bulldog77

You've got to be talking about wins because I've seen the man run and I'm here to tell you, he couldn't outrun a glacier.

Combs went 0 for 2 with a base on balls, but hit the ball hard twice. The Tigers are playing some pretty good baseball now. Towles and Muench threw well but so did Piper. Contrasting styles to say the least. Great baseball game though. And, all the players mentioned are underclassmen. Buckler, Piper, Hegge and Jones are all sophs and Combs is a junior.

Here's one a very senior umpire was asked and wasn't sure on and neither am I by any means: Runner on first takes off on the pitch in an attempt to steal second base. Slides into second, throw is a little late, second baseman attempts to dig out the throw which consequently hits the runner but then becomes losdged in the runner's back pocket. No one realizes this, second baseman is frantically looking for the ball, runner gets up and races home. Maybe I'm missing the obvious here but it was an interesting discussion at the time. what do you guys say?

Coach Moore, keep gettin' it done. The boys look great and the coaching staff has done an outstanding job. See you in a few weeks.

Bob Rowe is definitely one of the good guys. Congrats Coach, well earned and the field definitely looks great.

That's 5 in a row for the Tigers evening their season at 8 and 8. They won the Small School Jim Daugherty Memorial wooden bat tournament over the weekend beating Deming 7 to 1, Williamstown 3 to 2 in 8 innings and besting Walton in the finals on Sunday, 12 to 6.

Koors started for Dixie went 4 innings gave up one run on two hits. Nichols closed out the other three innings. Dixie scored their first run on a Matt Nichols homer in the first and their second when a hitter reached on an error and scored on a double by Popham. Piper went the distance for Bellevue allowing only the two hits. Bellevue socred on a squeeze in the third inning.

Amen to the Lightning getting better. Coach Sawyers has them on the right track.

So what you're saying then is that the $3.30 a gallon is only a deterent when a "lesser" school's game is involved? Gas is cheaper when you're going to CovCath or Ryle? Or are you saying that being an unbiased arbiter only applies AFTER you've decided who you want to umpire? And I assume that working during the day, (which, by the way all coaches do too), is only a deterent when a "lesser" school is involved, correct? And from your description, only at "lesser" schools do umpires get grief from the stands?

No I read all of it. Might take your own advice though. Not once did I mention the All-A. This is a much bigger issue than who called one game in the All-A last night and one that all good baseball people, like yourself, should want to resolve.

Now let me tell you what reality is. There is not supposed to be ANY bias as to how the games are assigned. ALL umpires are supposed to be assigned and accept games on apurely random basis with some consideration given to tournament play and maybe big rivalry or meaningful games. That is what the association claims it does. The truth is that umpires, while they may be assigned games on a random basis, have the option of "turning in" games they can't or won't do. What that really means is the smaller, lesser thought of, programs almost never get the top rated umpires because they don't want to do a "Dayton" game or a "Heritage" game (Please, no offense intended to either fine school) as if they're somehow "too good" or "too experienced" for those games. Let me tell you, that I know this to be a fact. "Big" schools don't pay any more for the assigning than the smaller schools do. Big school programs have no more right to the quality of service than a smaller school does. All teams pay the same price for umpires I have coached at both a big (4A then now 6A) and at a Class A school and I have seen it first hand. Now, with that said, not all top quality umpires feel that way, but certainly enough of them do that it becomes an issue with smaller schools. The shortage clearly doesn't help circumstances either becuase less experienced umps are forced to do games they're really not prepared for. But to say that bigger school games are somehow more important is the real biased thinking here.

Yeah, God forbid someone should want to give the Bellevue boys some credit. Obviously had to be an "off" night for Beechwood with one of their top pitchers going. Sheesh. Props to Larrimore for coming in and shutting down the Bellevue bats. He had great command and location for the most part and was really bringing it for a little over 4 innings. He did a great job.

Hunter Jones with a Grand Slam, Babb gets the win. The Tigers head south to Pensacola Beach for a week.

Amen to that statement. He does and will do a great job for the Lightning. Tough spot with only 10 players, but the improvement is already visible and will get better as the year goes.

Sophomore Tony Piper throws a 5 inning no-hitter for the Tigers.

Scott Hosting Bellevue Wednesday the 19th at 3:30 p.m. Bellevue hosting Beechwood Saturday the 22nd at Bellevue Vets at 1:00 p.m.

And once again you are wrong. You don't know the first thing about competing as a small public school, that is evident in every post you make. Be as judgemental as you like, we earned our spot just like everyone else did. The same rules applied last year when we didn't get in and it will apply next year. Newport could have voted to seed too but didn't and Dayton could have voted to seed too and didn't. Gee, there must be more of a reason than Bellevue wanting to "back" into the tournament. Get a clue.

Holmes is long, lean, athletic and quick. As we found out they are able to exploit a zone simply through athleticism if you allow the underneath passes. I think they were working specifically on their inside game against the Tigers and purposely weren't shooting the three much. Just a guess on my part maybe, but I've seen them hit from outside on a couple of other ocaissions. Dixie is a bit slow on defense by comparison. If they pack it in and deny interior ball movement they could force Holmes to have to attack from the outside. Dixie will also have to take good care of the basketball. Holmes thrives off of forced errors and turnovers. Take care of the ball, BOX OUT and force an outside game by Holmes and Dixie has a more than legit shot. The question is, can they do all those things AND play well enough offensively to score in the 50's plus? I really doubt it.

At last, logic!! I'm happy to go with that. Thanks.

Okay, so let me get all this straight: #1 We just ignore the fact that the 34th district doesn't seed and follow your logic of who beat who and who didn't beat who. Okay that makes no sense. #2 We ignore the fact that in the Regional DRAW Villa gets St. Henry and Bellevue gets the #1 Regional and #7 state ranked Holmes and by the comparison of their two games' scores we surmise that Villa deserves it more. Okay that makes no sense. #3 Let's also ignore the fact that Bellevue beat Villa once as well so how would that figure in your ranking scenario? #4 so, to use your words, we BLAME Bellevue for playing in a much tougher district. Okay that's really sensible. #5 As you admit, Villa benefits from the draw but not as you see it in the case of Bellevue so that makes ALL the difference? Wow. I spent 15 years working with alcoholics and never saw that level of rationalization. Congratulations to Villa, their coaches, their players and their fans. It's a shame you can't send the same level of respect to other teams.

Why try and confuse these "gentlemen" with facts when all they're concerned with is how many dunks there were and doing their best to discredit kids who don't deserve that kind of treatment. Congrats Holmes Bulldogs on a great performance and congrats Bellevue on making the tournament. Everything else is just lip service.

Agree completely. So should baseball.

And to you I give a gigantic thank you. your thoughts are most appreciated. First, those on here that have lambasted Bellevue need to get a dose of reality. Bellevue did absolutely NOTHING wrong. They played by EXACTLY the same rules that Highlands, NewCath and everyone else in the District and for the first time in 9 years and the second in 22 years got a favorable draw. Seems to me another district did exactly that same thing. And yes, it was an absolute thrill to play in that game. Were the Tigers outmatched? Absolutely. Just like nearly every other team that has played the Bulldogs has been. The Bellevue kids need make no apologies to anyone, least of all to anyone on here, for doing what they were asked to do in order to participate in this great experience. Getting the chance to measure yourself against one of the very best teams in the state is not an everyday occurance for most small public schools and those kids relished that chance. Two side notes - CovCath Coach Mike Listerman made it a point to come ouitside our locker room and congratulate us and let us know that we earned our opportunity to be there and deserved to be there. First REAL basketball guy to do that since the District tournament. Mike is first class all the way and always will be in my book. Second - Coach Henly and the rest of the Holmes staff are nothing but class, class, class and his kids reflect that. They showed us utmost respect and we really enjoyed the opportunity to play them.

At least three I'm aware of.

No, I don't think so. If there was a true answer there I'm pretty certain I could figure it out.