Telephone Hot

Around six thirty Saturday evening my cell phone was popping with text and phone calls telling me that BW Holt had stepped down as the football coach at Rocky Mount Academy.  Three seasons at RMA the old ball coach produced two state championships for a school that had a hard time winning any games before his arrival in any season.

Holt is the perfect example of a coach who can change the attitude of the players, the administration and fans and when the attitude is I am as good as anybody and not here we go again to another loss.  He has that ability to get everyone involved in the program to give everything they have.

He leaves coaching with 321 victories in public schools and 26 in three years at  at RMA.  This move is not really a shock at 70 years old Holt who lives in Bristol Tennessee most of the time.  You know when you say to yourself I doubt he comes back and when it is official it is a shock just the timing.

There is an old saying "It ain't over to the fat lady sings."  This morning at 12:01 am I had a text ready to send to my son Brooks who this weekend is in Richmond where he  has some Tri  Athlon people trying to qualify to turn pro Tri Athletes.  The text said Pack plays 3:30 Sunday lose 4-3 to TCU.  I laid the phone in my lap waiting for the last out.

Two outs in the top of the ninth the Pack trailing 4-3 in a game that had been intense as if it was a World Series game. A walk from TCU top reliever sets up Chance Shepard the Pack dh who had done nothing all night.  Shepard hit a shot to dead center field and the camera behind home plate showing the center fielder on the dead run I thought it's off the wall and we tied it.  No it cleared the fence and I jumped out of my chair an with it my cell phone goes flying and when it hits face down sends the score 4-3 TCU.  I reach down to find my phone and realize I need to call him but he is asleep as Tri Races start early.  The Pack stuns top seeded TCU 5-4.  Won't he be surprised.

Virginia has beaten Long Beach State 3-1and the ACC the first two days  of the NCAA playoffs is 11-2. Miami, Florida State, Louisville, N C State  and Virginia are all 2-0. Notre Dame was Rained out Saturday is 1-0 . Clemson is home 0-2.

ECU who came in the the playoffs hot went more than a game and a half without scoring losing Saturday 2-0 to go with their 6-3 loss Friday.  They are back in Greenville.  I couldn't make it to the UNC W  finish with LSU.  They were in the top of the seventh with LSU winning 1-0.

Cuthrell Hauling In Hardware

Former Rocky Mount Gryphon Collins Cuthrell who spent only one year playing baseball for UNC Pembroke has received his third All American honor of the Post season.  Friday he was named first team Rawlings Baseball Coaches Association All American.  Earlier this week  the National Collegiate Baseball Writers had penned Cuthrell's name to their team and Daktronics.  He becomes only the fifth player in Braves history to make all three all American honors in the same year.  He is the first Pembroke baseball players to ever be named Peach Belt Conference player of the year.

Cuthrell led the Peach Belt in ten offensive categories during the 2015 season after spending four years at Baron but one was a red shirt year due to injury.  Having graduated Barton like many players these days in graduate school at Pembroke elected to finish his college eligibility for the Braves.  Oh what a year!!!

I have not mention my cousin Lauren Doughtie very much this golf season on the Futures Tour.  Not much to Brag  about as her scoring average is 74.87 which  ranks 108th and money earning is 98th.  One Futures tour win in her career in her five full years in pro golf.  She did qualify for the LPGA in 2013 but rejoined the Futures in 2014.

Every pro athlete who is in the minor leagues is looking for that magic in a bottle to advance to the next level..  Lauren at best so far has had a journeyman Career.  Wednesday playing in the U.S. Women's  Open sectional qualifying at the Governors course in Chapel a Hill Lauren like all 84 golfers had to play 36 holes and only two golfers would make the US Open.  Her morning round was right on average shooting 75.  She was one of the first out in the afternoon round and shot her best round of the year 68 to give her One under 143 score and the leader in the club house.

A thunder storm delayed the finish  and by late late Wednesday night  after sitting in the club house sweating it out Lauren ties for the top spot and has qualified for her second U.S. Open.  She has not had a top 20  finish on tour all year but her best round of the year is sending her to Lancaster Pa  the third full week in June to the 2015 Women's US Open.

Now with all our local teams out of all of the state playoffs I really don't care too much about the playoffs in any sport unless I know someone who gives me a special interest  in a team.  So CB Aycock won the eastern regional this week who I would say so what except for one thing.  Six playoff games Aycock  had winning scores of 5-1, 4-1, 3-2, 10-0, 4-0, 2-0.  See anything there worth talking about?

Aycock beat Fike in a shutout and both of the Regional games by zero runs allowed.  I don't know about you but six runs in six games, remember this is the playoffs and you are facing some pretty darn good teams and the last three games supposedly the best teams left they don't even cross home on you.  Boy this is worth taking notice in an other wise don't really care about any score.

Minor League Roundup

Xavier Macklin the former four year starter for the Nash Central baseball team is still trying his best to make it in pro baseball.  Last fall he was cut by Gate Way of the Frontier League and earlier this spring he was picked up by Florence Freedoms of the Frontier league.  Florence is on the Kentucky Ohio border near Cincinnati.

If you recall the Frontier League is an independent league that takes players no longer in any major league roster and those still trying to get some teams attention to sign them to pro contracts.  a couple weeks back X was cut by the Freedoms and any future baseball is up in the air for the all time leading hitter in the  history of North Carolina A&T.

Another former Bulldog Alex Pearce who spent last year at UNC Pembroke as a Graduate assistant is spending this summer as the 3rd base coach for Florence SC of the CPL summer League.  The first game of the season was Wednesday night and Florence scored so many runs that Alex may need Tommy John surgery from waving so many runners home ( Only kidding)  they won.

Don't feel sorry for Benton Moss even though his Tar Heels baseball season is over.  The Carolina graduate's phone has been hot ever since word came that the Tar Heels were not in the NCAA tournament.  Earlier this week he was in Florida letting the San Diego Padres get a look see.  I suspect between now and the MLB draft in a couple of weeks Benton will see the inside of several more planes as he hops across America giving others teams their chance to get a up close and personal look at Benton Moss.

Brian Goodwin is still in Harrisburg PA. playing for the AA team of the Washington Nationals.  28 games so far this year Brian is batting 230.  So far in his minor league career  strikeouts has been his down fall.  He has struck out one in five times so far this season which is an improvement but still every time you strike out and don't put the ball in play there goes a chance to get a hit.

Hobbs Johnson continues to impress in Biloxi Mississippi.  Hobbs is 3-1 on the season with an ERA of 2.81.  He has pitch 41 innings so far striking out 32 batters.  He has given up only 13 earned runs to date.  If these kind of numbers  continue  might not be too much longer before the Milwaukee Brewers send Hobbs to AAA.

Two weeks from today June the 12th the Northern Nash football team is having a fund raising lunch at the high school.  Pork Chops, Potatoes and string beans.  The price is $7 per plate.  You can pick up your order in front of the school anytime between 10:30 and 2pm on the 12th. Help support the Knights

North Carolina State, UNC Wilmington and East Carolina all begin the quest for a national championship  in college baseball today.  State is in Dallas Texas, UNCW is in Baton Rouge, La and the Pirates are in Miami.

High School Playoffs Too Many Games

The high school baseball and softball playoffs have reached the regional stage for the playoffs.  So far each team has played four games just to get to this point.  The regional format is a two out of three games so the minimum amount of games to make it to the state finals is six games and just maybe seven.

The state championship weekend is also a two out of three which can throw the total number of games to ten to win a state title.  This is too many games for pitchers.  Any team that has two really good pitchers is blessed but most don't.  You know what happens, those team with only one great pitcher pitches him to death during the playoffs. It takes four weeks of baseball playoffs playing two games a week and the season started the first of March so the season is only ten weeks and most of that was played in cold weather.

This country's number one sport is football.  It dominates TV but the future is not all of that rosey for football.  Injuries are a major concern and being the way insurance is in this country it is only a matter of time parents are not going to keep letting their children play football.

The next major sports in America is soccer.  Some think soccer was first played about 400 AD  and more than 200 countries play it as their top sport today.  This country because of the popularity of American football is only in the last 30 years rising in people playing.  Back in the 60's TV tried American professional soccer but TV used fake injuries to get tie outs to put in commercials and it failed.  If it fails TV no sport has a chance.  The World Cup coverage and the USA being underdogs convinced TV that people would watch soccer in America.

The next biggest sport on the rise in America is Lacrosse.  North Carolina now has enough schools playing Lacrosse to hold state championships last weekend.  The first recorded form of Lacrosse was around 1110 AD.  Most native Americans were playing some form of Lacrosse  when the first Spanish, English and French settlers arrived.

Why then if Lacrosse is the first sport of the new America why is it just now growing?  All those networks of ESPN needed programming.  College Lacrosse is not only exciting but the game is compacted into a two hour TV show which is perfect for TV.

Both soccer and Lacrosse have less severe injuries  which is better on players, parents and insurance.  It may not happen in the next thirty years but in the near future you will see six hours of pregame coverage of the World Cup or Lacrosse finals and football will be a sport like rugby.  Who in the world plays that sport?

Oh so Close

Carolina being  denied entry into this year's NCAA tournament has brought and end to the college baseball career of Benton Moss the former Gryphon finishes his career in the top ten all time in four pitching categories.

Wins  26 the all time Carolina record is 31.  Winning percentage  26-6  81 percent. His junior  year was his worst year at 4-2.  He has 318 strikes out which is second all time in Tar Heel history.  325 is the Carolina record.  His career ERA is 3.23.  Played in 65 games and was the starting pitcher 60 times.  His 332 innings is also top ten all time in Carolina history.

We might seem to forget that during the the state championship season of 2008 for the Rocky Mount Gryphons Moss the freshman was the winning pitcher in both the Regional and deciding win in the state championship game.

His future just might be professional baseball as now the draft is next month.  We all who know him know that if baseball only last for a few years he is prepared for life after baseball.  I have no stats to prove this but  Benton must be the most successful athlete in the history of the Cain-Morehead scholarship.  He has taken the highest academic scholarship at Carolina and been All ACC Academic team all four years at Carolina.

Even though he could have been a pro baseball player last year drafted in the 15th round of the draft Moss chose to return and graduate.  He lived up to his commitment.  You know that is just the way he is.  November he plans on marrying a Rocky Mount girl.

Tom and Ashley you can be very proud of the training that you have given your number one son. All of us fans of Benton can be very proud to say That he is a home boy from Enfield and Rocky Mount. He has never done anything to embarrass Carolina, his family or his home.  These days that's hard to say about anybody.

No one knows the future but the future is bright for Benton Moss whether it is on the baseball field or in the world of business.  Who knows one day he may be governor.

ACC Gets Seven Carolina Snubbed

That dredded first  one out label is pinned on the Tar Heels of North Carolina this year in the NCAA baseball  playoffs.  A team who stumbled down the stretch looks as if they needed one win more to make it. Clemson  another ACC members gets in as the last team in with a 32-27 record and a 53 RPI gets in so it is apparent the ACC was getting only seven teams in.  Carolina lost eight of their last eleven games to finish 34-24.

The true down fall for the Tar Heels is that four teams won conference tournaments including Texas who had a 96 RPI that would have not made the tournament without winning their conference tournament and by winning they got the automatic berth and the other team in the conference still got in the tournament too.  It will be the first time since 2001 Carolina is not going to the baseball dance

The ECU Pirates are seeded as the number two and will play Columbia in the Miami Region.  They are in regional which will also have Florida International.  ECU at one point in the season was 20-15 and have now won twenty of twenty five.

NC State will also be a number two and will play the third seed in the TCU Region in Stony Brook.  The top seed in this regional is Texas Christian  who will play Sacred Heart. The Pack's first game  is 2:30 Friday.  The Pack finished 34-21 on the season winning thirteen of their last sixteen.

North Carolina Wilmington will be playing in the LSU bracket as the two seed will play Tulane Friday and should they win game one will play the winner of LSU-Lehigh winner. UNCW has won six in a row heading to Baton Rouge.

Florida State, Miami and Louisville from the ACC are hosting regionals this weekend which the first advantage for any host is their records are really good but they don't travel and stay in motels like the other three teams in each regional must do.  Notre Dame and Virginia make the seven teams in.

Thinking the SEC would get nine teams in the league only gets seven spots which if you are a Southeastern Conference fan is a down year.

Carolina Sweating Baseball Tournament

ECU is in the 2015 NCAA baseball tournament after winning their first AAC baseball title beating Houston 9-1 Sunday in Clearwater Florida. They get the AAC's automatic bid but despite being the conference championship Houston has gotten a top 16 seed and will host one of the 16 regional sites when the NCAA playoffs begin Friday.  ECU has  the top RPI of all teams from North Carolina with a 24.

NC State lost the ACC championship game to Florida State. FSU, Miami and Louisville all will host one of the 16 regional sites while the Wolfpack with an RPI of 26 is a no brainer to make the tournament  as they have one of the best overall records over the last month wasn't even sure they were making the ACC tournament until this hot streak.

The Seahawks of UNCW were the winners of the CAA Tournament and know they are continuing their baseball season the only thing they need now is where they will be going.  The Hawks are 27 in the RPI .

If you go by RPI then the Tar Heels of North Carolina are safe at 28 but if the selection committee goes by how you have played the last 15 games the Tar Heels have one of the worse 15 games record of any team hoping to make the tournament.  This is about the the first time in ten years that Mike Fox's Tar Heel are sweating out the selection Show.

The selection show is at noon on ESPNU.

UNC women's lacrosse lost the national championsh to former ACC members Maryland 9-8