Four Rings For Battle

The men's tennis teams of the Big East that made the state playoffs have played their first round matches.  The top seed Fike defeated West Carteret 7-0 to advance to next week's second round.  Rocky Mount was not so lucky falling to Northern Guilford 6-0 to end their season at 12-3.  This weekend starts singles and doubles competition and Fike will not play a second round match until next week.

It is now official that Nash Central will drop to 2A and Franklinton will join what is now called the Big East 3-A.  Each one of these four year realignments when ever new teams come into a conference they sit down and one of the first things they do is decide what the name of the conference should be. With only Franklinton joining the now existing Big East 3-A there should be no need to change the name of the conference.  So as it stands now the school year 2016-2017 is the last as the Big East as we know it now.

Another change made by the NCHSAA board of directors is every sport but football can now have unlimited amount of players during off season workouts.   The past any workout could not field a full team during the the workouts.  They are limited to one hour and a half per workout.

Tonight the Rocky Mount High school football players and coaches will receive their state championship rings which they have all awaited since winning the state championship December 12th.  It is a private dinner with players, coaches and family members.   Not only will they all have memories for the rest of their lives of what occurred during the football season of 2015 but they will have proof on their fingers of their accomplishments.

Head football coach Jason Battle is a relatively young man.  Tonight as the head football coach of the Gryphons Battle will have to make room for high fourth state championship ring.  He was an assistant coach on the 2008 baseball state championship team.  2010 and again in 2012 he was on the sidelines for both basketball championships as an assistant.  If he has as successful next seven years as the past he will need to start finding room on his toes.

Chowan's Big Factor- Cody Smith

The Chowan University Hawks won their first ever CIAA baseball championship this past weekend coming out of the losers bracket to beat Winston Salem State twice to win the title.  Chowan will wait for the Division II NCAA Selection show on May 15th to see  where they will be playing in the playoffs.

The Hawks were lead this season by ALL CIAA pitcher Cody Smith from Rocky Mount High School.  Smith set a Chowan record winning nine games on the season while losing only  two.  He had the conference lowest ERA at 2.57 pitched sixty innings on the season.  The Hawks were 26-23 on the season so Smith accounted for one third of the Hawks win. He averaged over a strikeout per inning fanning 73 on the season.

Those who remember Cody from his Rocky Mount days was he could walk the bases loaded and then strike out the side.  This season he walked 38 batters which is about a half a walk an inning,  While pitching for the Gryphons he averaged over one per inning so this is a major improvement for Cody.

How valuable was Cody to the Hawks?  He pitched the final 3.1 innings in the winner take all game championship game in relief which was the second game of the day and  the Hawks had to win both.  The sophomore picked up the win by shutting down WSSU down the stretch.

Monday when the high school baseball brackets will be released the state will choose teams based on their conference finish.  The Big East had a three way tie so in a three way tie breaker Rocky Mount won the tie breaker so with this week's conference tournament washed out then the regular season conference seedings will prevail.

Rocky Mount beat Northern Twice, split with Hunt which Northern beat Hunt twice making Hunt fall to third.  Because Nash Central and Fike were able to get their game in the tournament in Monday night and since Nash Central won a dramatic 3-1 walkoff 3 run homer Nash Central will be seeded 4th and Fike 5th.  Southern will finish at number six.

Rocky Mount 12-8 and Northern 9-11 will be home for at least one game pending winning.  If both advance Northern may be on the road and Rocky Mount might get another home game.  Hunt is right on the border line  that if they were a high three seed and make the top 16 in the bracket they could get a first round home game but probably not with a 12-12 record.  Nash Central can expect to be on the road and Fike must hope as a five seed they get in at all but they do have a winning record for a five seed in a conference 11-10.

If there is one bad thing from not playing any more this week is for Rocky Mount and Northern they would not have played for 12 days before next Wednesday the 11th rolls around..

Nash Central With A Bang

GOODBYE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT: OFFICIALS FROM THE BIG EAST HAVE DECIDED TO SCRAP THIS WEEKS BASEBALL TOURNAMENT BECAUSE OF THE PENDING WEATHER TONIGHT AFTER LAST NIGHT'S DELAY OF THE SOUTHERN NASH-HUNT GAME.

THE ONE GAME PLAYED WAS A VERY IMPORTANT ONE AS THE NASH CENTRAL WIN OVER FIKE GIVES NASH CNETRAL A CONFERENCE FOUR SEED AND FIKE 5TH.  ROCKY MOUNT WILL HAVE 1ST NORTHERN SECOND GIVING THEM A HOME GAME  IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE STATE PLAYOFFS.  HUNT TAKES THIRD SO THE STATE WILL HAVE A CLEAR PICTURE OF HOW THE BIG EAST SEEDINGS ARE WHEN THE SELECTIONS ARE MADE PUBLIC  BY NEXT MONDAY. 

The Rocky Mount Gryphons will host Nash Central Tuesday night at 7 pm after the Bulldogs trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh  got a three run homer by Noah Schrock to shock Fike 3-1. The Bulldogs who beat Rocky Mount in both match ups this year.

Over in Wilson lightening got the better of the Sourhern Nash -Hunt game in the bottom of the third The Firebirds were leading 4-2 when the game was called and will continue at 7pm Tuesday which puts the winners semi final game with Northern Nash to Wednesday.  The forecast is not good for any baseball Tuesday.

The NCHSAA 3-A men's tennis seedings are out and the top team in the east Duel is Fike 14-2.   Rocky Mount  is 12-2 and will host Northern Guilford Wednesday afternoon at Rocky Mount High School.  Round two for winners is next week.  The indivual regionals are this weekend.

Down on the farm:  Brian Goodwin Continues to open eyes in Syracuse NY in AAA International League.  Property of Washington Nationals. Now batting 337 which is the top average on the Chiefs of those playing every day.  There was a time when the Nationals wanted him to hit more home runs but this season or even back in fall they reverted for Brian being a get on base guy and he is succeeding.  He has 24 hits in 71 at bats with six doubles, a triple and he hit his first home run of the season Saturday.  The home run in the ninth inning tied the game eventually won by the Chiefs in 12 innings.

Benton Moss : A ball playing in the Florida State League.  Property of the Tampa Bay Rays.Pitched in five games starting four.  On a pitch count of 75 pitches per game.  ERA 3.75 having pitched 24 innings.  His control has been excellent walking only one batter to date and striking 20.

Hobbs Johnson: AA Buloxi Shuckers in the Southern League. Property of Milwaukee Brewers. Been moved to short relief pitcher.  Thus far this season pitched 10 innings  in seven appearances.  Walked seven batters. And ERA is 7.70.  As a short reliever it takes only one bad inning and ERA goes through the roof.

Collins Cuthrell:  Florence Freedom Independent organization in the Frontier League.  Left the Rocky Mount Gryphons dugout last week to join Freedom.  Season starts May 13th.  Listed as outfielder.

Top Three Battling For Home Playoff Games

It has been said many times even this basketball season "What is the purpose of High school end of season tournaments? ". This baseball season the three teams tied at 6-4 Rocky Mount, Northern Nash and Hunt need to make to the championship game in order to secure the top two sports when the playoff seedings come out.

Each conference is guarantee  half of their total conference membership qualifies for the state playoffs in baseball.  Anybody else their overall record is the only way they might get in.  Three Big East teams are in.  If there was no tournament all three Rocky Mount 12-8,Northern Nash 9-11and Hunt 12-12 would be in.  Only Rocky Mount and Northern Nash  and would get high enough seeds to give them home game.

Of those three teams since they are tied making it to the finals in paramount to secure the two top spots.  Fike 11-10  Nash Central 9-14 and Southern Nash 10-13.  If any of the bottom three were to win the title and this year it is truly possible one of the top three could fall to fourth by not making the finals.

How important is winning a semi final game if you are Northern Nash and Rocky Mount. One advantage both have is the semi final will be their first game of the week while for the winners of opening round games they probably have pitched their best to get to the semi's.  Remember not a team in this league has two stopper pitchers so the Fike/Nash Central winner will play Rocky Mount. They have to pitch the best they have to beat each other as well as Southern Nash/Hunt winner.  Can anyone afford to gamble holding their best pitcher for one more day.

The question is this, can Rocky Mount afford to hold back David Harrison until the championship game because if they lose in the semi's David Harrison would be ten days between starts when the first round if state playoffs begin May 11th.

I don't think any team can afford to hold back anybody expecting to win and moving on to the next round because a loss might not be a next round.   So since of the four teams that play Monday, Hunt, Nash Central, Fike and Southern Nash if they make it to the finals that would be down to the bottom of the barrell in pitching.  It will be interesting to see how both Northern and Rocky Mount view their pitching in the semi's.  Regardless expect a high scoring championship game.

Nice Athletic Year At Rocky Mount

There was a point in the Rocky Mount Gryphon football season when they stood at 3-2 but won their last 11 games to win the State 3-A football championship.   The basketball season started losing the first seven games of the season.  There were a combination of reasons from  the football players had not joined the team because football went into mid December.  They also had injuries and when you add all that together just didn't play well.

By season's end the Gryphons managed to tie for first.  Now baseball starts 0-2 in conference play and were 4-6.  The modern teenager especially those that play baseball for the Gryphons  had a real adjustment in life when Pat Smith returned to Rocky Mount to be baseball coach.

To say the least Pat Smith is an old school coach that wants you to play baseball the way the game is suppose to be played.  He is a tell it like it is type of coach. Blunt might be a correct term.  Just might be that it took a little while to get use to the old man's ways.  The Gryphons finish the season winning eight out of ten.

Four of the six conference victories were shutouts. 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 2-0.  So Rocky Mount won four games scoring 5 runs.

Their two other wins they scored 25.

One odd stat on the season the outfield made more errors than the infield.  The combination of Jake Philbeck at First, Will Hedgepeth at second, Logan Pearce at shortstop and Forest Bell at third was one of the best Gryphon  Infields in a while.

Baseball, Softball and soccer all starts the conference tournaments this week.  Monday baseball has Fike at Nash Central with the winner at Rocky Mount Tuesday.  Southern Nash at Hunt with the winner at Northern Nash Tuesday.  The two winners meet Thursday at highest seed still playing.

Soccer, Monday Nash Central at Hunt with winner at Rocky Mount Tuesday.  Southern Nash at Northern Nash with winner at Fike . The two winners meet Thursday at highest seed still playing.

Softball, Monday Rocky Mount at Fike with the winner at Northern Nash.  Nash Central at Southern Nash with winner at Hunt.  The two winners meet Thursday at highest seed still playing.

This afternoon there will be a meeting at Legion Field  at 5pm of all prospects interested in playing American Legion Baseball.  This is not a tryout only a meeting to gauge the interest for bringing  Legion Baseball back  to Rocky Mount after having failed to field a team last year.

From Last To Top Seed

After the first week of conference play the Rocky Mount Gryphons stood at 0-2 having blown a 4-2 lead at Nash Central and a 4-0 lead at Hunt.  Tonight behind the three hitting pitching of David Harrison the Gryphons take the number one seed in the Big East with 2-0 shutout of Northern Nash.

The Win Gives the Gryphons a 6-4 conference record with Northern Nash but the Gryphons swept the Knights in both games played.  Hunt also ties at 6-4 after they went to Fike and won 9-0.  Nash Central got back to 5-5 in conference play beating Southern Nash 7-2 and tie Fike 5-5. Next week's Big East tournament will start with 3rd seed Hunt Hosting Southern Nash and number four seed Nash Central hosting Fike.

Chad Nelms got the start for Northern Nash and he like every pitcher that has faced David Harrison pitched well enough but not good enough.  Helms gives up four hits walked only two batters and struck out 11 Gryphons. Two of the four Gryphons hits came in the third inning, Jamar  Ellis singled and with one out Josh Pittman single putting runners on first and third.

Wednesday of this week Marvin Coates passed away and his Grandson Logan Pearce hit a shot to left field that was caught on the warning track and Ellis easily scored from third giving Pearce what would turn out to be the game winning RBI.  The Gryphons scored their second run in the fourth after Forest Bell walked stole second and scored on a David Harrison base hit.

David Harrison probably wrapped up the player of the year in the Big East after his complete game shutout.  He allowed three hits, walk four which were three more than he had walked in all conference games.  He struck out nine but the last five Knights to get out struck out.  During Big East games Harrison pitched 34 and 2/3 and gave up three runs which is an ERA.083.

Northern's three hits came from Matt Rose who had a double and single and Josh Daniels.  The Gryphons had all singles from Josh Pittman, David Harrison, Will Hedgepeth and Jamar Ellis.  Both Rocky Mount and Northern have byes and both will host semi final games next week.

Up For Grabs

Tonight wraps up the Big East regular season and every game means something for everyone.  Northern 6-3 sits on top.  Fike-Hunt-Rocky Mount all stand at 5-4.  Nash Central 4-5 and Southern 2-7.  Big East baseball Tournament starts Monday night when who ever finishes 3rd host Southern Nash.  Nash Central knows they can't finish any better than 3rd but they could finish fifth so they have no idea where they play Monday right now.  Even the top two spots who would get a bye and not play until Wednesday is not known at this time.

Rocky Mount at Northern Nash.: Pat Smith had to use David Harrison for about 25 pitches Tuesday and the question is can he go seven innings if needed?  The answer is yes.  Tuesday night's two innings are being used as his bullpen session for this week.  Northern has as close to any team a pitching  staff.  Everyone else has a main line pitcher and throwers.  I understand Northern Pitched Dwight Daniels Tuesday so they still have Tyler Barrett, Chad Nelms or Side armer Whit Casper that they can throw.  Northern is home and looks to have more options than Rocky Mount.

Hunt at Fike:  The winner could be in a three way tie for first if Rocky Mount will help them out at beat Northern.  The loser could drop to fifth spot in the standings with their fifth loss and of course this is pending other results Friday night.

Nash Central At Southern Nash:  A Bulldog win they can still capture third and a loss they are guaranteed fifth.  Southern is stuck in last as their hitting has dried up as the season has progressed as they have as good of pitching as anyone else.

I think anyone who saw the Rocky Mount Gryphons play football this past season could tell there were some really good football players on the field for the Gryphons.  This will show you what winning playoff games and state championships do for good players.  It puts eyes on them  in playoff games that because the roster shows them as not being the right size college coaches don't even think about until they actually see them perform.

Saw in the Telegram yesterday about the story written about Sherrod Greene and B J Sanders.  If you watched at all over the last two season everyone in the Big East knew about B J Sanders.  His profile does not fit D1 schools to look at.  An 81 yard run on the first play of a state championship game has been seen by every college coach in the country.  Sanders has now been offered just because Rocky Mount played so many playoff games and he performed well and coaches have all the films of everybody by regional times.  If the Gryphons had of loss a first round game Sanders may not ever gotten a look from a D 1 or D11 School.  I can assure you we will talk more about Sherrod Greene in the future.

I want to close today honoring a non sports event.  A day this week in the Telegram was a story about
Adam Moore who recently was named the North Carolina most outstanding JROTC Cadet by the Sons of the American Revolution.  Adam as a rising Senior  at Nash Central. He wants to go  the United States Navel Academy.  I would love to shake his hand for the honor bestowed on him but also because he wants to serve his country. Thank You Adam and good luck winning the top Cadet in the nation.