Great Weekend in Rocky Mount

Stretchy, the catcher is a sophomore who had never caught him before... so P Mac had to work him a little, but I thought never having caught him before, he did a pretty good job. So, Paul pretty much got to call his own game...lol

 

Unreal at bat

By the way the ball your son hit up up up up in the air would have hit the roof of the Metrodome and had it been straight it would have landed in Tarboro Stadium.

 

Thanks for the kind words about Paul....

.....I will not comment about his baseball. I will leave that up to baseball people like you guys. I am just his dad and my only claim to baseball fame was going to elementary and junior high school with a guy (Dickie Noles out of Charlotte) who won 36 games pitching in MLB back in the 1980's.

I will talk (okay brag) about two things concerning Paul if anyone is interested. His academics are top notch with a high school GPA @ 4.65 and PSAT scores in the top 3% in the country so academics is part of the equation for him when he goes to college. The other is his character. Last spring Paul went through several months of confirmation classes before he could officially join his mother’s church. The confirmation ceremony (a big event) was scheduled on the same day as Rose’s 4A State Championship game (2nd game of the series) against Ardrey Kell HS in which Paul was scheduled to pitch. Of course Paul could not be at two places at the same time. One of the higher ups (regional Cardinal or some such) told Paul that GOD would condemn him if he chose baseball over officially joining the church. Now pitching in a state championship game in front of several thousand people who are watching your every throw is one thing but adding the religious element to it is a heck of a lot of pressure to put on a 17 year old kid. I left the decision up to Paul and after a couple of restless nights thinking about it, Paul decided that he could not let his teammates, his coaches and the Greenville baseball community down by missing the game (whether he pitched or not). He decided he could join the church at another time even if it meant going through all of those classes again. He then went out and pitched a complete game (he didn’t have his best stuff but he battled) 4-3 win against Kell to help his teammates win a state championship. I think that says a lot about his character and toughness. Of course I am just his dad and my opinion on him is totally biased but even if he never played another inning of baseball, it is just a total honor for me to be his dad.

 

These are the kind of stories I love to read. You are obviously proud of your son as you should be. Thank you for sharing a small part of your son's life. He is definately someone I would love to meet.

 

He is very much a competitor on the mound, a pleasure to coach, cause he does his thing and a good one to have in the dugout. PLus, he's a chick magnet too heeheehee

 

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