From the game last night....I've never seen an umpire in the B slot step right into a throw from shortstop. The throw would have missed him and rather than ducking or just standing still, he stepped right into it and got drilled. Never seen that before.

 

Ditto. I've been to literally thousands of baseball games at all levels. I have never seen that.

Disappointing season for Conner, who was ranked as high as #1 in some pre-season polls. I try to stay too unopinionated on here, and just relay stats and facts, but here are a few of my thoughts on the season as someone who saw alot of Conner baseball this year.

 

Injuries and distractions were their undoing. I applaud Arlo for letting Maines go, but it should have done a month ago, perhaps even after last season. The inconsistency of him in and out of the line up for suspensions and the theatrics that came with it were hard to manage. I was told last night that Shawnee State really wanted him, but have dropped him off their radar now (that is hearsay). Unfortunately, Blake Hart had his occasional melt downs, too, which led to a new seating policiy at the Conner field because of parent issues at one particular game (fans are no longer to sit behind the backstop). Injuries to Fogle, Henry, Hart, and Williams didn't help things. Fogle wasn't right all year physically with the hamstring. I also think he may have been a little more mentally focused on getting to UK in 2 weeks than baseball, which is natural, but that hurt the team, too (I say that as a HUGE HUGE Cameron Fogle fan). I think he was the best all-around player in the region when healthy, but I think we are all aware that his first love is football. When you lose not only your two best players (Fogle and Maines), but arguably 2 of the best players in the Region, it's gonna create a tough hill to climb. Padgett did not hit the way he did last year, and they missed his consistency at the plate, especially considering the factors above, although he did pitch well and played solid defensively.

 

There were some bright spots. Cameron Ross really impressed me both at the plate and on the mound. He's one to watch next year. I thought Hart developed well behind the plate and threw out his share of baserunners. Austin Brake had a nice comeback season. Blaise Ostertag had a solid year as a sophmore. And I'd be amiss if I didn't congratulate Arlo on dropping 70 pounds this season, wow!

 

Conner loses alot, I believe 7 seniors, so it will be interesting to see how some of the younger kids develop and how roles will be designated next year. Thank you to all the seniors for your hard work the past 4 years, and good luck to next year's players!

 

Fogle finished the year with some pretty outstanding stats if you look them up, so to say he wasn't right all year is a stretch. I think he only missed a handful of games, and to my knowledge, none of them were district seeding games. He cant do it all himself. Last night for example, of Conner's 4 hits, he had two of them. And if you were there, Id say he's 100% by the looks of his speed on the triple he hit, that for 99% of kids would have been a double. I believe, and this is off the top of my head, but he finished the year over .500 batting average. He set records at CHS that will not be broken for a long time to come. And if you know anything about him, you wouldn't say he wasn't focused. When he plays, he plays to win.

 

True, he has bigger and better things in his future, hence why he took so much time off to rehab his hamstring. First summer practice at UK is June 4th. Why risk further injury, or risk not coming into summer camp any less than 100% when he has a VERY legitimate chance of playing for the Cats next season???

 

Conner was a better team with him in the lineup, but I applaud him, for taking the right steps to heal properly. His injury was not as bad as everyone thinks. If it were football season, he probably wouldn't have missed a game. He's tough, played the last 3 football games with a fracture in his ankle. I also think it was very big of Coach Arlo to allow Cameron the time to heal, and not pressure him into playing before he was ready.

 

I agree it was a disappointing season for Conner, because they had the talent to win the region, if, and that is a huge IF, all of the guys on the team had their heads on straight. Too many kids worried about partying, being the cool guy, and thinking they were better than the team. Cam missing a few games to make sure he was healed for college football camp was the least of their problems.

 

That's my two cents.

Sounds like a nickels worth to me. Well said.

Fogle finished the year with some pretty outstanding stats if you look them up, so to say he wasn't right all year is a stretch. I think he only missed a handful of games, and to my knowledge, none of them were district seeding games. He cant do it all himself. Last night for example, of Conner's 4 hits, he had two of them. And if you were there, Id say he's 100% by the looks of his speed on the triple he hit, that for 99% of kids would have been a double. I believe, and this is off the top of my head, but he finished the year over .500 batting average. He set records at CHS that will not be broken for a long time to come. And if you know anything about him, you wouldn't say he wasn't focused. When he plays, he plays to win.

 

True, he has bigger and better things in his future, hence why he took so much time off to rehab his hamstring. First summer practice at UK is June 4th. Why risk further injury, or risk not coming into summer camp any less than 100% when he has a VERY legitimate chance of playing for the Cats next season???

 

Conner was a better team with him in the lineup, but I applaud him, for taking the right steps to heal properly. His injury was not as bad as everyone thinks. If it were football season, he probably wouldn't have missed a game. He's tough, played the last 3 football games with a fracture in his ankle. I also think it was very big of Coach Arlo to allow Cameron the time to heal, and not pressure him into playing before he was ready.

 

I agree it was a disappointing season for Conner, because they had the talent to win the region, if, and that is a huge IF, all of the guys on the team had their heads on straight. Too many kids worried about partying, being the cool guy, and thinking they were better than the team. Cam missing a few games to make sure he was healed for college football camp was the least of their problems.

 

That's my two cents.

 

I completely agree he has bigger and better things ahead of him, and it wasn't worth the risk to get more seriously injured with such a great opportunity in front of him. But to my point, you stated that he would not have missed a football game, which I think we can agree, is much more taxing and physically demanding on the body, especially with an injury. However, he did miss at least 10 baseball games, and I know Conner was 1-8 at one point in the games he did not play in at all. That just reiterates the fact that football is his true love and where is focus is, and there's absolutey nothing wrong with that. I do know he's been trying to find someone to throw to him and run routes and that is great. I love the dedication and willingness to work and get better. However, in baseball season I think you owe it to yourself and your teammates to be dedicated to that sport during that particular season, especially if you are nursing an injury.

 

I did struggle commenting on Cam that way, because I know how tough he is and I know how hard he works at football, but I do think some of the kids knew he could play if he really wanted to and I think that added to some of the distractions. There was even some talk that if Conner made a deep run that they would lose Cam because he would be enrolled at UK and ineligible to play in state tourney. We are in 100% agreement that this was not an overriding factor on the disappointing season, but I felt it was worth mentioning along with the other factors I observed from my own personal standpoint.

 

Again, HUGE Cameron Fogle fan here. I've enjoyed watching him for alot of years and am really looking forward to watching him at UK. I expect him to be a huge success there and play with a major chip on his shoulder.

ThisGuy- You are correct, Conner lost more than they won with him out. The games he missed were not district seeding games, therefore, meaningless. And you are correct, if Conner were to have made it to state, they would be playing without him, because he will begin football at UK on June 4th. Coach Arlo knew that from day 1.

 

He runs routes with Drew several times a week. His passion and future is football. He played baseball for fun, and I think it stopped being fun for him when some of his team mates acted like children on a consistent basis, and some of the others were too worried about getting the season over with so they could spend the summer partying like frat boys. Personally, I wouldn't have wanted to invest much into a team like that.

I'm late to this discussion but as an outsider it looks like excuses for mental team toughness. Use the Moneyball analysis, C Fogle is one of the best all around athletes to ever come though Conner. If in fact he was batting .500 and missed 10 games, in which the team lost 8 of 10. Cameron's injury should have encouraged the rest of the team to increase each starters batting average by a small amount to make up the loss of the team best player. Not case other players to be distracted and not be able to hit??

These posts are claiming that Cameron's injury caused a distraction, mentioned in the same paragraph as the meltdown brothers?? Very odd statement.

Baseball is a true team sport that relies on all positions in field and at the plate.

It sounds like the team may have depended on C Fogle a little too much.

Tough parental crowd in Hebron. Just let your kids play and have fun, no excuses.