Borobaseball

you fell for it didnt brennan leave in 99 Yes I would love to put Brennan King, Casey Rauschenberger, and Jerry Knox on this list but they graduated in 99 after the Pats won the 1st championship

After reading the Columbia thread, I thought doing the same thing for Oakland would be easy....in the words of Lee Corso "not so fast my friend". I did not consider any players that are currently on the roster...they have to prove alot to make this list Here is what I have come up with so far Pitchers- John Williams, Jason Sharber, Patrick Hicklen, Steve Kline, Zach Primm, Nick Jones, Brad Robinson, Marcus Barnes, and Brett Wilson Catchers- Tommy Smith and Drew Fann Infielders- Shane Vaughn, Chuck Akers, Michael Richardson, Brad Todd, Tennyson Dodd, and Tyler Burnett Outfielders- Jeremy Slayden, Caleb Barrett, Jake Birkofer, Doug Birkofer, Nathan Hines, and PJ Polk

One of these 3 teams will play for the title against Farragut.....Oakland, Riverdale, or Blackman

Very good breakdown southpaw.....I know Oakland is going to be back playing at the level people are used to seeing them play. Last year was just one of those years.....but it might have helped them more than they know.

I do not like this rule. Did the coaches vote on this or is it a TSSAA rule?

Really? Did they pick up a few pitchers? Everyone knows about smith and dodd but who are their other pitchers that make them the deepest? Who will your starting 3 be? It's called development Riverdaleman!!! Dodd-Sr, Peek-Sr, Newman-Sr, Smith-Jr, Moore-Jr, Hughes-Jr, Monaghan-Jr, Hawks-Jr, Sanderson-So Eight of Oakland's pitchers are seniors and juniors....i would say every coach in the state would be happy to go into the season with that many upperclassmen who can pitch...Are they the deepest in the district???? Time will tell, but I like Oakland's chances this year

who the "best" is can never really be determined because of the different levels and competition that high schools play against. Stats can be very missleading as well, some kids play on small fields where some play on big fields...I would love for you to give me your list of the "best" in TN. Call Baseball America and they will tell you the answer to your question...of course it's thier opinion only

so if every player on a team hits 9 home runs, by your logic ,this wouldn't be a team with POWER and if every player on a team hits .399, by your logic, this would not be a GREAT hitting team lol great post...maybe you should actually go watch some games buddy

While Walters State is very good, they can not beat most D1 schools. They only have Freshmen and Sophomores, while the D1s have Juniors and Seniors. I know they even lose to some NAIA schools when they play them in the fall. A couple thoughts 1)walters state is better than any NAIA school in the state period. Wins and losses don't mean squat in the fall. 2) Based on the past transfers and previous drafts, I would put WS right behind Vandy, UT, MTSU, and Memphis. I would love for you to tell Woody Hunt that!!!!!!!!!

What do you think will make him stand out? Very good hitter and his determination....The kid is a winner

Erik Eilers RHP/1b Oakland Keep an eye on this kid....he will be a stud

If history holds true, then people better watch out for Oakland this year. Coach Hawks doesn't have back to back subpar seasons, and they are loaded with upperclassmen (mostly juniors with a ton of talent)

Ok I'll bite if they can get out of that brutal, tough, demanding district and region....they might have a chance History is not on thier side....no AAA team has ever won 3 in a row Farragut started dominating the state when the tssaa expanded the state tournament to 8 teams

They get to state on a regular basis because there is no competition in the east tn districts or regions

TheFarragutUniversity You act like going to WKU or any other school outside the SEC is a bad thing....in case you didn't know, Michael McKenry went to MTSU, and I believe he is the best player you've had at Farragut and he didn't go SEC....your arrogance is disgusting

I wasn't saying they had open zoning. I was just saying if they had open zoning you could end up with something like 99 Oakland. It was in response to a previous post. But, they may not have had open zoning but they did have some people move in that were not originally from that area if I am not mistaken. Every kid lived in Oakland zone...sorry i didn't understand your post

I also saw Germantown 95 with my own eyes and I would still take Oakland 99....better hitting top to bottom Oakland will be back to the state in 2010 or 2011....they are loaded with upperclassmen

Did you really just say "best in the country"??? I think only one of those players went D-1, and that was to MTSU. Whilst Curt Powell went to Vanderbilt.. you may of heard of it. MTSU is a great school, sounds like you are dogging the blue raiders with your comment

by columbiaguy » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:05 am Somebody asked in a post earlier if a Rutherford Co. school had open zoning what would happen. The answer is '99 Oakland. By far the best team ever to play high school baseball in TN. Agreed that this team is the best ever ( I saw them with my own eyes).....but open zoning is not the reason. That statement is ridiculous because all those kids lived in the Oakland zone, so I don't understand your statement

Just to be clear, Oakland and Riverdale have done a remarkable job producing college level baseball players for a long time. Both schools have sent players to numerous Division 1 schools, juco, Naia, etc....that is a credit to the players and coaches that have worked at those schools. Coach Peterson at MTSU has made it a point to recruit Murfreesboro since we have some of the best talent in the state. 22 Oakland-Riverdale players have played for Coach Peterson in the last 10 years Oakland (13 players) Kyle Thomas Chuck Akers John Williams Stevie Kline Jerry Knox Nick Jones Brad Todd Dougie Birkofer Brad Robinson Nathan Hines* (currently playing) Steven Watson* (currently playing) Tyler Burnett* (currently playing) Brett Wilson* (currently playing) Riverdale (9) Phillip Campbell Jeremy Armstrong Tim Crunk Wayne Kendrick Alex Watson Matt Campbell Justin Humphrey Justin Jones* (currently playing) Coty Woods* (currently playing)

I would have to agree with this post....Oakland has more than Riverdale by a landslide....from 1994 to 2009, I can think of at least 50 kids that have left Oakland and played college ball at some level or played minor league ball at some level. Scotter James Steve Kline Joe McHenry Jeremy Slayden Aaron Olita Tommy Smith Ryan Boyer Jake Birkofer Kyle Thomas John Peterson Tj Allen Nick Jones Brennan King Caleb Barrett Casey Rauchenberger Dougie Birkofer Jerry Knox Nathan Hines John Williams Brett Wilson Jason Sharber Tyler Burnett Patrick Hicklen PJ Polk Chuck Akers T. Dodd That's just the 26 I thought of right away, but there are MANY more Oakland=Baseball Factory

Great article today in the DNJ.....brings back some memories!!!! BY TOM KREAGER ??? TKREAGER@DNJ.COM ??? April 21, 2009 There have been plenty of good baseball teams from Murfreesboro in recent years. None can compare to the 1999 Oakland championship team, which will be honored prior to the Patriots' home baseball game on Saturday with Blackman. There will be a reception prior to the game at 4 p.m. The team will be introduced prior to the 6:30 p.m. start. The 1999 Patriots were full of talent that dominated the state. After talking with coach Mack Hawks and others in the office, my only question: How did they lose two games? This team was stacked top to bottom. The Patriots hit .387 as a team that season and averaged 9.6 runs a game. They had five players hit over .400. One player ??” Brennan King ??” hit over .500. And Oakland had a stellar pitching rotation that had a 2.13 ERA. It's rotation was so deep, guys like Steve Kline and Patrick Hicklen ??” future MTSU and Tennessee pitchers ??” didn't need to fill big roles. King, who was taken in the MLB draft out of high school, is just one of the many standouts on that team. Every starter had an opportunity to continue playing after baseball. Jason Sharber, like King, was drafted out of high school. Jeremy Slayden, a sophomore on that team, went to Georgia Tech after high school. Pitcher Jerry Knox went to Columbia State and then MTSU. Outfielder Chuck Akers and pitcher John Williams also went to MTSU. "That was a fun group to coach," Hawks said. "They were good kids. You know, with a team that talented you might think you'd have somebody that might want more playing time, but that was a very unselfish group. Their goal was to win state. "You think that talented group it would be hard to coach, but it was easy to coach them." There were some that tried to compare last year's Oakland team to the 1999 team. No offense, but the 1999 Patriots will go down as the best ever to play in Murfreesboro. It's even better than the 2000 team that won a state title. This team had it all, coaching, pitching and hitting. It had big-league talent throughout the lineup and a great pitching rotation. With the size of Rutherford County and the number of schools around the county, no coach will ever be able to field a team that was as talented as this bunch. Zoning lines won't allow it. "The 1999 team ??” that was one of those once-in-a-lifetime teams," Hawks said. "I was fortunate to have one of those. They were all good players. And they were a lot of fun to coach." Tom Kreager is prep editor of The Daily News Journal. E-mail him at tkreager@dnj.com.

Yes this is a BAD loss, but you need to take some meds and chill out......Oakland will still be fine I would say dissapointing but not embarrassment....that's taking it a little far

Thanks Coach, but with everything you and your program have accomplished, I don't think you needed to justify ANYTHING to anybody on these boards.

I agree this shouldn't even be an issue.....I find it to be a great motivational tool for his team, obviously he isn't satisfied with being number 2, and he shouldn't be.