HS Teams to watch in 2004

This ought to start some arguments/discussion !!!!!

Big South 3A

Looks to be a two team fight next season. Ashbrook is returning virtually every player from it's state championship 3A team. East Gaston has lost only 3 players (Summerlin, Cline and Morton) and returns everyone else from the #2 team in the BS3A. South Point is always dangerous. The graduation of the twins from East Lincoln will hurt this club. This looks to be a good battle next season.

NPC 3A
West Rowan ended the season ranked #6 in the state and returns just about everyone. They will have great senior leadership and one of the best 3A pitchers in the state in Patrick Adams. AL Brown was very young last season, but gave everyone fits. Almost everyone returns on that team. NW Cabarrus is always tough, but will suffer with the # of players lost to graduation. It still looks to be a 3-team race with Mooresville in 4th, but WR and ALBrown look to be the pre-season favorites.

SPC 3A
Perenial favorite Piedmont has lost two big time players to graduation in Matt Foard and Jimmy Race. Still, overall the conference isn't balanced. Parkwood and Sun Valley may make some noise next season, but it's hard to choose against Piedmont, the way they have dominated lately.

Rocky River 2A
Mount Pleasant will be hard hit by the graduation of Josh Benton. This will open up the conference quite a bit. Look for North Stanly to make a hard run at the conference title, but the early favorite has to be West Stanly.

Midwest 2A
Chad Flack will return for a final campaign for the defending state 2A champs, East Rutherford. With Marcus Covington graduating, Bandys has a chance to close on ER, but it's hard to choose against a team that has been averaging 20 wins/season for the past 10 years. Look for ER to repeat.

Meca 8 4A
Defending champions Central Cabarrus will have a rough road ahead of them next season and may slip all the way to 4th in the conference. The 3 leaders in the title hunt are Hopewell, Independence and North Meck. Hopewell returns a solid squad with, perhaps the best 3-4 hitters in the conference in Ben Beard/Dan Woodall. They will be solid on the mound and have an experienced infield. Independence will return 3 key players (Farry, Rockett and McMahon) who will anchor the rotation while McMahon does the receiving chores. With the graduation of Ren McKinnon at West Charlotte, McMahon may have the strongest arm behind the dish in the conference. North Meck returns a season older but still just as fast as last season. NM has won the conference tourney for the last 3 years and may have the inside track on the #1 spot. NM may have the deepest pitching rotation in the region next season.

SW4A
State Runner-up Myers Park will be hurt hard by graduation. They have a solid group of JV players coming up, but may be a year away from contending in the conference. The pre-season favorite has to be South Meck, returning key players at necessary positions, with good arms on the hill. Olympic should move into the top-4, giving battle to Providence and East Meck. In the end, it's going to be another dog-fight ... this time between SM, EM and Providence.

 

NCBBALLFAN, your assessment of the NPC 3A in 2004 is pretty accurate. West Rowan won the NPC in 2003, but the Falcons will simply be a favorite for the state title in 2004 with all their horses (Adams, Waller, Graham, Wilson & Co.) returning for their senior seasons. Kannapolis won nearly 20 games in 2003 and yet finished 3rd in the NPC. The Wonders will return all of their pitching led by their tall-sidearming Sherrill as well as 6 solid starters (Bartles, Mead, Query & Co.) for 2004. Northwest Cabarrus will have Ketner on the mound, but overall the Trojans will have a very young team in 2004 with a handful of sophomores in their lineup. The Trojans will be talented but young. Mooresville brings back Tyler Lackey and a good group to back him up, so don't count out the Devils. Lastly, you simply must include East Rowan every year, because the Mustangs will always have good pitching and better than average talent.
I have an idea for a great early season nonconference game, why don't we "getup" an early nonconference matchup with Ashbrook playing West Rowan next spring. It would be a good one for the fans.

 

SPC 3A

NCBBallFan,

I agree it is hard to go against Piedmont again, but Piedmont loses 7 of its starting 9 players including Jimmy Race, Dan Brooks, Jeremy Helms, Josh Edwards, Tyler Greene, Josh Bartlett and more importantly, Matt Foard, the SPC Player of the Year the last two years. Helms, Bartlett and Foard, with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 games pitched every game this year. I know their JV's went 17-0 but I think there is going to be at least 1 year for their pitchers to make the transition.

I think the SPC will definitely be as competitive, maybe more next year, but my favorites are Weddington, co-conference champions with Piedmont this year, Robinson, and of course, SV. Weddington does lose their star pitcher Pflum, but have a strong junior-to-be in Jeremy Sain. They also lose Cal Wilson - CF, Kreisher - 1B, but return leading hitter Josh Mangum -3B, and Matt Heath - 2B. All of these guys made All UC and I think All SPC. They will also return their RF - Brian Pederson, SS - Alex Helms and 2B - Brett Butler.

Robinson was supposed to be more competitive this year especially after the season they had 2 years ago. These guys can hit, hit and hit. Not sure if they lose anyone but they have Greg Miclat at SS and Bret Clay at P/C. One of their really good young players, Frankie McAteer was hurt this season but should return next year.

SV, which finished 14-7, returns all of its starters including its top 3 pitchers, Blalock 6-2, Privette 5-3, and Kwasnik 3-1. Add in a couple of freshmen that were added late in the season but contributed mightily and I think SV will be pretty solid.

Parkwood was also a senior led team much like Piedmont. Parkwood will lose Jon McManus, their star pitcher, Matt Starnes -SS, Bobby Carpenter - P/1B, and Chris Harrington - 3B. Not sure about Cam Sherrin at 2B, but they will return Jamie Kisiah - C and as I understand it, new coach Mark Mennitt.

Anson had a down year, but was extremely young and was hurt by the loss of one of their best pitchers for a short time, Kyle Eudy. I look for Anson to be back strong next year.

One of the teams that impressed me a lot was Concord. During the end of the season, they were one of those teams that you didn't want to face in the tournament. Ask Weddington and Parkwood. I really don't know enough about what they lose and what they have coming back, but their pitching was strong with Tripper Newsome, Ward, Ambrosini.

Did I leave anyone out?

 

Spartanfan .....

You're on such a roll, do the RR2A also !!!!

 

NCBBALLFAN, I'll help you out with the RRC 2A with one simple statement...

...don't "EVER" count out Mt.Pleasant...

The Tigers own that league until someone else knocks them off...

 

Providence High rules the earth!

Man I miss Gary Smith.

 

Don't forget Waddell

I beleive Waddell is going to be a force in the SW4A conference.
They're returning nearly everyone and they have a good coach!
These young men have played together since the school opened and they're a team. I not saying they will win it, but woe to the team that takes them lightly!!

 

Next year's meca-8 will be a difficult one to match, although there is much talk of the southern charlotte conference, I dont think that any team that will play in that conference will be able to touch the top two or maybe even three teams in the Meca-8. Teams like North Meck with Porter (smart), Cassell (smart), and Rosenbaughm (youngster), Hopewell with Keesee(overpowering) and Stage (offspeed but effective)Indy with Farry(location), its hard to say that the SW4A conference has anything to offer them. Please inform me if you believe differently.

 

The pitching in the Meca 8 next year should be outstanding. They will probably field the best set of pitchers in the conference in a long time. The SW4A has a few to pair up with them, the the pitching will be a strength in the Meca 8. There is some exciting ball games on tap for next season.

 

No offense but i seriously doubt Waddell will be a "FORCE" in the SW4A, Bagwell, Greeson, Demming and who knows who Providence's coach will be next year will have their kids ready to compete and it will be another dog fight as usual!