SW4A in 2009-10

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to give you guys my thoughts about this conference as far as baseball is concerned. Without Alex Wood and Richie Schaffer to carry their respective teams I believe this season will be full of surprises. Here are my thoughts.

Favorites to win:
1) Ardrey Kell High School
2) Butler High School
3) Providence High School

I put them in this order because, obviously, Ardrey Kell is going to be very good offensively. However, their pitching may be their "achilles heel." Ryan Butler and Ashton Lover are the aces of the staff. Ryan Butler had a very impressive high school season but from what I heard he experienced an under-par summer with the South Charlotte Panthers. Ashton Lover has hit 90mph on the gun but unfortanetly I have not gotten the opportunity to see his pitch ability in certain situations. To sum it up if Ardrey Kell gets timely pitching and minimizes errors in the field they have a very good chance to come out on top
Now I would like to talk about Buter High School. With the loss of Tyler Tewell the catcher position will have to be filled. Matt Rose will do a fine job defensively behind the plate for the Bulldogs. His pop time is normally around 2.00 but has gotten it to 1.94. Unlike Ardrey Kell, Butler High School will have dominant pitching. Ryan Mas, Patrick McMahon and Brandon Mcwhirter will most likely be the starting pitchers. Patrick McMahon has had 2 very good seasons on varsity under Head Coach Kim Cousar. Last season he posted a 4-2 record in the regular season and carried the workload for the Bulldogs the past two seasons. He has recieved a lot of interest from different college programs including App. St. University, Francis Marion University, UNC-Charlotte and Wingate University. Ryan Mas will most likely be the ace this year for the Bulldogs. After a great summer with The Carolina Twisters he recieved a scholarship to play baseball to attend school at UNC-Charlotte. He is normally 84-88 and his 2-seamer is one of the most deadly pitches I've seen in a while. He also competed in the State Games of North Carolina with the champion team, Region 6. Last season with the Bulldogs, he was 1-1 in starts and had 4 saves. His ERA was 2.10. Brandon Mcwhirter is a left handed pitcher along with Patrick McMahon who has the opportunity to be something very special. He is already recieving interest as a Junior from Charleston Southern University, UNC-Charlotte and Wingate University. His fastball is normally 81-84 and has topped out at 86 mph. He was 1-0 in starts last year for the Bulldogs and this year will work for more starts. However, with all of this great pitching and defense, offense with be a big concern for the Bulldogs. They will look to Matt Rose, David Anderson and Chase Gehringer to spark the offense.
I think Providence High School will have a good chance this year as well. Their number 1 starter, Kurt Seminuk, had a good summer with the South Charlotte Panthers and looks to carry it into the school season. Their offense will be good being led by Jackson Campana, Brett Austin and Jake Fincher. Look for Campana to get some mound time as well. Kyle Kessler will also be a high profile starter for the Panthers as he pitched well in the summer for the South Charlotte Panthers and has gotten interest from Wingate University and some other schools.

My final decision:
Butler High School will come out on top and have a chance to compete for the State Championship in 4A. Defense win championships and BHS deffinitely has the defense and pitching.

 

Boy, that ought to get a response or two!

 

Where's Mincmi???

Bless your heart nymets ... clearly you are placing an early season bid to be the target for SW4A followers wrath.

We need MINCMI to straighten him out...seeking the voice of reason - please reply!

Not mentioned...East Meck, South Meck??? This is going to be a great year of baseball in SW4A - it will, as always, come down to the wire.

(Note to self....don't ever win the Jack Sink if you want to win SW4A)

 

Even though Mets' post may expose where his loyalties lay, he makes some very good points. Butler is positioned with talent across the field and their pitching, while not dominant, is exceptional. P-Mac is one of my favorites. There may be others with better stuff, but nobody will out-compete him. Every pitch he throws is challenging the hitter.

Providence lost some great leaders to graduation, but quantity of talent is never a question. Coach Hignight will be adding some outstanding JV talent that could have started last year for most teams...and the addition of Fincher will ease the loss of Clayton

Ardrey Kell lost some great leaders to graduation, as well. But they return some key players at critical positions. I don't know how anybody can be critical of their returning pitchers. All 3 starters are college calibre pitchers and they have the experience of pitching at the highest level. I believe Ashton Lover has the tools to be one of the few dominant pitchers in the conference. Also, AK has a new stud transferring in from out of state. The word is the kid was phenomenal at PG/WWBA at East Cobb.

East Meck will return two all conference pitchers in Olen Little and Lou Trosh and two highly touted infielders in Leighton and David Daniel. The key for them is how improved their hitting will be.

South Meck is an interesting pick. They return a lot of quality players, but it will be fun to see how they respond to their new coach. Coach Tuscan is coming over from the Providence program and I'm sure he will introduce some new ideas. For whatever reason, South Meck has underperformed based on their talent. Last year, they were the most talented team in the conference and at times played like that. They simply overwhelmed all the talented teams entered in the Jack Sink tournament, but faded down the stretch.

Myers Park is my dark horse to win the conference. I believe they will be even better this year. The key for them was returning Coach Spencer. He offers stability in a program that needed it. Plus, there is a strong chance that Coach Spencer may be able to add to his coaching staff the cherry on top of the sundae. Myers Park is incredibly talented; they just need more leadership from their seniors and to learn how to win the big games.

In a conference where all teams made the state playoffs, there is not much difference in what separates the top tier teams from the bottom tier. Weddington (oops) and Independence have some quality players and will beat the top teams, but won't be able to do so consistently.

 

A little too early for me. Usually have my league preview in November after fall practices stop for the NCHSAA dead period.


I think I could make a case for every team Braves mentioned to win the conference except Weddington and that is only because they are not in the league this year.


Teams better not overlook Independence. They were within a whisker of sending league champion Providence home in the first round of the state playoffs last season (losing 2-1) and they return 8-9 of nine starters who continue to improve. There top pitcher last season was a freshman. Psuritous will be one of the top sticks in the conference and SS/P Plyer would be a preseason all league selection for me.


Coaching changes at East and South will add a twist to the league. I like what Coach Tuscan has already done at South. See him out there daily working on his field. He has cut out a number of areas on the infield and resodded, mowing every couple of days with a reel mower, working on and using his irrigation. Field already looks better and he has just been there three weeks.

The one thing I can predict now about the SW4A in 2010 is that it will be a league full of top players making great plays, games will be close so if you do not bring it every night you lose, a break here and there will make the difference between being in the middle of the pack or wearing the crown and the team that will win is the one that takes advantage of breaks when they get them.

 

The lose of Jake Fincher (SS 2011 Providence HS) will have more effect on this team than they realize!

 

Gee..I never would've guessed! Under the guise of a post entitled SW4-A, you just merely wanted to cheerlead for Butler! Wow...that was about as transparent as Obama!