4A East Bracket - Round 3 5/16

After reading many of the posts here it is easy to see that this is ahum dinger of a set of games to watch. Let me share what I know abut some of the teams in these games:

Riverside - PAC 6 Champion, finds a way to win, scrappy bunch that doesnt beat themselves. Khalin Villines, Blaze Tart and Sean Boston are quality players as well as the Long kid... Ari Seelinger and Boston are qulaity arms. Well coached by Doug Blowe. Very solid team.

Lumberton - 2 Rivers Champion. Very fast, and aggressive on the field. speed everywhere in the lineup. Pithcers throw strikes, locate well and change speeds, solid defensively. Will steal, hit and run, fake bunt, try to steal home to stick teh dagger in, etc... A "Methodist College" style of baseball on the paths. A team full of backside hitters, they find a way to win playing small ball. Paul Hodges does an outstanding job and they are a team on a mission!!

Jordan - PAC-6 #2 Excellent speed, bats, etc... can run, hit and run, etc... Elliker Myers, and Murray are players. Last 2 PAC-6 POY's on this team Murray (2008), amd Myers (2007). Solid arms and solid defensively!!

Sanderson - quality players in Max Gagnon (C), MArk Peterson (RHP), Charles Wolfe (RHP) Kyle Wigmore (SS). THese kids can play and the team as a whole is very solid!!

Rose, and Hoggard - I can tell you that guys like Ron Vincent and Jeep St.Ledger have their teams ready to play nd these coaches have been there before!!

I dont know as much about Apex except that they won a league where the nd place team was Fuquay (22-3).... That says alot to me knowing the area....

Good Luck and I hope to see the PAC-6 Teams on Top!!

 

3rd round results

Good job ncsu82. You went 3-4 in your picks.
travisunc, you were 1-4, Hmmm. You needed a little more faith in the Cap 7

Next up:
Hoggard vs Sanderson at Sanderson 7:00
Leesville vs Greenville Rose at Greenville 7:00

I would like to hear what people think of these two matchups.

 

Hoggard vs Sanderson

Having watched the Apex/Hoggard game last night, I believe Sanderson will have an advantage for two reasons. One, the Cap 7 is strong and Sanderson did well there and is a strong team. Two, Hoggard won't have anyone to pitch after going 10 innings last night. I know the starter went 4.? and the last pitcher they used went 3 (and these weren't low pitch count innings), which leaves the other three innings to the middle pitcher(s) (as I'm not sure if the first reliever came out after few outs in the seventh because there were many visits to the mound during those innings).

Based on what I saw last night, Hoggards strength on defense is its middle infield and their catcher (tremendous talent here-arm strength galore, so be careful trying to run on him). But, the Hoggard team is loaded with hitters top to bottom, not an easy out in that line up. Not to demean Hoggards victory over Apex, but in the playoffs the team that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins and Apex had 4 costly errors last night and a big base running blunder late in the game. At the same time however, Hoggard left the bases loaded a number of innings (their biggest mistake). It basically came down to who ran out of pitching and this has been the achilles heel for most of the Tri-8 this year (Apex included).

Corey Thompson demonstrated his heart in the loss - he came within three feet of a 360 center-field walk off in the bottom of the ninth (not to mention the one in the seventh-same place, same distance). He then pitched the last three innings for Apex on emotion alone and did a marvelous job. Not only is ECU getting a stud ballplayer, they are getting the intangible of great heart and no quit.

 

Eating Crow

I'm eating a little crow......glad to see Sanderson won. Wife is an alumnus and that is the school district we are in. I used to coach several players on the team when they were younger. I was hoping they would win, but thought they were a little over matched. Oh well, glad I was wrong and hope they make it to the Eastern Final.