The Knight

You are so right about velocity being over rated. There has been only one pitcher in the past five or six years from the 9th Region hat could consitently throw in the 90's but he had poor control. In the same time there have been a number of very, very good high school pitchers come out of the region that did not come close to his speed. Pithcing is all control, control and control.

If Cody Elliott can do what he has done the prior two years he should be a very strong candidate for POY. He does it at the plate, on the mound, in the outfield and on the bases.

There may be more open spots than you are anticipating. I notice that at least a couple of these boys will be attending college this next year. Even though they may still be eligilble according to their birthday, Walt ususally likes to see these boys play in a college summer league rather than come back and play against younger competition.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported this morning that Beechwood's Cody Elliott signed to play baseball for Ball State. This is the result of a lot of hard work and a great attitude. It could not happen to a better young man. I am sure both Mom and Dad are very, very proud. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070731/SPT0302/707310339/1062/SPT

You have to remember that NCAA baseball teams only permitted 11.5 scholarships to split among the entire squad. Also, many schools do not fully fund the number of scholarships allowed. Making things even more difficult is a new rule where the award must be at least 30% of a full scholarship. This will greatly reduce the number of kids getting help.

I'm curious as why you think these young men would be playing for Midland next year rather than return and play for Walt. Having been around the Colonels the last five years I don't think Walt or Denny would be very appreciative giving these sophomores a real opportunity this summer and then have them jump to another team next year. Matt is a completely different pitcher during the summer. When he has a good team around him he can be dominant, he showed a lot of that last summer. His success next year at Dixie will all depend upon his supporting cast.

Actually Beechwood is 177-54 since 2002. Remember the KHSAA does not have every game that is played on it scoreboard. Over the prior four years (2003-2006) Beechwood had a record of 136-24 which is probably the most wins in the state over that period.

I'll take Cody Elliot from Beechwood. This young man does it all for the Tigers, plays the best outfield in the region, is one of the top three pitchers and is probably one of the offensive leaders in the region as well. No team in NKY has played a tougher schedule than Beechwood and Cody gets the ball in most of these games. As good as he is as a player he is just as good as a young man. He is the only starter that returned from last years All "A" champions and overall state runner up team. He probably has more riding on his shoulders than any player in the region and has led the Tigers to a great year so far including a return to defend their title in the All "A" this weekend at Applebee's. The other players mentioned are all very nice but none have suceeded on the stage that Cody has.

I'm with GloveMan. Supposedly Ryle has not taken a true loss in the past two years, there is always an excuse. Ryle has a very nice team this year in a down year in the Ninth region. They are not close to the teams from Beechwood, Cov Cath and Boone that have come out of the Ninth the last five years.

Without a doubt, Beechwood has the worst field in Northern Kentucky if not the entire state. The powers that be should be absolutely embarassed to have games played on that field. There is no fence, tiny dugouts, a dirt infield, no decent seating, etc. It is amazing that the Tigers have been able to post 135+ wins in the last four years with basically no home field.

It is definitely time to fix it. If Beechwood would have won the title last year it would have been like the movie "Hoosiers". It would probably not happen again for years. When you have a school of 315 going against schools with enrollments of 1600+ it is not right. Plus the KHSAA could learn a lot by watching how Touchstone handles the All "A". Having been participants in both twice, the All "A" is a much better run tournament.

Due to their ages, the following may also play for the Colonels next year. A. J. Elliott-Simon Kenton/Pikeville Chris Neumann-Beechwood/Hanover Scott Best-Scott/EKU

Personally, several others can verify.

That's fine, don't believe me but several people heard him say it and I will stand by my previous post. The officiating was horrible for the entire tournament.

The KHSAA could learn a lot from the Touchstone Energy people on how to run a tournament. The All A quarterfinals were all played on Saturday and the semi-finals and final were both played on Sunday. No unfair advantage was gained by any team. They also know how to keep the game moving. No stupid games between innings. In 2004 these type of between inning activities probably cost Beechwood the game against Trinity. Everyone knew all day that inclement weather would be coming. Instead of trying to move the games along and shorten the time between games they took their own sweet time making sure to get the promotions in. The game was called in the 6th inning due to the weather and the teams were forced to finish the game the following day. The previous evening Chris Curley had Trinity baffled. He of course could not complete the game the next day and Beechwood lost in extra innings. Julian Tackett is the KHSAA official in charge of the baseball tournament. IMO he needs to be replaced!!! It's to the point where the KH$AA is more about money than about treating high school athletes equitably.

In a "discussion" with Julian Tackett, the KHSAA official in charge of the tournament, it was suggested that the KHSAA hire officials that know all of the rules of baseball. Believe it or not he said he agreed that the officiating had been poor throughout the tournament, especially the interferance call at second. What an indictment of your own umpires. BTW the second baseman for Beechwood was taken out twice with much harder slides than the one that was called.

Sorry, but VMA is absolutely correct. I have seen it called twice and looked it up in the rules. The first and third basemen must have both feet within the field of play when the pitch is delivered. Just because it isn't called very ofter does not mean it's the rule.

According to KHSAA information the male high school enrollments for the Elite 8 teams are: St. X-1397 PRP-917 Davies Co.-898 Lex Cath-869 S. Laurel-651 Christian Co.-644 Boyd Co.-492 Beechwood-176

Sorry, it was the Owensboro Catholic game where the Danville fans were an embarassement.

I have to agree with Hardball. At the All "A" in their loss to Campbellsville the Danville fans were terrible. One fan pigeonholed a tournament official and started screaming to him about the umpires. As the game went on the Danville fans became more and more abusive.

Chris Curley is POY hands down. His numbers are real. Since the stats were posted in the Post last week his average has dipped to .641. When the Tigers played Villa, Dayton, Calvary, Silver Grove and Bellevue Chris played a maximum of two innings and sometimes did not play at all. When the games played against these schools are taken out of the mix his average is .643, 10 HR, 37 RBI all which still lead Northern Kentucky.

Those that have watched a lot of college baseball can tell you that there is not a lot of difference talent wise between a good Division III program and a lower Division I program. The only negatives of a number of NAIA schools is that they tend to have huge rosters for most of their sports programs which leads to a lot of kids not playing and leaving the program. You will also find that most NAIA schools lack a bit academically when compared to NCAA institutions.

Beechwood should look something like this: 1B-Ben Johnson, Senior 2b-Chris Neumann, Senior SS-Pat Muth, Senior 3B-Chris Curley, Senior C-Chas Moore, Senior LF-Jon Baker, Senior CF-Eric Sawyer, Senior RF-Cody Elliott, Sophomore Pitching will be Curley, Moore, Johnson, Neumann and Tom Bankamper. The Tigers should be every bit as good as they have been during the last three years acheiving a record of 99-12.

Some that have not been mentioned yet. Michael Smith-Highlands Had good year last year look for him to be better this year. Probably the best player at Highlands. Jon Baker and Chris Neumann-Beechwood Don't hear much about these two because of all the other talent. Both had great years last year and look for more of the same this year. Jimmy Ryan-Holy Cross Look for a huge breakout year for this lefty. Chris Brann-Scott Consistent behind the plate, look for a break out year hitting.

Why don't you let everyone know who they are and who exactly will they surprise?????