Big East conference baseball begins Tuesday night when the Gryphons host Nash Central.  The Gryphons have played only four games.  Coach Kent Cox hasn't had much chance to play his roster to see who is going to be his lineup once Tuesday arrives.  Every other team has had the same problem and there is a real good chance that who ever starts out the best may not be the best team the second time around when every team finally figures out their team.

The ACC is 6-0 after their first games in the NCAA tournament.  How small is margin of error in the tournament.  Carolina won by one and had to wait two see if Harvard's last shot would go in or not.  State had to score with one second to play to win.  Notre Dame won by four.  Louisville won by one, Virginia won by a dozen and Duke won by more than two dozen.  The ACC could easily be 2-4.

State plays at 7:10 Saturday night against Nova.  I told you yesterday that in one of my brackets I had picked State and the other LSU.  In both those brackets I picked both LSU and State to win over Nova tonight.

Carolina plays at 8:40.  That could bring on a real conflict of trying to watch two games at once should the State/Nova game goes to the wire.  I have Carolina losing in the Sweet 16 in one bracket and the Elite Eight in the other.  This game with Arkansas just might be a dilly.

Should all three teams make it to the Sweet Sixteen this part of the State will go crazy!

March Madness Is Maddening

I think the top five or six teams in the NCAA tournament are by far and way a level above everyone else.  Teams from about seven to forty are all about the same so a forty can win over a seven.  I hate the movement I see in college basketball.  What is that movement you say?  Dribbling is dominating the game.  How many teams did you see dribble the ball outside the three point line before they tossed up a three?

There is no worse a thing for a team to do than dribble outside the three point line shoot and make a three.  It's like winning the lottery.  You luck up once and teams fall in love with the three.  Any team that shoots more than twenty threes and can't score more than sixty points.

There is no doubt if Carolina is to continue in this tournament Paige must handle the ball more for the Tar Heels They were cruising along and all of a sudden either he was out of the game resting or nobody on the floor knew he was out there and the big men  were handling the ball and the lead disappeared.  Carolina backup guards can't play defense  and they love to call their own number when shooting.  Once the Heels got the lead Harvard out hustled the Tar Heels.

This is true for all athletes who don't have coaches who push them even when they were ahead big.  Players tend to rely on the athletic ability and go one on one instead of their teammates.  When that happens the score shrinks.  What is the biggest sin as far as I am concerned in college basketball?   Ahead by 12 to 15 and shooting threes with 27 seconds on the time clock.

I have worried all week that LSU and State were just alike.  Which team was going to show up for both.  I thought the game was a toss up in fact in two of my brackets I picked the Pack in one and the Tigers in the other.  I thought the Pack even down double digits in the first half when I see a team on a roll over in their huddle laughing I thought the Pack had a shot. Yes every team needs to cheer but laughing about a dunk is celebrating way too  early.  As this game turned out both played like they have all year.  State made LSU look like potential National Champs in the first half and LSU gave the Pack their chance in the second.

Who would ever expect to Anya make a shot to win a game?

 

Gryphons Fall

So far on this very young high school baseball season Kent Cox has put any where from six to seven first year players on the field at the start of each game this season.  Until today the Gryphons had not felt the insult of defeat.  Let's get you up to date.  The game today with Bunn was a continuation of the game postponed in the bottom of the first inning last week.

Gryphon sophomore started David Harrison in the rain last week's game up three hits and two runs to the first five batters he faced last week.  Today Rocky Mount came to bat first in the bottom of the first already trailing 2-0.  Harrison proved today to be a better pitcher when the ball is dry over wet.  Harrison would give up only two hits in the four plus innings that he would go today until he tired in the sixth and those two hits became two more runs and at the time gave Bunn a 4-1.  Wesley Drake finished out the fifth and sixth inning giving up one other hit.

Rocky Mount had several chances early to do damage loading the bases with one out and coming up empty. Twice base running miscues stymied possible run scoring innings to no avail.  The Gryphons pushed across their first run on the board in the fifth with a double by Forest Bell and Joshea Carter knocking him home to cut the lead to 2-1.

Rocky Mount score their second run in the sixth after Liki Whitaker walked and Isaiah Stewart knocked him home.  Former Gryphon Luke Cockrell came on in relief in the sixth and got credit for the save as the Gryphons fall to Bunn 4-2.  The Gryphons had seven hits on the day and committed no errors but the Wildcats defense was as good and they also collect seven hits. 

They played a 2-2 game today but those two runs last week were the difference as Rocky Mount falls for the first time .  The Gryphons close out the first segment of the season Friday when they play Tarboro in an Endowment game at 4:30.  They begin conference play next Tuesday at Home against Nash Central who won their first game of the season on Tuesday.

I have three brackets line up and ready to go as the  March Madness begins at noon Thursday. Carolina plays 7:20 Thursday night and State begins at around 9:20.  I have three brackets in play.  When I sit down and look at my first bracket I go with the favorites.   The second bracket I insert my so called upset specials and the third I pick with my heart who I think is going to win.  I have Wisconsin in one bracket and Arizona the second and Kentucky.  I have Duke in the final four in one, Virginia in another, Gonzaga in another.  I think the first top seed to go will be Villanova.