HS Teams to watch in 2004

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sds

omc, tbr.com llc

 

Thanks for the Welcome wagon gentlemen...i hope to participate in many of your conversations this summer and next school year!

 

SW4A

Providence - in my opinion the odds on favorite for the conference next year. first of all 8 out of the 9 starters next year have played on the mudcats, traditionally one of the best AAU team in the state, pitching may suffer, however they do return ryan jones, and A.J. mason. Mason did not throw much this year in my opinion he is the best pitcher they have. they have tons of team speed with mason, dietrich, the ahearn brothers, cory dunning, and catcher bobby northrup can run as well. they will have the best outfield in the conference, and the best second baseman in greg little. they also return all-conference catcher Bobby Northrup. Providence should be the team to beat.

East Meck - Hurt a ton by the graduation of 6 seniors. their season depends on the play of the rising juniors. they need someone to step up and fill the gap in the pitchin rotation, after buchanan, who will be there. Offense should not be as strong, after losing matt hill, tyler white, and shaughn neal. however matt michnichol should fill in nicely in center, the kidd can flat out fly. after a battle with his dislocated arm, joey savago is back throwing strong. the key issue will be with defense up the middle, and pitching. they will score enough runs, because the pitching of last year is gone.

South Meck - probably the only team close to providence talent wise. they have two quality arms in worrel and arrington. their lineup features zac kenedy, elliot arrington and kyle shelton, all three are key to the success of the sabres. The struggle among the sabres this year should be the outfield, kenedy who played center will move to either 3rd or 2nd, they need someone to step up and fill those gaps. also behind the plate stanford is a good catcher, has some problems with arm strength but blocks well, after a fall of longtoss he should be alright.

these are my big three this year. Over the past few years the conference has been a pitching dominated conference, but after the graduations of woodard, wilson, taffozoli, clay, collins, hausholter, and rex elliot, the stress this year will be on offense. in my opinion there are only a handful of good pitchers left in the conference (buchanan, Worrel, Mason, jones, kriminger at times). i have not personally seen the hovis kid at olympic throw, however, i hear good things about him.

 

statefan

That's as good a review of the SW4A as I have seen in a long time... keep up the good work.

 

.....and he can be found building another powerhouse at New Bern

 

Powerhouse at New Bern??

Not yet anyway. New Bern has improved a bit, but I don't think they will pass Rose or DH Conley any time soon.

I don't think New Bern has ever made the playoffs in the Big East conference.

When the Bears can beat Rose on a regular basis and make some playoff runs, then they can be called a "powerhouse".

 

thanks NCBBallfan, however i did leave out one important player for providence thats alex martin. the guy can flat pitch, hes got good movement on the fastball, and 2 offspeed pitches that he can throw for strikes, that give providence 2 quality lefties and rightys. personally if i was the coach over there (which the way things are goin who knows i could have the job) i'd use martin and cutler as my 1 and 2, both can give good strong innings, and then leave the harder throwing mason and jones in the pen. however and of the 4 guys can start or relive and all are effective

 

'Building" is the operative word. If anybody can do it at New Bern, it is Gary Smith.

 

Yes, he can...Alex has been invited to Las Vegas this week for the Team One games.


Now...is there any way that Providence can retain their current coach so we may not see A.J Mason and Alex next year....from the rest of the teams in SW4A...thanks coach!!!!

To the supporters of Providence....What was this coach thinking?

 

Mount will still have a few players coming back that can play, but rumor has it that there may be one big change at Mount that could end up being a major setback.