Extra Innings Heroics

If you love good baseball then you need to get in on the action of Coleman Pitt Post 58 baseball.  Tonight in Wilson down 3-0 in the seventh CP 58 clawed their way back into a tie and scored the winning run in the 13th inning.

Regardless of which side you pulled both sides had pitching as in 13 innings both sides had eight hits a piece.  Rocky Mount Committed five errors and which resulted in one run being unearned of the three runs scored by Post 13.  Wilson committed three errors and two runs for Rocky Mount scored after errors including the winning run.

Post 58 started RMA pitcher Reid Johnston and you can't fault his pitching. Five innings, one run on three hits and the one run was unearned.  Tarboro's Trevor Wells pitched for two innings gave up two runs.  David Harrison gave up one hit in two innings and for the extra innings Noah Schrock took the ball and allowed nothing to cross the plate for the final four inning. CP 58 shut out Post 13 the last seven innings.

Post 13 scored in the third after and error at second put a runner on. Spencer Brickhouse the Bunn highly touted player who is expected to go in the first round of the MLB draft next week doubled in their first run.  It stayed scoreless until the sixth for P 13 until a walk, hit, wild pitch and an RBI single  by Hunter Lee grew the lead to 3-0.

Post 13 pitching was excellent as Dillon Radford started and went six scoreless inning until P 58 touch him up with two runs.  A walk and wild throw and hit by Trey Wells scored two.  The eighth started with a Reid Johnson single, a sacrifice bunt by Zack Keeter and a double in the gap by Tyler Barrett knotted the score at three and that's the way it stayed until the 13th.

Luke Mills open the 13th with a pop up to second which was dropped. Post 58 took advantage of the opening granted by Wilson.  Tyler Barrett advanced the runner to second with a bunt.  Noah Schrock had a base hit as Mills advanced to third.  Logan Pearce the RBI hero on Friday night with  a hit in the bottom of the ninth did it again tonight this time a fly ball to center and Mills easily scored what proved to be the winning run as Post 13 went down in order in the 13th.

I'm telling you this team other than the first inning of the first game this team has had good pitching.  Their pitching has been good enough to keep them in every game since.  The first few games the hitting was porous but it seems to be rounding up.

If you want to watch entertaining baseball Post 58 will be back at Legion Field next Wednesday night  with their second conference game.  Tonight's victory pushed P 58 to 4-3 and winners of three in a row.  After having sat through rain delays during the Raleigh Regional this past weekend this 13 inning affair was over at five after ten.  It took only three hours to play 13 innings.

Love It Or Just Plain Crazy

Remember the last weekend in May I told you of my trip to the USA Baseball complex in Cary where I watched our three men from Rocky Mount a player Thomas Berry and two coaches Britt Johnson and Jim Leggett who were part of the Lander University Baseball team.  A 13 inning game in the game before the Lander 8pm game was delayed until 10:05 pm.  The last pitch finished at 1:14 and I arrived home at 2:45 just in time to take a nap and be at church by 8am.

N C State hosting the Raleigh Regional D I baseball playoffs this past weekend and what has turned out to be into the mid week.  I am all lined up to go with son Brooks Friday night to Raleigh and watch the Wolfpack in their opening game until I get this e-mail from Joe Bell stating that Post 58 Legion had picked up a  game with Ahoskie at home Friday.  I disappointedly stay to do PA for Legion but kept my eye  on game tracker following the Wolfpack.

An exciting Legion game made it worth staying to see and a three hour rain delay in Raleigh was only in the fifth inning when I got into the house Friday night.  11:50 the Navy /NC State game resumed and I was able to catch the last four innings on ESPN3.  The game did not get over until 1:38am  and as I cut off my I-Pad the word was Navy would have to play their losers bracket game at 1pm.

I arrived at the ball park at 1:15 expecting the Navy/St Marys game to be into the first inning.  Lo and behold the game was pushed back to 2pm to give Navy an extra hour since it was near 3am before they returned to their hotel.  All that did was give me an extra 45 minutes to burn up in the humid  90 degree temperatures.

The losers bracket game has reached the ninth inning about 4:45 and in tournaments when you have a ticket for every game you still have to exit the stadium and when they have cleared out the stadium they will let everyone back in about an hour before the next game which the State-Coastal Carolina winners bracket game is scheduled for 7pm. Brooks and I headed for food and wouldn't you know it sitting in the grill watching the Navy game it goes extra innings and does not end until about 6:20. 

Pack baseball twitter announces first pitch  for the state game is 7:20 and they will start letting people enter the stadium at 6:50.  While in the grill we were watching all the NCAA games going on including the ECU/UVA game.  Once the announcement was made to reenter the stadium at 6:50 we got up and left just as ECU was batting in the bottom of the ninth of their dramatic come from behind victory over Virginia.  Didn't see it.

Now back in the stadium it is always a bad sign while you are standing there and the grounds crew starts putting the tarp back on the field when it is not raining.  A gentleman with a megaphone walks around the complex and announces that severe weather is approaching and everyone please clear the stadium.  I just did make it back to the car when the bottom fell out and lightning that rocked the place.  Finally Twitter says play ball at 9:25 and you can reenter at 8:55.

Coastal Carolina pitched two kids that kept the Pack at bay  but here it comes again.  Coastal is ahead 3-0 top of the ninth with one out and here comes the  tarp out once again and the same guy with his megaphone.  This time some lightning but man does it rain.  Here it is 12:35 and I decide they are not playing any more tonight and head home.  I was just getting on I-440 when Tony Haines announces on the radio they will pick it up at 12:30 Sunday afternoon.

Brooks already had made the decision he wasn't going to the Sunday finish up game or to the loser bracket game so I have two tickets and I am going to tell you between the Saturday afternoon sun beat down and all night baseball I decided on the way home I was taking the day off from baseball to rest.

Luckily our work was off on Monday so we are back at the Doak on Monday to see the Pack beat Coastal in a must win game.  The forecast doesn't look good for Monday night so I give my ticket to Brooks and head home after the first game.  Even before the first pitch Monday night an hour an a half rain delay.  Later a 45 minute delay and finally again at 12:30 in the ninth inning rain sends everyone home and I cut off my I Pad without knowing whether they would finish or not Monday night. Didn't think they would and sure enough they came back Tuesday and finished without me.

Suiter Cuts Off His Mic

It wasn't that long ago we said good-bye to Tom Suiter from the every day 6:22 sports segment on WRAL- TV.   If you take notice no one retires from The Big Five.  All those from the past can be seen during special programs long after you no longer see them daily.

Tom still has been seen every week during the school year with the Extra Effort Award and two of his last segments he was here  in Rocky Mount giving the award to Forest Bell at Rocky Mount and Rebekah Beal at Northern Nash.  There is one thing that Tom Suiter will be remembered for, for the rest of his life and ours too.  Football Friday, for 35 years Tom has lead a team that brought every high school football team to everyone within the the cable signal of WRAL.

During my days doing play by play of Ahoskie High school football it was like the president was coming when word got out that the WRAL helicopter was coming to Ahoskie for a playoff game.  It has been like that for every school that ever had a crew from Football Friday in their house.  It is because of Tom Suiter Rocky Mount born.

Tom is a member of the North Carolina Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall Of Fame. The Nash-Edgecombe Twin County Hall Of Fame.   He has won two Emmys and in 1990 he was voted the North Carolina Sportscaster Of The year.

Tom and I have become E-Mail buddies over the years. All of us are faced at some point in our life with the wish to retire but I know from what little bit I still do in sports it is hard to give up what is your life.  Can you imagine from the time your get out of college  until the day you say it is over that you work in the same place for the same  people and you do such a great job That every person that has anything to do with high school football knows who you are and feel that if Tom Suiter calls your name that you made it on Football Friday.

Thank You Tom Suiter!!!!   Please send me your new E-mail address.

Do You Know The Way To Lubbock Or Dallas

The Pirates of ECU won their first ever regional that they were not the host of. 2001  having to host a regional in Wilson because their baseball stadium wasn't big enough they advanced to the super regional.  2004 this time they hosted in Kinston and won.  2009 they won a regional hosted on campus and today the Pirates won the Charlottesville regional beating William and Mary Friday, a bottom of the ninth thriller over Virginia on Saturday and beat William and Mary this afternoon after the Tribe had beaten  Virginia.

Tonight Dallas Baptist has forced a do or die game with Texas Tech so ECU will now relax watch a little baseball on tv Monday to see who they play and while both DB and TT use pitchers to advance. ECU is resting and already rested pitching staff having to play only three games to win the Charlottesville Regional. Regardless of the winner between Texas Tech and Dallas Baptist will be the host team next weekend.

North Carolina State hit with weather delays have played past Midnight Friday and Saturday night.  Losing the finished up game on Sunday to Coastal Carolina and beat Navy 17-1 later Sunday.  The NCAA says no  team can play more than two full games in a day of playoff play and since the the Wolfpack had to play five outs Sunday to complete a Saturday game. They beat Navy in nine innings Sunday so they were not allowed to play against Coastal Carolina again Sunday night.  If they had of scheduled a 7 pm game guess what there would have been a weather delay on Sunday night.

So now the Wolfpack will play Coastal Carolina at 1pm  Monday and if they win they play CC again at 6pm The Pack 2-1 having beaten Navy twice scoring 30 runs in the two victories but none in the one loss.

The Demon Deacons were eliminated by Minnesota Today 8-3 going 1-2  in their regional.

Duke returning to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in 56 years lost both their games in Columbia South Carolina.

Western Carolina jumped on Clemson 6-0 only to watch Clemson score 24 on Friday.  The Catamounts rebounded to beat Nebraska Saturday but Clemson held batting practice on WC Sunday.

The weather has effected almost all of the regionals but weather was not a problem for the Seahawks of UNCW going in to Sunday night.  The Hawks who clipped Duke Friday were shocked Saturday having to play Rhode Island who upset South Carolina  Friday.  Tonight the Gamecocks made it a do or die game for Monday beating the Hawks.

The State of North Carolina sent six teams to the tournament and are 7-7 with ECU playing next Weekend. And NC State and UNCW still alive with Monday games to play.

A Blessed life

I don't know how it came about to be the way my life has unfolded to be so involved in sports.  My high school days I loved football but the older I progressed from seventh grade right up to senior year in high school my participation became I was an end at the end of the bench that guarded the water bucket.  I played jv basketball scoring all of seven points in two years.. I was a two year starter on the baseball team as a junior I played right field and my senior season third base.  I don't think the next year after I was gone from any sport at good old Ahoskie High school there was much problem finding a replacement for me.

I took off my high school cap and gown and went right to work at our local radio station as a disc jockey and when September rolled around I was the color man on our radio stations broadcast of Ahoskie High school football.  I was a fixture on Friday night football for the next 22 years.

Our radio station carried University of North Carolina sports and of course that was football and basketball.  The spring of most every year we would have a day where we would invite potential sponsors of Carolina sports to have dinner on the station, take a look at the cost that if you wanted to help sponsor Carolina sports find out how much you were going to have to pay to have your advertising on the Carolina games.

Several times during those years to entice more Carolina people to come and buy advertising we would bring the big guns from Chapel Hill to Ahoskie and they would pitch for us what ever the price was going to be to be on the Carolina games.  When I say big guns Woody Durham from the Carolina Network was most of the time the six shooter who came  to make the pitch.

You must understand for me a Wolfpack faithful having Woody was a hard thing to do the first time I ever met him.  Most trips he would spend three hours or so and it was up to us at the radio station to sign up all those who bought the Carolina package.  So in a way Woody help me with my pay check every week. 

When you  listen to a game and the person doing the talking you know a little bit about them  and to hear Woody say "Touchdown Carolina" I came to appreciate Woody Durham for his ability both as a salesman and broadcaster.  One Saturday afternoon in the 90's my boss at the time a big time Carolina donor  gave me eight basketball tickets on the eighth row from the foul line to midcourt.  Once the game was over we waited for the crowd to disperse before we left and as we walked up the steps Woody was coming down the steps. There was a time when the broadcast booth was at the top of the field level.  Today I think they sit on the floor by the team.

My son Brooks at the time about 10 years old was with me and I said Brooks 'Here comes Mr Woody Durham the voice of the Tar Heels'.  To my amazement Woody shook my sons hand and when he reached to shake mine said " Tony how you been doing".  It  had probably been ten years since I had last seen Woody and to think he remember me a nobody from Ahoskie  impressed me greatly and impressed everyone with me that I knew Woody Durham.

I am sad to hear the news that Woody has a health condition called Primary Progressive Aphasia.  It is  a nerve condition that controls your ability to put words together.  Woody retired as the Voice of the Tar Heels in 2011 still in the prime of his ability as a sports broadcaster.  A person that speaks for a living most of the great ones have a great ability to communicate.  Woody was one of the best.

Bottom Of The Ninth Rally

Coleman Pitt moved their home game tonight to Rocky Mount Academy and a nice crowd saw a thriller not decided until two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  Ahoskie Post 102 started lefty Logan Jackson and for four innings Post 58 was hapless getting just one hit but Coleman Pitt starter Cameron Taylor in trouble every inning but the first but despite his troubles heading into the sixth inning CP 58 just trailed 1-0

Ahoskie plated  their first run in the second and it took four hits then.  Still down by one Taylor got the first two batters out in the sixth until three straight hits scored one and in comes Noah Schrock who is greeted with a single and a 3-0 lead.  Rocky Mount responded with a hit from Tyler Sherrod and a walk to Noah Schrock.  John Michael Kelly delivered an RBI single and Tyler Barrett sac fly scored one.

Schrock now in control on the mound held Post 102 at bay and the  bottom of the eighth Tyler Barrett singled , Logan Pearce put down a sac bunt getting Barrett to second but with the third baseman and pitcher neither covering third Barrett took off to third where the first baseman throw sailed over everyone's head scoring Barrett.

Entering the ninth Schrock struggled and Ahoskie scored on a bloop single and of all things took the lead with the bases loaded on a catchers interference.  Coleman Pitt was up to the task.  Lead off batter Tyler Sherrod hit Post 58's first home run of the season to tie the game. Schrock walked sacrificed to second by Forest Bell.  A walk to John Michael Kelly.  Tyler Barret hit a shot over the head of the Post 102 center fielder and the runners were waiting on a tag up and great execution of a relay throw nailed Schrock at home.  The next batter now with two outs Logan Pearce hit a shot across the third base bag scoring the winning run.

Coleman Pitt goes to 3-3 but Ahoskie outhit CP 58 15-10.  Post 102 pitching walked ten and three errors play a big part in the CP 58 win.

A Career Comes To An End

Lander University for the second time in three years made it all the way to the Division II College World Series.  Regardless of the sport when ever playoffs start there is talent and luck  that helps your team advance and in Lander's case some of that talent came from Rocky Mount High School and Thomas Berry.

Way back in 2008 as a jv catcher Thomas was brought up from the jv's to be on the varsity during the state playoffs.  He would sit while older brother Chris a third baseman/pitcher  would be a vital part of the Gryphons run bringing home a state Championship in baseball. Now a sophomore twin brother Matthew joined him in three productive years playing baseball for RMHS.  Included would be Legion Ball where the Berry's were part of the Post 58 Legion team that qualified for the State Championship Tournament.

Graduation time and a former Gryphon baseball player now coaching at Lander Britt Johnson convinced Thomas that Lander would be a good place to play baseball in college.  A shoulder injury  pretty much ended his catching career and as college progressed first base and the designated hitter became Berry's lineup position.

His freshman year in 2012 he played in only 18 games and hit a paltry181 batting average with three rbi and a very good eye produced seven walks. His sophomore season was a season of heal up from injuries.

Now a redshirt sophomore Thomas would be a leader in helping send Lander to the College World Series in Cary.  He batted 348 hit six home runs drove home 54 rbi and walked a total of 62 times which led the DII stats in the nation.  One victory in Cary would give Lander a fifth place finish  in the World Series.

Thomas's junior year for Lander  they would not win as many as they loss but the blame for that could not be placed on the now DH for the Bearcats.  Berry hit 318, eight doubles, nine home runs fifty rbi and 34 walks on the season. 

Berry returned to Lander for his final season and as he has become Mr. Dependable hitting 312 recorded 12 doubles, 14 home runs and number 14 made Thomas Berry the all time home run king in Bearcat history with 29.  He recorded 60 rbi and walked again 56 times.

Lander was knocked out of the World Series tonight 4-2 and finish 3rd in the nation and with it the baseball career of Thomas Berry comes to a close.  He is not the size that pro baseball people want and to add to that he is no speed demon on the base paths.  Despite all that he had a career 326 batting average, hit 29 home runs, drove in 164 runs and walked 167 times.  There is only one way to describe Thomas Berry from his little league career, high school,  Legion  and college,  He is a ball player.  Thanks for the memories.

Change of Venue.  Friday night's Coleman Pitt Post 58 games has been moved to Rocky Mount Academy..  First pitch is 7pm against Post 102 from Ahoskie..