jpa2825

I am told that Ryle (10-0) and Highlands (8-0) play today or tomorrow. Any predictions or commentary on these 2 squads? At a minimum, please let us know where and when so those that want to see a good matchup at the JV level can get to the game.

Baby Birds keep it rollin' with a 14-6 victory at CovCath THU afternoon. CovCath plated 1 in the bottom of the 5th to avoid the run rule. Anyone with details, please supplement.

Nice win for the JV Birds. Suspect some people in / near Oldham Co. took notice of that train that blew through there this week!!!

A real nice gritty win for the Dirty Birds to close today's DH. Lake Catholic, from Mentor, OH, was a solid squad. Parents advised that last year's team went to the Div. II state semifinal. They certainly started strong, but the Birds hung around and chopped away for the victory. Big ups to JR Cochran on the complete game. Great resilience to blank LC over the last 5 innings after giving up 5 in the 1st 2 frames. Solid defense behind him helped and the offense put enough together to get to 7 runs after trailing 5-0. Schultz, Gesenhues and Collinsworth were all right in the middle of the scoring innings for the Birds. Rally started with singles from SR Schultz, SR Lester, SR Collinsworth and JR Gesenhues. SR Heck reached 1st on a sac bunt w/ error and that was followed by a single from SR Molina. Inning ended on a diving play on a hard drive to the gap by JR Allen. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Birds rounded out the scoring for both teams for the day via singles from Schultz and SO Martin followed by a sac bunt by Lester. Collinsworth does his job with a sac fly to score Schultz and reached base when the OF dropped the ball. JR Gesenhues then singled to score Martin and advance Collinsworth to third. He was brought in by Heck on a single. Good win with contributions from all over the place.

Justified season finale & Lady Cards making it to the Final Four. Sorry for the delay. Overall, a fairly sloppy game by both squads. Birds made important plays when they needed them to grab the W. Great effort by SR Liggett pitching well to close things out after some control problems by the Highlands starter. Also, big props to SR Collinsworth with a 2-2 day along with a sac bunt. Great to see Jac getting comfortable with the rhythm and nuance of baseball after an extended absence. Birds jumped out early on Liverpool (who appeared to be from upstate NY, so not sure how many games / practices they have had) with 2 runs courtesty of a walk, a couple of errors and some selfless hitting (moving runner over with a ground out to the right side and a sac fly to bring that runner home). Liverpool answered with 3 in the bottom of the inning via a BB, 3 HBPs (yes, 3), and 2 singles. Caught stealing by SR Murray behind the plate was a huge 1st out in the inning. Birds answered with 3 more in the top of the 2nd and never trailed. After a couple of errors by Liverpool and a HBP, big blow was a solid double by SR Murray. 2 more from the Birds in the top of 3 via single from JR Allen, walk to SR Schultz and a bunt single by SO Whitford (sac bunt that went dead between fielders) loaded the bases. WP scores Allen (long backstops at Ripken accentuates importance of a solid C) and then SO Hennigan brings home Whitford after a failed suicide squeeze erases Schultz. Liverpool added 2 in the bottom of 3, but Liggett comes on in relief and limits the damage. 1 in the 4th and 2 in the 5th rounded out the HHS scoring. Some nice defense by the Birds to close the game out. A sloppy win, but a win nonetheless.

Ball is iimpressive. Has a Varsity start under his belt as well this year. Keep the bats hot and keep Coach Reynolds loose!

Lots of JV kids banging on the door / knocking the door down making a case for varsity time. Great problems to have for Coach Baioni as the Varsity team is also playing well.

Final from Oldham JV event. Kreeger started, got the W and went 4-4. Ramey pitched the 7th for the save. Birds scored 2 in the top of the 7th and held on for the win. Post details if you have them. Just got this score and those details from a parent.

Final from Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach. Birds got 2 in each of the 1st 2 innings and made them stand up behind stellar pitching from SO Jones (5 strong) and final 2 innings from SR Liggett. In the 1st, SR Murray walked, JR Allen doubled and SO Whitford drove both in with a single. In the 2nd, JR Gesenhues reached on error, SR Seidl doubled, both runners advanced on a wild pitch (scoring Gesenhues) and Seidl scored on a single by SR Murray. DH tomorrow with Liverpool (NY) and Lake Catholic (?). Looking forward to it.

Not sure how they are doing, but saw 'em checking in when I was picking doing same with Highlands. Looked like they were traveling "in style" with a luxury coach.

5:00 PM game. No lights. Seemed like "night" since there was no school. Field is in great shape. Coach Baioni, HHS and the City of Fort Thomas have a great working relationship that has been cultivated via hard work and trust on all sides. City is working hard to complete a storage shed down the 1B line that will help with the field maintenance.

Big "ups" to the JV Birds for their continuing success. Go down to Oldham and "make some noise." #RTB

Nice win for the Birds, and badly needed for a more pleasant drive to MB tomorrow . Do the small things (throw strikes, play defense, lay down sac bunts, move runners over, run the bases properly, etc.) and good results will follow. Hated to miss it, but hope to see plenty of baseball this week.

HHS Baby Dirty Birds go to 4-0 with a win at Highland Park over Boone Co. on FRI night. Updates us on details if you were there.

Nice effort on both sides of the ball for the JV Birds. I heard that the whole lineup, + replacements, really stung the ball. Keep squarin' 'em up!

Frosh play there today. Most days 1 of the 3 teams will be scheduled to play there.

Thanks for the link. I will try to get the Frosh, JV and Varsity rosters in a separate thread. A few modifications from the KHSAA roster Ball, Bunning, Ramey & Veneman are primarily JV at the start of the season. (Bunning is rehabbing a bit from some early season shoulder soreness. Ramey is likely the backup C until Hennigan is cleared to throw. Ball is an extra arm if needed. Veneman is an additional FAST outfield option, if needed.) B. Murray will bounce between Varsity and JV and is on the Spring Break roster.

Will try to update when I can. Anyone that is interested in following live, UNOFFICIAL, scoring of most games OR archived box scores / replays of most games, PM me for easy instructions to follow on a computer or smartphone. The technology, using the ESPN iScore app, is pretty amazing. A full game replay showing every pitch with animation takes only about 10 minutes or you can scroll through the pitch-by-pitch at your own pace.

Overall a well played and pitched game on both sides at UC Health Field at Florence Freedom. Walsh and Franzen pitched for Campbell Co. JR Vermeil and SR Liggett pitched for HHS 1st 5 Birds went down in order. JR Allen, SO Hennigan & SR Lester followed with 3 straight singles with 2 out in the 2nd. SR Seidl scorched a line drive that was caught by the LF to end the inning. Camels scored 1 in the 2nd with a single (#7), stolen base, sac, walk, reached on error (run scored), K, K. Camels also scored 1 in the 3rd via single (#15), stolen base, 1-3 ground out (runner to 3B), walk, single (run scored), K, K Birds pushed 2 across in the 5th via single from SR Seidl, stolen base, stolen base, single from SR Molina (run scored), stolen base, single by SR Murray (run scored). Huge play then when SR Murray was thrown out at 2B after the Camels kicked it around a bit in the infield handling the throw from CF. Nice aggressive baserunning, but it didn't work out and the next 2 batters made outs. Liggett pitched scoreless 5th & 6th innings. JR Allen was stranded in the 6th after a 1 out single and steal of 2B. Birds missed a chance in the 7th when SR Seidl was walked to lead off the inning. Birds failed to get down a sac bunt to move Seidl over and then were called out on the next pitch for stepping on the plate while bunting. SR Seidl was running and would have been at 2B, but had to go back. SR Murray then hit a line drive to the 3B with SR Seidl running on the pitch resulting in a DP. Camels scored on a single (Franzen?), stolen base and another single (Walsh?) with 2 outs in the 7th. Key for both teams included getting the 1st batter on in innings where they scored (except the 7th where Camels rallied with 2 outs.) Not sure where Walsh and Franzen set up in Campbell Co.'s rotation (and whether Franzen will start any games), but both had good velocity and location. Vermeil and Liggett both looked strong on velocity, breaking balls and location. They, and many others, will be needed during the 7 games in 5 days in Myrtle Beach next week. So far, in 7 games, Birds have outscored their 7 opponents 36-21, but are 3-4. 3 1-run losses and 1 2-run loss. Also, 3 of 4 losses in final inning or extra innings. Great to get the game in and have a chance to get better. Thanks to the Florence Freedom and for those fans on both sides that came out to watch. Birds Varsity and JV play at Carroll Co. on FRI and at Elder on SAT before heading to The Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach next week.

Nice detailed article, with quotes, from Fort Thomas Matters at Fort Thomas Sports Glad to see the local coverage. Reporter stayed for all 14 innings.

Nice detailed article, with quotes, from Fort Thomas Matters at Fort Thomas Sports Glad to see the local coverage. Reporter stayed for all 14 innings.

I figured the concussion set him back a year.

Nice bounce-back win for the Birds. After dropping a close one to Beechwood to start the day, HC got out to an early 4-0 lead with some solid hitting. A 5 run 3rd inning was capped off by the 2 run, 2 out HR from SO Allen to give the Birds a lead. HC tied it up in the 4th, but the Birds plated 4 in the bottom of the 5th to push it out to the final margin. Nice work by SO Jones to go 5 without his best stuff and location. Liggett was a strong change of pace that kept HC off balance over the 2 innings he threw. Birds are scheduled at Campbell Co. on WED before a FRI night game at Carroll Co. and SAT at Elder. The team heads to Myrtle Beach for 7 games in 5 days after that. For updates, follow @HHSDirtyBirds on Twitter and Facebook

Well played game this early in the season. BW pitcher was strong and efficient. Tired a bit toward the end, but HHS couldn't get anything to stick. 1st start of the year for SR Schultz and he was not as sharp as usual. That will come with repetition. Velocity seemed OK. Breaking ball was unpredictable. 1st inning HR from BW pitcher got them off to a good start. Nice work by SO Martin in relief. Battled hard each inning. Couple of big DPs behind him helped keep things within reach. HHS offense was kept off balance and couldn't score on a few occasions when they had opportunities.

JR Cochran was the star of the game with CG shutout on a 2 hitter with 6 Ks. (1 hit was a potentially catchable bloop hit to RF and the other was a IF chopper in the 7th after the 3rd out should have already been made.) Offensive production from SR Molina in the leadoff spot with 4 hits and 4 runs scored. SR Murray had a clutch 2 out, 2 run single in the 2nd to push the lead to 5-0. Back to back 2 out RBI doubles from SR Schultz and SO Mills in the bottom of the 6th rounded out the scoring. 2 games tomorrow for the Varsity (Noon v. Beechwood & then Holy Cross after that) followed by JV v. Holy Cross around 5:30 PM. NOTE: Big ups to Coach Baioni, the coaching staff and some dedicated parents. The field looked great given the conditions.