Slyder

Oakland is beginning to swing the bats like we all thought they would. Tyler Burnett has been swinging it very well. Had another multi-hit game last night against Blackman. He has to be leading the team in hitting and he is driving the ball to all fields. I am curious as to how many doubles he has this year. Big year for Tyler thus far though...and the best year defensively for him as well. PJ Polk continues to hi very well and seems to be on base 3 times a game. Drew Fann is getting his swing back...he hit a ball last night at Blackman into a high breeze and nearly got it out of there. I believe we had 25 hits in 9 official innings against Blackman...so it is up and down the line up. But pitching....WOW. 2 no hitters this year by Oakland hurlers! Marcus has dominated, Burnett has thrown well, the emergence of sophomore Brett Wilson (5-0) as a very crafty lefty pitcher has helped tremendously. But factor in Big Brennan Stender, Tyler Morrow, Eric Renfroe and Chesshire Rigler! Oaklands new pitching coach, Travis Holland, has done an excellent job with these guys. He has made pitchers out of several "throwers". He has really kept Burnett, Dodd, and Parsley from having to come out of their positions and off the mound by teaching and utilizing other people. A couple of times, we have ran Barnes out to getting an inning in a game to keep him fresh! Our arms are in great shape going into the belly of the district season. The team really respects asst. coach Andy Smeltzer to. These new coaches are really helping Coach Hawks and Coach Mitchell. I enjoy hearing about coaches being focused and driven, and positive! We need the big push the next couple of weeks though. It is good to see the "team" playing and getting up for each other. This is the chemistry they will need to make up ground on Riverdale in the District hunt.

Is it just me, or has the high school coverage in Murfreesboro been an after thought in the minds of the local paper? Yes, their was a nice and well deserving article on the Riverdale game. But the Riverdale Oakland battle ( to 3-2 victories by the Warriors) got as much press as the 5 year Wal Mart tee-ball team. Blackman has had 1 decent article this year. The Blackman/Oakland series got 3 sentences today. Girls softball is worse. We need to rally and get the local paper to cover local sports. MTSU should be covered, everything else is on ESPN.

David, great tournament and 1,000 attaboys for being able to pull it off. I too was only there to watch my kid play, but in the interim, I got to watch some great baseball at Oakland! Best tournament around. My solution...build a domed stadium (or 6) so mother nature will not factor into your scheduling. or maybe contact the 600 parents to make sure your schedule will work. Please David, do not feel like you need to explain yourself...your integrity and work ethic speaks volumes as a person!

Suprisingly, the Pats are having a hard time scoring runs and stringing hits together. It is frustrating and the players are showing it. I, by no means, am a high school coach and do not have 2 rings to show my accomplishments, but I think they can make a run in the district and get hot at the right time. The pitching has not been bad, in fact, it has been a bright spot. Oakland has a couple of pitchers that are very effective for a couple innings (or 1 time through the line up). After that they get roughed up, but they are young. We have given up some runs this year in tournaments where you have to stick with pitchers longer than you normally would. But the pitching has not been bad. The pitching coach has done very well with them IMO, and has been very positive on the bench. I like a coach that yells positive commments to your batters. Offensively, I would like to see a consistent batting line up just to settle things. I would like to see aggressive confident hitters and see how many runs they could score. I would run Barnes, Polk, Wright, and McGowan every chance I could just to jump start things. If I was managing the Yankees I would... It is so great being a Monday morning quarterback isn't it? And I agree, homeruns are only a small part of the game. The stat that probably should be monitored and feared is OB% or average with runners in scoring position.

You are correct OaklandGrad. Barnes and Burnett did not throw at all and Wilson and Dodd only threw 1 inning each. I am sure Riverdale saved their pitching as well though. Brennan Stender (1-0) pitched great the 1st game over Jackson Christian with the freshmen Taylor Clark and Scott Ward each throwing an inning. The Patriots hit 3 homeruns that game. Back to back by Burnett and Polk then a grand slam by Warren. In game 2 against Baylor, young Cheshire Rigler threw very well for 3 innings keeping Baylor at bay. Baylor struck in the 4th inning though. Being short on pitching with the district starting in 2 days, we left Rigler out a little long. Taylor Clark threw again very well to finish the game. Parsley hit well and Barnes hit a 2 run homer. We lost to Farragut 9-3 Saturday, although the game was a lot closer than the score. Eric Renfroe threw 3 great innings. Parsley was the hard luck loser in the 5th with the score knotted at 3, Farragut loaded the bases. Parsley got the 2nd out when a Farragut batter smashes a ball headed to left field. Tennyson Dodd makes a great play and the thow to first was a little wide. Fann catches and sweep tags the runner who was called safe. A double and single by the next two batters makes the final score. Andy Morrow pitched Oakland to victory over Father Ryan by the score 10-3. The Patriots pounded out 13 hits. Wilson and Dodd each got an inning work in after the game was decided. Burnett and Polk hit the ball very well. McConnell, Barnes, Warren all had timely hitting. The pitching was great. The new pitching coach has done a great job. Going into the tournament without your top 4 pitchers and playing .500 ball is acceptable. Defense, overall, was good and the hitting is good. I would like to see all the players hit at the same time and see what could happen.

O.K? Don't know how we stole him, but is not being held hostage... But glad to have him. The Patriots improved to 2-0 on the young season with a convincing 11-4 victory over Hendersonville. Tyle Burnett got the pitching victory with Andy Morrow coming in and throwing 3 scoreless innings. Morrow did a great job. Hendersonville scored 2 in the top of the 1st inning, but a 3 run homerun by Tennyson Dodd erased the deficit. Dodd, Phillip Parsley and PJ Polk each had 2 hits for the Patriots and Seth McConnell and Kyle Henry each had a hit. Our defense looked pretty solid last night as well. Probably the best total showing by the Patriots, definitely areas to improve on, but as a whole, pitching, hitting, defense, base running...all looked pretty good.

Agreed Striper24, but under the "what if" category (which is my favorite), Ruth probably could not start on the yankees now which the items you listed and Mantle would have been #1. Let's assume the knee injury would happen and take his speed, the work out regiments and better monitoring would have kept the Mick healthier. 538 career homeruns, I think, and he was hung over or drunk, if you believe the stories. IMO

We won opening day in 2003 season...on the way to the state in fact. Saluqi signee walked 3 times on 13 pitches. Did not get to swing the bat at all. Good crowd opening night too, especially as chilly as it got. Oakland Grad...will you be there for any games during the tournament?

Since the thread is Willie vs. Mickey and not some high school player (the godly statement is inappropriate) my thoughts are...over the course of their career Willie Mays would be the choice. Better numbers. Over the course of a few season when the Mick was healthy, my vote would be Mickey Mantel. A switch hitting, power hitting, gazel on numerous championship teams! If you enjoy reading, read the book The Mick.

Oakland Grad...got the site back up around 2p today. Missing LetsPlay2, he handled it for years. Barnes did not throw that many pitches really. One inning he had a 5 pitch inning. The other 4 innings he was striking people out. I was pleased witht the way we swung the bats. Their pitching was walking several, but we did have 5 players to have hits.

Good to here from you...I was getting worried. The new blue uniforms are awesome, BUT the Pats looked good last night. Other than the dominating performance by Barnes, they hit pretty good and the defense was ok. A couple of aggressive errors, which i can live with. But good start. Was you there?

Good preseason by the Patriots. Defense needs to improve a little, but much improved over the last few years. Pitching has been pretty solid and we are hitting much better earlier. Dodd has had 2 or more hits the last several games with RBIS. Burnett has started hitting, with power 2 homers, 2 doubles last two games. Fann continues to swing it well. Warren is driving the ball with a couple of homers the last 2 games. Parsely has hit all spring, with power. I believe we had 6 players hit homers for a total of 9 for the preseason. Polk and Barnes has been swinging it well nd Kyle Henry has swungit well. Barnes has thrown very well and Burnett has done well. Should be an exciting season. I know they are better prepared and conditioned this year. Lets hope for the best!

Smryna At Oakland, March 13th @ 5:30pm. Sonny Gray vs. Marcus Barnes!

Agreed...3 hits, 2 homeruns, 5 RBIs and the winning pitcher. Tyler threw well, just left his change up a little high a few times and, Mt. Juliet, being the good hitters they are, hit them. Cotham mashed one over center for Mt. Juliet and Parsleys homerun was opposite field..which you have to love!

This thread has been one for the ages and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I, for one, appreciate the wit and sarcasm interjected into this forum along with the passion. But it does goes to show you, people believe what they read and that is why the showcases are making money hand over fist. I am guilty of most of the things cited here and will admit it. I believe everyone's core belief is the same...but lets not take a baseball thread with fake names and happy faces too seriously.

Good reply OaklandGrad...it is the Oakland thread and I would hope there is excitement and anticipation. And you made a vaild point about dominating. I have not seen anyone say The Patriots will dominate. All I (we) can hope for is they play the best baseball they can. Doesn't mean they will win the district or anything. I have been around for a few years and I am optimistic...but not unrealistic. I know the pitching is light years ahead of where we normally are. I know the hitting is coming around sooner. I also know we are young with only 1 senior and our pitching staff is untested in big district games. I "think" we will be fine...but the yankees don't win every game, every world series...but at this time of the year The Yankees and The Devil Rays are tied for 1st! The "I love me" pills will be here next year; spearheaded by me! And by the way, the PAts won over Mt. Juliet 23-10 with 4 homeruns and Barnes dominatiing on the mound and Burnett throwing well against a good Mt. Juliet team! Sorry, swallowed one of those pills I guess

Mt. Juliet did not throw Cotham, but the Pats swung it well. Oakland scored 10 runs in the first 2 innings with 2 outs! Burnett threw 3 innings gave up 5 runs, 3 earned. He was leaving his change up high and Mt. Juliet hit it. Barnes was lights out! Freshman Taylor Clark pitched an inning late and threw well. Several players out of position and he gave up some unearned runs. Final score was 23-10, 18-5 after 5. Oakland did hit 4 homeruns (2 by Burnett), Mt. Juliet hit 3. Hitting, and I am close here... Polk, Parsley, Fann, Dodd, Warren, Burnett, Kyle Henry, McGowan, Barnes all had RBIs and hits. GOOD SHOWING by the Patriots.

I agree with Riverdaleman

I had a wedgie once. I hated it too!

From the records book at the Davidson County Penial League, cc called a perfect game back in 2004. His catcher was quoted as saying that cc and his signs were difficult to read but cc was unafraid to throw the scratch ball and would go to the picking pitch at any count. cc was quoted as saying "he was more focused on his rash and allergies than calling the game, but the results were good"?

Just come to the games and have a good time! Great to see students supporting the program.

So when you have one foot off the ground, your right index finger in you left ear and you blink 1 with your left eye and 3 times with your right....

I have ordered him a Patriot Blue eye patch, should go with all the uni's. cc's been helping the catcher learn the new signals being sent in from the dugout. The eye patch is on the same side as the home dugout...cc is working on morse code signals and cannot communicate with us now.

Great news! This should stop all the naysayers.

I am going to say blue on pinstripes. I would like the pinstripes ( I am tried of blue). I wish they would bust out the red tops on white bottoms. The Pats looked good Saturday. Barnes and Burnett held Goodpasture in check. Barnes got in trouble once on passball stirke three and an error and gave up some unearned runs. The defense looked good particularly Dodd at third and Fann behind the plate. At the plate they were paced by Dodd, Warren, Barnes, Fann, Burnett that stands out in my mind. The new pitching coach is really paying dividends IMO. Good pitch selections, ect. Dodd thew a scoreless inning himself!