CBC Spring Break Classic at East Mecklenburg Team Profiles Now Posted

Day 1 night cap

East Meck 6, Weddington 5

 

First Day Recap

It's late and we had another barn burner over at Coach Dave Jones Field (aka The Field of Dreams). I don't know what it is about the Classic, but dang if the games aren't even better than the Hot Dogs (and you know East Meck is world famous for their hot dogs). I'll put in the box scores in the morning, but here's a little summary:

The Atmosphere: Bigger Crowds, Amazing Sponsors (CBC and all the sponsors have been incredibly supportive), More Scouts (they were everywhere, I felt like I was at a Steve&Berry's store what with all the college logos I saw), Great Food, Unbelievable Weather (Coach Koppe dialed up perfect weather again this year), and Great Baseball. All in all it was a festival for everyone who attended.

Game 1 (Marvin Ridge v North Meck): A pitcher's duel until the third when the Mavericks simply exploded for 19 runs. If you can think of it, it happened in that 45 minute inning, including a Grand Slam. Baseball happens that way sometimes, and the kids from North Mecklenburg kept fighting after the disasterous 3rd.

Game 2 (Independence v Hough): In the first of the I-Meck/SW4A grudge matches, it looked like Independence was going to run away, as the Patriots got to Johnny Piedmonte early and took a 10-1 lead into the 6th. That's when the Hough Huskies showed their true grit. First they finally knocked out starter Taylor Cook, who pitched a whale of a game for Coach Kykema, by scoring 4 runs in the 6th to make the score 10-5. Hough followed that by plating 4 more in the seventh. With 2 out the Huskies were down 10-9 with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Independence pitcher, Clay Tiderman induced a game ending ground out.

Independence 002 044 0 10-6-2
Hough 100 004 4 9-11-3
WP: Taylor Cook 2-6. LP: Johnny Piedmont. Leading Hitters – H: Jacob Buchanan 2-4; Nick Daddio 2-4, Will Champion 3-4; I: Lane Polk 2-4, 2B; Cody Lekavick 2-5. Records – Independence: 7-8; Hough:9-9.

Game 3 (Butler v Hopewell): What a ballgame. The Titans combined big sticks and small ball to take a 4-0 lead through 6 innings. Starter Hunter Conley was keeping the Bulldogs at bay and the Titan batters kept chipping away at Brandon McWhirter until he gave way to the bullpen. Hopwell seemed to be in cruise control until a controversial call and a pinch hitter combined to vault the Dawgs back to life. With one out a ground ball to Micahel Russell, who makes difficult plays look easy all evening, appeared to be a possible game ending double play. Instead, both runners were called safe when the umpire ruled that the second baseman never touched second and the runner at first beat the throw. That set the stage for a magical moment for Tommy Ollis. Coach Cousar called upon Mr. Ollis to pinch hit for catcher Daniel Concepcion and he delivered big time, going yard over the left field fence with a 3 run bomb. From there Butler kept wriggling out of bases loaded jams (at least 2 with only 1 out) until they finally scored 2 in the 11TH INNING to take their first lead of the ballgame. Hopewell scored 1 in the bottom of the 11th, but couldn't get the tying run across the plate. After making the most of their opportunities early in the game, Hopewell left 10 runners stranded. Butler left a few of their own stuck on base, but finally broke through for the 6-5 win. What a game! What a Classic!

Butler 000 000 400 02 6-7-1
Hopewell 110 110 000 01 5-11-2
WP: Alex Bronkar 1-0. LP: Alan Smith. Leading Hitters – B: Tommy Ollis 1-1 HR, 3 RBIs; Ryan Hodge 2-4. H: Wayne Shaffer 2-4, Michael Russell 2-4; Hunter Conley 3-4, 2 2Bs, HR. Records – Butler: 11-5. Hopewell 8-6.

Game 3 (East Meck v Weddington): Needless to say, the nightcap got a late start. With Lou Trosch and Jordan Newsome facing off, it had the makings of a pitcher's duel. David Daniels had other ideas and his 2 run blast in the first inning (the first of his 3 hits) put the Eagles up 2-0. The Eagles tacked on 2 more runs and Trosch looked to be in command. Finally, it looked like a game might be a routine affair. Not so, at the CBC Spring Break Classic at East Mecklenburg. Weddington took advantage of a couple of Eagle miscues and suddenly, the score was knotted at 4 after 5 innings and both starting pitchers done for the evening. Both teams scored runs in the 6th, the Warrior's run coming on a tank shot by Alex Morales. Jackson Riesterer put the Eagles in front for good on a bases loaded single in the 7th. Ian Ashworth earned the win for the Eagles pitching the final 2 and a third for Coach Koppe. David Pope took the loss for the Warriors. The one run back and forth affair was a repeat of last year's 7-6 victory by the Eagles. Why expect anything but a nail biter in the Classic? Mincme has already posted the full boxscore and webcast of this game.

WHEW! What a day! Tomorrow we're gonna do it all over again. C'mon out and join us. The weather's supposed to be even better tomorrow.

 

Today's webcast games

If things work out, here is today's www.tbrpreps.com webcast schedule:

11A - Butler vs. Hough
1:30 - Independence vs. Weddington
4:30 - East Meck vs. North Meck

JST - 7:00 Providence vs. Charlotte Christian

 

Day 2 Summary

It was another beautiful day for baseball at Coach Dave Jones Field and the players continued to produce top flight baseball. Granted, we didn't have any extra inning contests today, but there were many great storylines. Boxscores for the first 3 games have already been posted on TBR webcast, so I'll only post the line for tonight's final contest.

Game 1 (Hough v Butler): The Dawgs continue to find ways to win. Although they were outhit by the Huskies, Butler stayed in command after they took the lead on Tyler Revel's 2 run blast in the third inning. Alec Hummel provided insurance with his own 2 run HR in the 5th inning. That would be all that Dalton Eisenbath would need as he went the distance on the mound for Butler. Butler's defense played tough and just like Day 1, came up with huge defensive stops whenever the Huskies challenged. Brandon Gragilla pitched the entire game for Hough and threw well. His offense just couldn't string together enough hits to overtake the Bulldogs.

Game 2 (Independence v Weddington): Independence again jumped out to a commanding early lead and then held on for dear life. Going into the bottom of the 3rd the Patriots were up 7-1, but by the 6th inning the Warriors had closed the gap to 7-5 and had the bases loaded with only 1 out. Coach Dykema promptly removed starting pitcher Carson Plyler, who pitched a whale of a game for the Patriots, and inserted Tim Miller. Miller threw a single pitch, which induced a tailor made inning ending double play. That sealed the win for the Patriots. The Patriots got another strong performance from surprise starter Lane Polk, who has been inserted to replace injured second baseman Brandon Wolf. On Day 1 Polk made several spectacular plays in the field and hit a critical double. Today he continued his defensive display and also stayed hot at the plate, going 2-3. Weddington batters Jordan Newsome and Daniel Calabretta each hit home runs and Alex Morales hit a triple, but the Warriors couldn't get over the hump against the gritty Independence Patriots.

Game 3 (North Mecklenburg v East Mecklenburg): Last year's MVP, Ben Leach, recaptured his pitching magic, shutting out the struggling Vikings. Leach gave up only 4 hits, while going the distance for the Eagles. Offensively the Eagles pounded out 10 runs on 10 hits, including a 3 run blast from Jonathan Crews, a 2-2 performance from Justin Crews, and another hot hitting night from David Daniels, who has 5 hits thus far in the tournament. The Eagles took command of the game in the first inning and stayed in control throughout.

Game 4 (Marvin Ridge v Hopewell): If you haven't seen the Marvin Ridge Mavericks swing the bats this week, you've missed an entire team that's "en fuego". After scoring 19 runs in one inning yesterday en route to a 20-2 victory, the Mavericks scored 18 more runs on 18 hits tonight. The top of the order hit, the middle of the order hit, the bottom of the order hit, and the reserves hit. Shoot, I think Coach Mennitt himself could come in and drill the ball right now. Winning pitcher Bryan Peart threw a beauty, limiting the Titans to 2 runs on only 2 hits, but the heavy hitters stole the show. Hopewell's defense eventually wilted under the barrage from Maverick batters and they were never able to mount a challenge. This one ended in 5 innings with the Mavericks winning 18-2. That's 38 runs in 2 games. Wow!

MR 138 42 18 18 1
H 200 00 2 2 5

WP Bryan Peart
LP Jordan Blair

Hitters: H Michael Russell 1-3, Cody Strickland 1-3: MR Zach Lax 3-4 3RBI, Brett Thompson 2B, RBI, Josh Ferguson 2-4 2RBI, Tyler Chadwick 2-3 RBI, JC Howze 2-4 3B, 3RBI

We're gonna roll 'em out and do it all over again tomorrow, so come on out and join us!

 

Webcast

Hope to have AK vs Charlotte Christian at Jack Sink at 4:30 and then East Meck vs. Hough at 7:30.

www.tbrpreps.com

Link for those games will not appear until I can find out which teams are designated "home".

 

Day 3 Finals

North Meck 10, Independence 9

Weddington 10, Hopewell 0

Butler 3, Marvin Ridge 2, 12 innings

Hough 4, East Meck 2

I will let WCLion fill in the details of another outstanding tournament.

 

AMAZING!!!!

If you are a fan of baseball, East Meck High School was the place to be this week. Even if you are not a baseball fan, watching 8 great groups of kids compete at this level was nothing short of SPECTACULAR!

There were "Sports Center Top Ten" caliber plays being made with routine regularity all week. One of those plays, a diving catch in center field, was described by one former college athlete as the "greatest catch I have ever seen."

Now "The Classic" has concluded I wanted to post the totals per conference. I mean no disrespect or excessive praise to any group but there was a lot of chatter (all in fun I should add) on here about who was strongest, SW4A, I-Meck, or the Union County kids.

I-Meck: (2 - 7) SW4A: (7 - 2) Union Co. (3 - 3)

North Meck (1 - 2) Butler (3 - 0) Marvin Ridge (2 - 1)
Hough (1 - 2) Indy (2 - 1) Weddington (1 - 2)
Hopewell (0 - 3) East Meck (2 - 1)

It is obvious the win percentage of the SW4A is the highest. But after witnessing the quality of play I would be foolish to say one group would consistently out perform the others. I can assure you that Vegas would want no part of making odds on any match-up between these teams.

In closing, I would like to thank all those involved in making this event so special. First, the good Lord for blessing us with great weather! Obviously the staff and volunteers from EM that put in ridiculous amounts of time and effort. The folks at CBC who were instrumental in making sure that these kids got the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of countless scouts. The other sponsors from the community that stepped up to provide a comfortable atmosphere for all. The media for sharing the experience with those that were unable to attend. The kids for giving up a big chunk of their spring break to come each day and put on a show that will be hard to beat. And last but definately not least, the family and friends that came to cheer for their guy's. I took the opportunity to thank as many as possible in person during the week and was amazed how many folks thanked us for having them. I appreciated the comments but was a little embarassed because it is the passion of the fans that make the event successful. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Hope to see you all next year,

R. T. Gardner
East Meck Booster Club

 

I would like to thank Coach Koppe, his staff, and the wounderful group of boosters for another outstanding Easter Tournament. You guys out did yourselves and I appreciated the opportunity to compete in such a wounderful atmosphere.

 

Coach, as far as I am concerned, you will always be welcome. Now it may make a few people mad if we raise the ticket prices. It will not be because we are greedy but because it is worth more to watch you coach!