Baseball Journal

[cotty16]

With the heat wave hitting us today, I'm taking the varsity outside to our outfield. It will feel great to get out of the gym for a few days until some other polar vortex hits.
I just checked the outfield area and it's a little soggy, but that's what rubber balls are for, right? Shag some flies, hit some whiffle balls... anything is better than the gym.

Too bad it'll be a long time before the infield is dry enough. Still lots of ice and slush on it. Looks like a glacial outwash.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'm still teaching freshman how to throw and catch. Someone will die if we try to catch fly balls...

 

[Gordo]

I'm still teaching freshman how to throw and catch. Someone will die if we try to catch fly balls...

Whip their asses into shape!

WHEN u get the team turned around, its gonna be that much more rewarding

 

[cotty16]

We had our first scrimmage yesterday against Shadyside. Not too bad for the first live action of the season. Obviously we aren't where we need to be and have a lot to work on, but I saw some good things. We ended up on top about 9-2, both of their runs being unearned. We had some big hits I clutch situations, but we also got some gifts because their catcher wasn't very good. He let a few get through the wickets with guys on 3rd resulting in some cheap runs.

Long way to go yet...

 

[Buckmaster]

I have my roster of 5, 6, an a couple 7 year olds. We are the youngest team in our division. Practice begins Saturday morning. I was fortunate enough to get some gym time.

We'll be playing 7 & 8 year old "I" league ball.

I will need to coach them up in order to be competitive.

 

[cotty16]

We host Claymont this Friday in a scrimmage and then travel to Meadowbrook Saturday.

Good luck to the little ones Ben!

 

[bowhunter1023]

We also had our first scrimmage last night which was also our first time being on a baseball field. We won 12-3 in 9.5 innings, with 4 cheap runs being scored in the top of the 10th off a freshman pitcher. Our bats will carry us through the season, but they were cold last night. Too many home run swings. We threw 7 different pitchers and scattered 5 walks over 9, so I was very happy about that! Defense was solid. We turned two double plays up the middle with our brothers combo. The elder brother is a senior and should be all-state, his younger brother is a junior and plays 2B. They are a fun combo to watch. Base running sucked ass, but it was baseball IQ stuff we can work on. Overall, we looked like we might really be the 12th ranked team in the state. (An unsubstantiated claim at this point in time. I was told this, but have been unable to verify that.)

We practice tonight, then head to Southern HS in Racine tomorrow night for a scrimmage. I'll have my full squad tomorrow after losing 2 to the basketball banquet and 1 to injury last night. I plan to start my best 9 and put the hammer down.

 

[cotty16]

Jesse,
good to hear things went well. As far as a "preseason ranking". I'm not aware of any of those. I am a poll voter for Division II and we have never voted on a preseason poll. The first voting usually takes place around the 3rd week if I remember right.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Jesse,
good to hear things went well. As far as a "preseason ranking". I'm not aware of any of those. I am a poll voter for Division II and we have never voted on a preseason poll. The first voting usually takes place around the 3rd week if I remember right.

That makes perfect sense to me. One of the dads of our senior pitcher from last year told me that. He's know to make things sound better than they really are, so that makes sense to me...

 

[aholdren]

Jesse, does the Dennis boy play for you?

 

[ajupsman]

Srimmages already? Man I'm jealous. I just started pitchers and catchers this week and full squad practices start on Monday. We have 2 feet of snow still on the ground and possibly more coming tonight. We are supposed to open at home on April 14th but I doubt we'll be out of the gym by then. This is the worst winter and spring I've seen in a long time. Makes being a baseball coach here tough. Good news is all 11 players left from last years team that made it to the state finals are back. I thought a few were going to quit. Hopefully they show up Monday ready to work. If so I think we can make another run in the playoffs.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Jesse, does the Dennis boy play for you?

He'll be on JV, but he is playing for us. I may move him up towards the end of the year if he proves to be as good as billed. But he'll have to prove it first...

 

[Big_Holla]

Same here on jealous about scrimmages outdoors. We still have quite a bit of snow piled up all around parking lots and even some fields yet.

 

[Buckmaster]

I made arrangements with our Superintendent to have the gym tomorrow morning for our first practice. He'll arrange to have the place unlocked for me,....I hope.
Hope someone turns the lights on for us too or shows me how. Gulp!

Planning for the worst and hoping for the best....

....anyways, I have 5,6, and a couple 7 years olds on my team this year. My son is one of the 5 year olds. We will play "I" league coach pitch which is made up for 7 & 8 year olds.

I will have my work cut out for me given my age disadvantage but I'm up to the challenge of coaching these boys "up" as fast as possible. My advantage is long term as I will have some of these boys for the next 3 years. This is a first time league experiment allowing this group of boys (whom should be in Tee Ball) to play Coach Pitch. Essentially, I have an All Star Tee Ball team playing Coach Pitch.

Here is one of my motivational tools.....Money! Chet-Ching! aka. Coach Ben Bucks.....

My plan is to hand them out as a reward for good work and hard play.
When a player acquires 5 Coach Ben Bucks he can redeem them and avoid running laps that day.

A little extra motivation never hurts.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Good luck Ben!

We had out second scrimmage last night at Southern and won 7-0. My post game speech summed it up...

"What you have to be proud of is the fact you didn't miss the bus and we left with a W. If you keep playing like a bunch of softies, this ride will be over in April. Find some intensity or stay home. You owe me 4 foul poles."

There is no killer instinct with these boys and I'm fed up with it already. Southern is a D5 school, albeit one steeped in winning tradition. We just out talented them. I think they had 5 unearned runs and it took a major league toss from our CF to home and two inning ending double plays to save the shut out. Bats were cold, literally. It was a windy, miserably cold day for baseball. I think that reflected in my mood after the game. lmao

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

Coach Ben Bucks:

[video=youtube;7FWQG9n_HtE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FWQG9n_HtE[/video]

 

[cotty16]

Ajupsman, if it makes you feel any better, our scrimmage today was snowed out. We got 2" from 8am to 1 pm. By the time I left the building at 3:00 it was all melted! But, although it was 50 degrees at 4:00 the damage was done.

We travel to Byesville tomorrow to scrimmage Meadowbrook. Hopefully no forms of precipitation occur before then.

 

[ajupsman]

Ajupsman, if it makes you feel any better, our scrimmage today was snowed out. We got 2" from 8am to 1 pm. By the time I left the building at 3:00 it was all melted! But, although it was 50 degrees at 4:00 the damage was done.

We travel to Byesville tomorrow to scrimmage Meadowbrook. Hopefully no forms of precipitation occur before then.

Don't you love it when the powers that be cancel games early in the day. Had my preseason meeting today. 15 minutes of me talking and them not listening. Got to love teenage boys. Practice starts Monday and I'm cautiously optimistic. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised id we went 4-12 or 12 -4. We're talented enough to win a lot of games if the boys put the work in. But on the other hand, as Herb Brooks said "we don't have enough talent to win on talent alone."

Good luck tomorrow Cotty. I'll be checking back in to see how it went.

 

[Buckmaster]

Practice 1 went very well today. I have 5 decent players out of 13. Those good players are the young ones.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Opening Day for us tonight ag Meigs. They're a small school, but always have great athletes and traditionally have a solid baseball team. I'm starting 7 seniors and 2 juniors with out senior lefthander getting the start on the bump. We have 6 games this week, so we will be pitching by committee. Finally time to get down to business!