4A Baseball

Pine Forest

I think it's going to be an interesting season for us. As always it will depend on who steps up and takes charge of the team. Not talking about coaching...players. Also, if they can come together "as a team" quickly it will be to their benefit. Oh well, 6 days to tryouts.

 

John T. Hoggard - Wilmington

Should be pretty good again this season... when I played in Wilmington they were smart enough not to need my services on the varsity squad...

 

The Braves PreSeason 4A Poll Jinx is in play...

It's as powerful as the SI Cover Jinx ....

Gee, thanks Braves....

 

Tell RV I said "hi" and I'll see him at the State Championship. It's as good as gold!!!!

 

so do you really think providence is worthy of #2? why

 

Not really, I believe they are worthy of #1, but Rose is the defending champions and until someone knocks them off......

They have a strong, deep and talented pitching staff. They can play small ball or go yard. They are excellent defensively and they have an excellent mixture of young and experienced players. But to combine all this with strong leadership from their seniors and their exceptional coaching staff...well, they face some major obstacles in front of them, but it will only make them stronger for the playoffs.

This may be the most talented Providence team in a decade

 

so why would providence be put ahead of Ardrey kell in your opinion. This is the same team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year.Did providence bring something special in this year that was'nt there last season?By the way they narrowly got away from Hopewell to get a shot at kell (dropped ball in right field).this hopewell team also beat them earlier in the season with there ace on the mound.After all being said i do agree there a good team,but some tend to over hipe them.

 

Overhype? Please link any posts that have suggested that. I have not read any on TBR? In fact, most that I have read listed AK as the clear fravorite. But...AK lost a key player that they can not replace; Jordan Darnell. He was the heart and soul of that team, as well as Jonnie Eaker. Don't get me wrong, I like AK a lot. They have tremendously talented players: I love Patterson. I look for him to be the leader and I'm really looking for AWood to have an outstanding year...and their coaching is as talented as you will find anywhere.

You can flip a coin between these two teams. But just as I thought Darnell will be the difference last year between the two teams, I believe Richie Shaffer will be the difference this year....and Zupcic is an extremely underrated player

But I don't have a dog in this fight, so I'm happy when either team does well. I admire and are friends with both teams' coaches, so I don't pull for one against the other. What these two teams need to fear is not playing against each other, it's when they play Myers Park, Butler, South Meck and watch out for East Meck. Those teams are capable of beating anybody, so AK and Providence better come to play every night or the playoffs won't matterand they'll be sitting at home watching these other teams compete.

And let me illiustrate why last year's performance or even this year's early season games have no bearing on the end of the season. 5 years ago a very strong South Meck team beat Independence 25-2 in the early part of the year. They had a rematch in the playoffs and SM scoffed at the competition. Needless to say, SM got beat and Independence went on to play for the State Championship.

All this early talk is just for fun. Nobody has a crystal ball and nobody knows how the outcome will turnout. We may find that Myers Park is the strongest team in the West. It may be West Forsyth or South Caldwell...or it could be my boys from the mountains, Watauga. It may even be on the northside of Charlotte with Hopewell or North Meck....who knows? All we have now are predictions...and what are they worth?

 

What you don't realize is that Braves is doing this on purpose. He's trying to give Providence a reason to play their butts off this year. It looks as though it has already begun to work with you.

 

..would I do something like that?