Gabby

Plowboy, That was certainly two bad breaks you got last night against THS, but that is baseball. DB had a good season, but I think your pitching just ran out. Good luck next year.

Well, the season is about over. Anyone surprised? I have been impressed with how well Science Hill has hit the ball lately. I think everyone was concerned about their pitching at the beginning of the year, but pitching doesn't need to be that good if you score lots of runs. I have also been surprised by how well Tennessee High has done this year.

Does anyone have any scores on the (Sports Belle) Kessler's Classic Tournament?

With the season winding down and with Crockett losing to DB, it looks like Science Hill has the inside track to win the regular season conference. They play South tonight, and have remaining games with Boone, Volunteer, Tennessee High, and Sullivan Central. If their pitching can hold out tonight--third game in three nights, the pitching should be aligned so that Daniel Norris will pitch against Boone and THS. I like his odds! My predictions for the tournament seedings are: 1. Science Hill 2. Dobyns Bennett 3. David Crockett 4. Tennessee High 5. Boone 6. Sullivan South 7. Sullivan Central 8. Volunteer Seeds 3 through 8 are going to be at a definite disadvantage because they will all be forced to throw their aces in the first game. Of course the 1 and 2 seeds face the old tournament trap of trying to steal that first game with someone other than their ace. After the second game of the tournament--assuming everything goes according to Hoyle, it should be a free-for-all.

In my opinion, there are a number of good sophmore pitchers that aren't quite ready this year, but should be ready to go next year. Their bodies haven't caught up with their arms. Science Hill has a strong cadre of sophmore pitchers and another freshman to go along with junior Daniel Norris and freshman Will Craig next year. THS has the sophmore left-hander Vance who is probably going to be pretty good. Boone has the sophmore Martin kid who hasn't had much support, but has pitched well. DB had a sophmore that handled SH pretty well in the first game. Usually there is a definite gain in strength between the sophmore and junior year. Many of these sophmores are going to fill out over the summer and get stronger. That's why there are more seniors playing varsity than there are freshmen and sophmores. With Norris, Connell, and Marti returning next year, and a load of sophmores waiting in the wings, I think hitters are going to find it a little harder next year.

Plowboy, I thought when Science Hill beat THS and Crockett so thoroughly that Science Hill had found their stride. But then they lost to Boone. Now we are back in log jam.

Considering the log jam in first place, I'm surprised there hasn't been more chatter about the Big 8. I believe THS, Dobyns-Bennett, Science Hill, and Crockett all have one loss, and South has two. Science Hill still has to play THS and South in the first round. It will be interesting to see how the recent rain outs affect each teams pitching when the teams play three games in a week. Any body have any big surprises other the log jam.

The irony is that with schools starting so early (first week in August), the school football season occurs in the hottest part of the summer, and it seems that school baseball occurs in the coldest part of the school year. In a perfect world, baseball would start during the first week of school when it is hot, and football would be going on now. That way football coaches wouldn't have to worry about kids having heat strokes, and baseball could be played in the warm weather when it should be.

Who were the winners and losers on Friday?

I enjoyed the DB-SH game last night. I would have enjoyed it more if SH had won. Nevertheless, I have always been impressed in how well DB plays fundamentally sound baseball. Being from the old school, I find an inherent beauty in fundamental baseball--getting the bunt down, good base running, making the routine play, throwing to the right base, etc. I wish each school would place much more emphasis on the fundamentals at every level (freshman, JV, and varsity).

Plowboy, I'll be in Kingsport tonight to watch Science Hill play DB. Not looking forward to the cold. I hope you have some heaters at the field. I nearly froze to death last night watching the Crockett game. Science Hill got real, real lucky. Marti was crusing along and they brought in Freeman. Freeman got some real bad breaks, only one solid hit off of him. Nevertheless, Science Hill scored 4 runs in the seventh to win.

NETFAN, I believe Chanley is their catcher, and Connell is their ace. Two others that play basketball are Kiever, their point guard who is also a left hand pitcher and Repport who is another left handed pitcher. I saw Kiever pitch last year on JV. I believe one of their sophmore players is also playing baseball.

Plowboy, I know you are looking forward to the season starting! This should be a good year for your son. I believe he is a junior, and I am always amazed in the strength kids gain from their sophmore to junior year. There is nothing like opening season in baseball. Every team is equal right now, and every team is anticipating a great year. I am cautiously optimistic about Science Hill. They don't have a lot of experience, but they have a lot of potential. I'm not as optimistic about next year, but that is next year. Good luck to everyone in the Big 8. I hope every team plays up to their potential. If that happens, there will be some really good games this Spring.

Plowboy, His name is Will Craig. I don't know about the high 80's! I know he was clocked (radar gun) this summer throwing about 82. So I imagine he is throwing mid 80s, but he is a freshman and should get stronger. He is a pretty good hitter to boot. Science Hill has done very well in their scrimmages (I haven't seen them play yet), but Monday against David Crockett and Tuesday against your team at DB will probably be a better indication. Two tough games against two good teams to start the back-to-back schedule. Against Davey Crockett, I imagine that Daniel Norris will pitch. Against DB, we will get to see how the pitching really holds up. I really look for the pitching to be even better next year after some pretty good sophmores have aged a little while still having Norris and Craig. How's DB's pitching coming along? Everyone seems to think that the hitting and fielding will be good at DB.

Snow in the air and not a dry patch on the baseball field. It must be baseball time in Upper East Tennessee! I guess I'd better get out the flannels and the blankets. It doesn't look like it is going to get any warmer soon.

Plowboy, Will Carter has grown! Will is a solid player, and I am sure he will play somewhere. It is surprising how much one year makes in an athlete until they get to be about 17 or 18. That's why there are so few freshmen and sophmores playing varsity. Looking forward to seeing how the teams have developed over the year. Right now, everyone is tied for first. I believe SH lost 13 players to graduation, so they will be interesting to watch regarding who plays where and how they handle their pitching with so many back-to-back games this spring. In fact, it will be interesting to see how each team handles their pitching this year! I know a lot of baseball kids in the area that play on different teams, and I will be pulling for them all.

Crawdad, Well SH got run overed by Sevier County last night. Too many three point shots and not many through the hoop. I guess I am old fashioned, but I think SH too often goes down the court and just shoots. I would still like to see more of a post pressence. Good and Carter are one dimensional. When they are hot they can run up the score, but when they are cold they are a liability on defense. Zach Howard is also hot and cold, but he can play defense and handle the ball. Will Adams is the most rounded player. He can shoot, rebound, handle the ball, play defense, and slash. He needs to be a little more agressive. Gavin Duncan is a heady player both on offense and defense. Reed Hayes is talented offensively, but is not a stellar defensive player. Reed also makes some mistakes handling the ball. Jaylen Allen is not a very good shooter, but he can slash and play defense. He can ignite the offense by his defense. Shannon Hale and Hunter LeVeau are scoring machines, but are liabilities on defense. Jahmar Adams, Buddy Gosey, Preston Vaught, Drew Howard, Mike Cash, and James Songster can play shut-down defense, but are limited offensively. IMO, Duncan, Hayes, and W. Adams should rotate in and out at point guard, Adams could also play the number 2. At 2, I would rotate J. Allen and J. Adams in and out. At 3, I would play Good, Carter, and Z. Howard. Z. Howard could play the 2 for more offensive punch. At 4, I would have Hale or LeVeau in for scoring. At 5, I would play Gosey, Vaught, and D. Howard for defense and rebounding. The best offensive rotation would be W. Adams at 1, J. Allen at 2, whoever is hot at 3, Hale at 4, and Vaught at 5. The best defensive rotation would be Duncan/Adams (take your pick) at 1, J. Allen at 2, Z. Howard at 3, Gosey at 4, and LeVeau/Hale (take your pick) at 5. Presently they have Duncan at 1, Z. Howard at 2, Carter at 3, Allen at 4, and Hale at 5.

Crawdad, I agree that their strength is their depth. Twice this year SH has had 12 players score points in a game. Although I don't totally agree with their philosophy, the SH coaches have no problem with substituting out all 5 players at any time. There is no one player on SH that you can shut down and expect to win. Will Carter, Hunter LeVeau, Zack Howard, Shannon Hale, and Jaylen Allen have each had a night where they led the team in scoring. It is only time before SH's potentially best player, Will Adams, will have a break out night. In addition, they play scrappy defense because they are not worried about fouling out. There is always someone on the bench that's available. Shannon Hale, their most consistent big man, hasn't played a full half in two games. It looks as if he will be out for about two weeks with an ankle. But they have LeVeau for offense and three other post men that play good defense on the bench and another post man that is about as good playing JV. SH's core is their freshmen and sophmores. SH loses two Seniors after this year. The next year they lose four seniors. So the next two seasons, I agree that SH should be really hard to beat. They will be good the third year, but they will lose a lot of talent and depth from this year's sophmore class. From what I hear, this year's eight grade is not as strong as the previous two years have been.

Let's not crown SH too soon. Sometimes they look like world beaters, other times they play like the freshment they are, especially went they start shooting too much from the outside. Last night, they looked especially good, but I believe South really suffered when Bailee Dick went down. Hunter LeVeau had a career game for SH, but I think he is the most under utilized player on the SH team. I have watched Hunter play for several years, and in my opinion he is one of the best natural athletes that I have seen. In the post, he is a scoring machine. He is too quick for the bigger post players and too tall for most of the quicker, shorter post. Unfortunately, he is not one of the stronger defensive players on a team that would rather play defense than score on offense. In my opinion, SH will do well in the conference, but they will have trouble outside the conference because of their like of consistency in shooting and their refusal to have a strong post presence.

Big game tonight between SH and South. I hope it is not as contentious as the game with DB. Each team needs a win. SH needs a win to keep pace with DB, and South needs a win to stay in contention for the conference championship.

Big games between DB and South Friday night and Tuesday night between South and SH.

Plowboy, It looks like it is you and me! I am already looking forward to the match ups between Daniel Norris, Clint Freeman, and Kevin Connell from Boone. What other match ups do you forsee? I always like to get people's opinions concerning players to watch during the year. I can only speak for Science Hill. Pitching--Daniel Norris-Science Hill will always have a chance with Daniel pitching. SH lost the rest of their pitching staff to gradutation. It will be interesting to see how SH fills pitching this year. Good sophmore group of pitchers, but are probably still a year away. Tyler Wilson (Senior), will be good in short doses. The rest of the conference has a plethora of talented left-handers--Freeman (Crockett) and Connell(Boone). Hitting may be at a premium this year. Infield--SH stable up the middle. Corey McPhearson (Senior) at shortstop and Zack Thompson (Junior) at second base. I would like to see Corey be a little more patient and fluid. Sometimes seems to hurry (IMO). Corners (1st and 3rd) are question marks. DelGaicco (Senior) probably at first, but hurt most of last year. Ashburn (Senior) and Nelson (Junior) could play, more likely will DH. Third base, probably Will Carter, but don't rule out Will Craig (Freshman). Outfield--When Norris isn't pitching, I think (I may be biased since I've seen him play more) Norris is the best overll outfielder in the conference in terms of fielding, hitting, base running, arm, and speed. Smith (Junior) will probably play--good hitter, but suspect fielder. Janeway (Senior) will probably be the other outfielder--good fielder, suspect hitter. Catching--Fair (Junior) has the inside track, but Justin Snyder (Sophmore) could be. SH is trying to convert people to catching with little success. DB and Crockett probably have the better catching in the conference. Anyone else's opinions regarding players to watch for this spring: 1st base: 2nd base: 3rd base: ss: McPhearson (SH) catcher: outfield: Norris (SH) dh: Ashburn (SH) pitchers: Norris (SH)

Any news on the Big 8? With a new year comes an approaching new baseball season. Is anyone getting excited about the upcoming season?

We'll see how your rankings are this week. Science Hill plays Sevier County on Thursday.

Crawdad, There isn't much interest in Big 8 this year. I believe that the conference is weaker overall this year, so there is not much confidence in any of the teams. Science Hill has its moments, but continues to be inconsistent. Some days they look like world beaters, other days they are not very impressive. Their most solid, consistent player is Shannon Hale, but they go long stretches without him touching the ball. I have also seen some other players get hot, and suddenly they stop getting the ball. Science Hill coaches sometimes seem to more interested in a philosophy of constantly putting people in and taking people out than scoring points. The team is enamoured with the three point shot, but they don't have a consistent three point shooter. However, I know it is hard to coach with so much inconsestency. Other teams are equally inconsistent. I watched Crockett fizzle against South. Again, Crockett looked great for three quarters, then they destructed. They could not close the deal. DB and THS don't have the hosses this year. South has been the most consistent, but I heard that something happened to their point guard. So it looks like the conference is open to whomever is willing to step up and take it.