Raiderbback04

Tough day for pitchers with strong winds blowing dead out from the plate. Defenses were sound but lots of good hitting on this day. For Ryle, Garrett Wagner had 3 doubles from the leadoff slot, Mark Guttridge had 1,2 and 3-baggers from the 2 hole, Vince Murray, Rainer Oliver, Brent Humphrey and Dustin O'Hara all had doubles and there were lots of other base knocks for the Raiders. I think SK only had two errors and Ryle played error free baseball. Junior Ryan Hughes picked up the win. Don't know the SK players but they had quite a few nice shots for singles and doubles.

I would guess high 70's but not sure.

Congrats Lance. Good job with the books!

I looked on the web site and it is officially called Jonathan Alder H.S.

It was Columbus Alder. Some fans said they are not too far from Columbus. It was definitely not Alter, their jerseys said A-L-D-E-R. Never heard of them before.

Just a few comments on the game. CovCath did have good fortune with four bloopers, Ryle did not. Ryle hit 3 long shots that would have been yard or close on a warm day without a howling wind blowing in. Blaze's shot to center was a rocket. The ball that Spradlin hit landed between first base and the fence, closer to first base but certainly not just 20 feet. Garrett Wagner makes any play on a high pop up down the right field line only 20 feet behind first base. He is the best second baseman I have seen this year. The error on Bleser's sharply hit ground ball was our costly defensive mistake and CovCath took advantage of it. Jeff Hatfield was terrific again with mixing up his 4 pitches, changing speeds and locations every pitch. He has had 3 quality starts (Campbell, Elizabethtown and CovCath). Bleser was not as sharp as he will be later in the year.

Eric Severson was terrific last year and I would guess he averaged 3 hits in each of the 5 games I saw him play. I just saw him again at Georgetown this past weekend and he is still swinging the aluminum well. Very nice stroke.

Micah Foreman had a breakout game for Ryle with 4 rockets for hits including the go-ahead bases clearing double. Mark Guttridge had 3 hits including a 2-run bomb in the first inning and Brent Humphrey had 2-3 knocks. We had a bad day with the leather and most if not all of the Southern runs were unearned. It's good fortune for us that this was a noon start because any later games would have been in trouble with the rain that set in. We're still waiting to put it all together, like most other teams at this point in the season.

I'd like to commend the baseball staff and volunteers at Franklin County H.S. who have worked so hard to get their field playable after some very heavy rains. Unbelievable job and thanks Franklin Co.!

You're killing me, Diamond Dandy. I think the Raiders still have room for improvement so let's hope we peak at tourney time this year.

Ryle is starting to click and not everyone is hitting well yet. They are certainly a fun team to watch. Another good outing by junior lefty Brian Weis.

Jeff only walked one batter and mixed his 4 pitches very well and kept a good hitting E-town team off balance the entire game. Only 1 of the 2 runs was earned. Jeff has had two very fine outings so far in this young season. Great job, Jeff!

Correction, your honor! Leatherneck is ALMOST always, usually, generally speaking, often, fairly consistently the voice of Bird-brained reason. :laugh:

Chris is one of the best around as he does everything seemingly effortlessly. Fun player to watch.

I would guess that Chris is about 6'1" and 180 pounds but I do not know for sure. You are exactly right about tremendous bat speed and quick wrists. That's Chris to a tee (it almost looks like he is hitting off a tee he makes it look so easy).

I was very impressed with the quality of the umpiring last night. The guy behind the plate was extremely consistent. Great early season game. Ryle is starting one senior in the infield - Josh Duesing at first base.

Bad luck night for Ryle with 6-7 shots during the game right at Campbell players. Good game for spectators with lots of drama. Ryle was led by Mark Guttridge with 2 bullets for doubles and Garrett Wagner had 3 hits and Jerrod Babik with 2. Jeff Hatfield and Brian Weis pitched well for the Raiders and Brian was just barely missing to walk in the winning run. Congrats to the Camels.

Congrats to Chris Curley on getting off to a great start. I can't imagine how many times he will get intentionally walked this year. Outstanding ball player.

Unfortunately, Ryle's field does not have lights. At least the umpires let the boys play til it truly was too dark to continue. The umps did a great job for both teams except for the one unexplainable call that cost us a run at the plate.

We were surprised to get this one in - congrats to the ground crew. A kiss your sister affair ending with bad base running by Ryle followed by a Helen Keller special on an obvious non-tag play at the plate where the Raider was called out yet clearly not tagged. What a bonehead call! NC is lucky to get out of there with a tie. NC ace Jared Harris started for the Breds and went 4 and not sure of who relieved. Giovanni Devita went 4 and was followed by JC Collins on the hill for Ryle. I would guess NC had about 4 hits and 3 errors. Ryle probably had 7 hits and 2 errors. Vince Murray scorched a couple of shots for the Raiders and Bueter and another player doubled for NC. Both look like capable teams with some early season mistakes, especially 3 baserunning blunders by Ryle.

I have no idea how you keep up with all this stuff. You are not the only one getting older. Have a great week!

CovCath-Beechwood-Ryle are all close and pitching will determine the winner in matchups between them. All have solid D's, good hitters and enough good athletes to cover every position. It should be an interesting year. Ryle needs to have some pitchers step up and perform well in order to have a really good season.

I'm surprised Conner got no votes.

Tyler was contacted by Mt. Union and Ohio Northern and many other Ohio schools. He ended up at West Point with Coach Ross.

Congrats to Jerrod who will play for Coach Paul at ONU, joining several other local players. Great school with fine facilities.