Greenville Rose

The statewide coverage of high school baseball being what it is (barely existent) - what do you know about Greenville Rose? I have picked up that they are the real deal...

 

We played them this year in the Impact Challenge. They are very well coached as usual. They have a very deep pitching staff with quality lhp. They are solid on defense. They can swing it 1-9. They carry a big roster and they have some guys on the bench they will not hesitate to call on at anytime. They are a very experienced ball club and these guys have been playing together for a long time. Its not a vintage Rose team in my opinion. But it is a very good Rose team. This should be a 3 game series that goes down to the wire.

 

I only saw them once at Sanderson in the first round. I sat in their section and talked to their fans and this is what I gathered from them and my impressions.

They are a very solid team, with the emphasis on team. Not a lot of superstars. Not a lot of power. They scored 3 runs in the first inning in game 1 and only hit 1 ball out of the infield. They put the bat on the ball and play great defense. Solid at every position. Andrew Cain (CF) is heading to play at Wilmington next year. Their game one pitcher I would assume will be Mark Wilder (13-0). He is a left hander that doesn't throw very hard, but has decent movement, and he is a pitcher not a thrower. Locates the ball very well and makes you hit his pitch. I think he may play at Pitt CC next year. They are extremely well coached as always by Ron Vincent who I believe has won 5 state titles.

 

5 Titles

Wow ! You win 5 state titles and they will start to name things after you !!

 

RV is also the all-time leader in wins in State history.

Rose has 3 losses on the season. 2 to Rocky Mount and 1 to New Bern. Not too shabby...

 

I think that everyone in the Rose starting line up has at least one HR, and they have 4 kids at least 6'6", with one of those being a 6'8" first basebman.

 

Love those bigger strike zones!

 

Bigger strike zone means more room for the hitter to work with...miss high, kiss it good bye....

And Southern, the tall one of which you speak is the DH, Steele... the first baseman is Gagnon, who spent the last 4 years slobberknocking guys in football as well... (he has the 4A Football Championship Rings collection to prove it...lol)

 

I'm not sure that AK should show up, all except one player can't weigh more that 165 lbs....and they are all about the same height, 5'11". They don't stand a chance against those big green meanies.

 

Ya kow, before I posted the above, I was thinking something similar, having read various posts about AK. I figure it would save a lot of time and gas money if we just go ahead and UPS them the trophy, game ball and rings. I mean, they apparently play in the toughest conference in the state, in the best baseball area in the state and come from behind and beat the best. With gas at 4 bucks a gallon, maybe we should just get online and play NCAA 2008 in a best of 3 series.

As far as having to seemingly always play in the east for the final, geeze, give a bunch of poor dirt farmers a break. You guys got all the money over there, so travel shouldn't be an issue anyway. We need some kinda of compensation! I mean, we JUST got running water, indoor bathrooms and just went to 5 finger gloves and metal bats (had to, cause tobacco sticks are becoming scarce, as tobacco farmers have called it quits). My momma just last week got her first set of real false teeth. When you boys talk about travel ball, we think of the Harlem Globetrotters. And these new fangled metal cleats are truly something to behold!

I figured going to a state championship will give these young boys an opportunity to leave the county at least one time in their lives. Only time we git to leave is when we have a good season on cabbage and take that money and go to the state fair up there in the state capital.

So with all that in mind, you big city fellas take it easy on these guys, as they gonna be fresh from the briar patch and don't wanna spook them about leaving town too often.