jpa2825

Although this is completely accurate, it may be misleading to the casual observer that may drop in on this thread for the 9th Region tourney to get information. UC Health Stadium is where the Florence Freedom plays, obviously in Florence right off 75.

Is there a story behind Central's appearance in the Region at 4-15?

Monday games 10, 1, 4 & 7. Tuesday games 5 & 8. Wednesday game at 7

SR Cochran was in control for the 4 innings he pitched. JR Martin also cruised in his 1 inning. Biggest stat - 0 walks. Throw strikes, challenge hitters and let your defense play behind you. Couple of nice plays in the IF in the 1st inning gives a pitcher more confidence to do that. JR Murray led off the B1 with a single and went to 2B when SR Allen was HBP. Both stole and then JR Murray scored on a grounder to 1B by JR Whitford. (Little things -- Whitford stopped short of 1B to avoid a quick tag to make sure Murray had scored and Allen had gotten to 3B.) Can't recall the sequence after that, but there were some solid hits in there to plate the 5 runs. Dill for Bellevue settled in after that and pitched well. Worked out of a bases loaded, 2-out jam in the 3rd. Birds got to the Tigers' reliever with 5 in the bottom of the 5th to close it out, including an RBI PH single by SR Vermeil to drive in SR Hergott and a 2 RBI solid hit by SR Gesenhues. Whitford scored Allen from 2B with a laser to the gap in right center to end it. Dill and Seiter made all tourney team for Bellevue. Raisor and Cochran for HHS. Allen was named tourney MVP (3-6, 6-8 OBP, 6 runs, 3 RBI, couple of nice plays at 2B). 3 peat for the Birds. There may not be many SRs on this squad, but they all contribute. All in all, a great day to be a Bluebird!!!

Correct. Worked ahead. Was 0-2 on the 1st 3 batters of the game and struck out 9 of the 15 outs. 1 BB (on a 3-2 pitch) away from a perfect game. Birds hit and converted those hits into runs. SR Allen was either 2-3 or 3-3 w/ 3 runs scored and 2 RBI. Nice job by Coach Baioni to speed the game up and get it completed before the rain and lightning set in. Birds did not throw the ball around after outs after the 1st inning. Kept things moving. Minimal warmup pitches in the top of the 5th. Should be interesting tomorrow. Expect SR Cochran to start tomorrow. Would not be surprised to see JR Martin and JR Bunning pitch an inning or 2 to stay sharp. I know many of these players, and the Seniors in particular, want to win this to make 3 straight district championships.

NOTE: I don't think there is a JR on the HHS JV squad. Mostly SO with a few FR sprinkled in. Very talented and dedicated group. Coach Reynolds and Assistant Coach Muench do a great job of developing players.

SO Kreeger pitched CG shutout against NCC, SO Raisor pitched CG shutout against Boone and FR Doty pitched CG shutout against Ryle. Future is bright at HHS.

Definitely well pitched game on both sides. Good tuneup for district tourneys. Birds scratched across an unearned run in the 1st. They had a chance to add to that in the 3rd? with a leadoff walk to SR Hergott that was followed by a sac bunt turned single by JR Veneman. 3B thought it might roll foul and by the time he picked it up, Veneman had reached easily. JR Murray sac bunt to put runners at 2B & 3B with 1 out. On a 1-0 count, SR Allen could not get the bat on a pitch way outside and Hergott was tagged out on the suicide squeeze. As I said in the Ryle thread(s) - high risk / high reward. In the 6th, Allen lead off with a single. He was running on the 1st pitch and JR Whitford hit a rocket to 2B - double play. 2 feet either way and its 1st & 3rd with 0 outs and the 3 & 4 hitters up. CCH had their share of missed opportunities as well and outhit the Birds 8-3 by my unofficial count. Nicely turned 4 (JR Heck) -6 (Whitford) -3 by HHS w/ bases loaded to end the 6th definitely helped. Props to CCH for field preparation & for starting the game early at 4:30 PM so that some of the HHS Seniors could make the awards night presentation back at HHS.

Rescheduled to 5.15.14 at Highland Park.

HHS v. NCC in JV Tourney has been cancelled for 5.14.14.

HHS v. NCC in JV Tourney has been cancelled for 5.14.14.

Frosh - Championship Game - HHS v. St. Henry at Simon Kenton at 7:00 PM (weather permitting) JV - HHS v. NCC at Morscher at 5:00 PM (weather permitting) Busy day for the Birds baseball program. Good thing Varsity doesn't have a game scheduled.

Nice 2 day stretch for the Birds. They were without JR Whitford for both games and without JR Hennigan yesterday, but battled back after trailing early in each game. S/O to JR Noe on a solid pitching outing and to SR Allen for closing the door on a rally in the 6th and getting a DP to end the game. In case you were wondering, the suicide squeeze was again critical in pushing across a run in the 7th. High risk, high reward.

Birds defeat Campbell Co. in the JV tourney 3-0 on a 2 hit complete game by Ricky Raisor. Good to get the win. Great to only use 1 arm in such a short tourney. Anyone with details please provide.

St. X (OH) learned about a tournament game on SUN to force the cancellation. Senior Day / Fan Appreciation Day at Highland Park will now be FRI iv. Conner. Good news is now the Baby Birds get to face CovCath at home in the Frosh tourney.

Wild game at Florence Freedom. Birds looked like the Bad News Bears in the top of the 1st, allowing 5 unearned runs after the leadoff HR. JR Bunning pitched well and locked up the Raiders through 6+. JR Ball relieved in the top 7 to induce a nice 4-6-3 DP on a knuckleball and got the final out on another. Birds scratched 2 across and then another 2 via JR Ramey's long HR to left center, but entered the bottom of the 7th down 7-4. SR Allen lead off with a triple down the RF line. After Ramey flew out to RF (not deep enough to try to score), Ball singled to RF to score Allen. SR Gesenhues ran for Ball and stole 2B before SR Cochran worked a 3-2 walk to put runners on 1st & 2nd. SR Vermeil lined a solid single up the middle to score Gesenhues with the tying run. After JR Hennigan was walked to load the bases, JR Heck put down a textbook suicide squeeze to score Cochran with the winning run. Huge win for the Birds. Never give up!

Birds lose another close one at Anderson on Saturday evening. Nice pitching performance by JR Martin until the end when he may have tired approaching 100 pitches for 5.1 and a very good job by SR Vermeil to clean up in the bottom of the 6th and keep the game within reach. Birds started strong with a 2B by JR Murray, but he was thrown out trying to steal 3B. SR Allen walked after fouling off 2 3-2 pitches. JR Whitford was HBP. JR Ramey ended the inning by grounding hard into a 5-4-3 DP. Martin worked out of a jam in the B1. Walk followed by giving up 0-2 single. FC left 1st & 3rd with 1 out. Bouncer back to Martin and he made the right choice to go to 2B where Whitford turned the DP rather than checking the runner and getting a safe out. Birds threatened again in the T3 with 1 out. Murray doubled again. Allen reached on a bunt single. 1B & 3B with 1 out. Whitford grounded hard into a 4-6-3 DP to end the inning. In the 4th, JR Ramey led off with a single and JR Mills worked a walk. JR Ball laid down a sac bunt to provide 2B & 3B with 1 out. Martin singled to score Ramey & Mills. Anderson rallied for 2 in the bottom of the 4th. Tough break for Martin on the 2nd run. Runner on 3B with 2 outs. Martin gets a K on a breaking ball in the dirt, but the ball goes to the fence and the runner scores when the throw to 1B is late. In the 6th, Anderson led off with an 0-2 double (not a terrible pitch -- good piece of hitting). He was sac bunted to 3B. Walk, go to 2B on defensive indifference and another walk loads the bases. Another walk brings in the lead run. Vermeil came on to get a sac fly, walked a batter and then induced a popup to end the inning. Defense was solid. Must convert on opportunities and avoid free passes against quality squads. Getting better every inning. We shall see. You have to believe that playing difficult opponents will pay off at the end of the season.

Great pitching effort by Drew Rom for HHS. Unfortunate timing that HHS v. CCH at Morscher will be at the same time as the Varsity Senior Day / Fan Appreciation Day at Highland Park. Good luck to the Baby Birds!

Birds hit the ball as hard or harder than the Bellevue. 1st & 3rd w/ no out in the 1st and JR Whitford hits a screamer right at the 2B while SR Allen was stealing for a DP. JR Ramey hits a hard smash at 3B to end the inning. SR Cochran kept Bellevue at bay for 7 innings. Bellevue pushed 1 across in the 7th, but didn't threaten seriously before that. Birds committed only 1 error which kept Cochran's pitch count down and runs off the board. Don't think he walked a batter until the 7th. In addition to going yard & hitting an opposite field double, JR Ramey played a solid 3B and got outs. JR Whitford was solid at SS on a few plays. SR Hergott with a solid 2 out double to score SR Gesenhues to get the Birds on the scoreboard in the 2nd. JR Veneman with a triple to bring in Hergott. Veneman comes home after JR Murray was HBP and stole 2B when Bellevue threw through and SS cut the ball off. Murray scored to finish the scoring when Allen reached on an error and Bellevue threw the ball around a bit. Whitford flew out to CF to end inning. Tigers with 4 hits & 2 errors. Birds with 8 hits & 1 error.

HHS 12 Scott 1 in 6 innings. Survive & advance. Will provide details if I get them.

SR Cochran looked sharp in his short stint and I would expect him to start on THU v. Bellevue. JR Bunning was less sharp, but as mentioned above both were simply getting work aiming toward THU. SO Kreeger entered the game with bases loaded and 0 out (nothing like baptism by fire, huh?). Struckout the 1st batter on 3 pitches and then induced the next batter into a 4-6-3 DP (nice turn by JR Whitford on the play). Set Mason down 123 in the next inning. Allowed a run to score on a double after the leadoff guy reached on an error in the 5th. In the 6th, leadoff again reached on error, stole 2B and then scored on a bunt that was overthrown at 1B. That runner scored on a sac fly. Kreeger showed good fundamentals, composure / mound presence, nice velocity and a solid breaking ball. If they need another arm as the regular season closes, I would give him another look. Way too many errors on defense and Ks at bat. Mason had some nice arms, but nothing "untouchable." Birds have done all the preparation. They just need to put all of the phases together in a game (hopefully THU) and then continue to do it game after game.

Upon further review, a photo I saw (with a closeup) was inconclusive. It was taken from the 1B side and it is impossible to see if there was daylight between the bag and the foot. Additionally, there is no way the base umpire could have seen the call from his vantage point. Appeared to make the call based on the fact that the foot eventually came off rather than where it was when he caught the ball. Coin flip at best. Only chance would have been if the plate umpire was following the play and had a good view. Oh well. A good throw and there is no discussion.

Birds started well and ended badly. 3R homer from JR Whitford after JR Murray was HBP and SR Allen coaxed a walk in bottom of the 1st. Solo shot from JR Martin followed by a manufactured run via JR Veneman's speed (bunt hit, SB, scored from 2B on a throw through by the C trying to catch him off 2B.) JR Ball started and was followed by JR Noe and SR Allen. Dixie hit the ball hard all day. I had 7 errors on my book but many were tough chances on hard hit balls. Wouldn't expect SR Cochran, JR Bunning or JR Martin to pitch today against Mason (OH) either (unless it is a 15-20 pitch inning to keep them sharp). Focus is clearly on THU game against Bellevue at HP for the #1 Seed in the District Tourney. #2 pitched for Dixie and was very efficient. Threw 6.1 and only had around 70 pitches. Birds were up there hacking and didn't have much success after the 1st 2 innings. Roedebusch? finished. Sidearm delivery is tough for hitters at this level. Solid game by Dixie overall.

CCH LF made a terrific catch to end the game. Moe had bases loaded. If it falls, the game is certainly tied. If it gets past him, it may have been a walk off for Moe. Congrats to CCH for showing well for NKy baseballl for showing well agaainst 1 of Cincy's big boys.

Well played game for the most part. CCH got out to a 4-1 lead and the Birds tied it with 3 in the 5th. 3-run top of the 6th for CCH was too much to overcome as the Birds left bases loaded to end the game. 2-out hits were the big difference. CCH got 'em and Birds didn't. JR Bunning pitched 5 strong for Birds keeping them in the game. 1st 3 batters (walk, bunt (no out), bunt (no out)) could have spelled doom, but Birds rallied and turned a DP to get out of the inning with only 2 runs being scored. SR Cochran came into the game in a tough situation in the T6 with bases loaded and 0 out (walk, walk, bunt (no out)) and was very effective. K, sac fly & then induced a hot smash to 3B where the throw pulled the 1B off the bag (there were some discussions about this call, but I was not in a position to see it). 2 out hit plated 2 more to end CCH scoring. Schriever for CCH and Ramey for HHS both had HRs to dead center into a fairly strong wind.