Bulldogs2424

Got a big rubber match tonight in that series.

MJ may have a loaded team but with poor coaching and arrogant kids, it will be hard to come together to win. They will have to compete with Farragut and Siegel to win it all. Pretty embarrassing with the talent they have to not get out of the region last year. Will be a big time matchup with Beech and Hendersonville as well, some big time arms on that side too.

1. MCM 2. Upperman / Dekalb 3. Upperman / Dekalb 4. LA 5. Smith County / Macon Co 6. Smith County / Macon Co 7. Cannon 8. York Heard Central only lost 2 starters, Sargent will be missed. Doubt Central will make the state tournament this year, they cannot compete with the better AA schools in the state. Dekalb has a guaranteed win every week with Jennings ( as long as he is healthy ). Upperman did lose Cannon but should still be able to contend. LA was young last year, should pay off this spring. Don't know much about Smith and Macon, but could surprise with some wins. Cannon and York will bring up the rear like always.

If your worried about getting looks and want to blame it on the coach then something is wrong. If you want to get looks from good schools, be good enough that they will find you. Bryan Reynolds did not play in all these travel ball tournaments around the country, and look where he is today. He probably worried more about the quality of what he had rather than the quantity of games being played. You do not need travel ball to get looks. If you are good enough to play at the next level they will find you plain and simple. Take that travel ball money and spend it on something that will make you a better player rather than "guaranteed looks." All these freshman and sophomores and even juniors in high school worry about what travel ball team gets the most looks rather than how they actually play the game and the development of themselves as a player.

Gonna be hard pressed to not say they are the front runner out of the gate. Overall it seems like pitching will be a big part of the district. Seems like there are not many big time hitters as compared to in years past. But with the rule changes this year, it could get interesting. Oakland has two commitments (Zac Lemerand , Jacob Pennington) both seem to be overrated. 1. Siegel 2. Blackman / Stewarts Creek 3. Oakland 4. Riverdale 5. Smyrna 6. LaVergne

We are too far south for anybody to think about cutting into the summer ball season. Organizations like the Knights make too much money off tournaments and player fees for that to happen. It is ridiculous how many high school kids care more about their "prestigious" travel teams than the guys they play four years in high school with. Even though that would make the most sense for the development of players and keeping them healthy. It would be interesting to see how many overuse arm injuries there would be by pushing the season into the summer and eliminating part of summer ball. Summer ball has become something that no body realized it would be. High school baseball has lost some of the lore it use to have as well. Too many people care about how many offers they are getting or who is seeing them rather than trying to win a state championship. But I guess since baseball is not a big money sport they could care less.

This will really come into play during tournament time, especially region week. The real question will be is when does the rest day start? If you come out of the game say Monday at Noon and you have to rest for four days, does that mean you will not be able to pitch until Saturday or is a "rest day" considered a whole 24 hour period from when the pitcher exited the game. If the rest time is considered by a 24 hour period from when the pitcher exited the game, in this situation the pitcher will be able to pitch any time after Noon on Friday of that week. As we've seen in the past a lot of coaches will throw their number 1 on Monday and Friday to make it to the State Tournament. If the TSSAA also suggests the coaches check with each other every half inning, this will mean an even slower game pace to a degree. As we all know the pace of play has been a big topic of discussion recently as well.

A lot of good pitching in the district so far. Nathan Richardson and John Ross Langworthy battled it out last night. Richardson went 7 and gave up one hit. He missed all of last year due to TJ. Langworthy is committed to Louisville along with teammate Benefield. Stewarts Creek also pitched well against Blackman

Does no body realize that MJ has 4 SEC arms on their team? All of which are Sophomores and Juniors. Oakland faced two of those, one of them being Aaron Brown ( Miss St. commit ) and another lefty who has not committed yet.