cooperstown

Just out of curiousity, is Kentucky Baseball Source a person or organization or what? Can't say I've ever heard of them/him/it.

Highlands was 9-19 on May 7th and frankly, there weren't a whole lot of "quality" wins in that 9-win total. I'm guessing the odds of them reaching the regional final at that point would have been somewhere around 200-1 and if you said you thought it was going to happen at that point you would either be lying or own a crystal ball. Here we are 3 weeks later and they have rolled off 9 wins in 10 games and the loss was a competitve 8-4 game against Dixie. This kind of turnaround just doesn't happen very often. Total props to Coach Baioni and his team. It takes a serious, big-time coaching performance to make something like this occur. Got to talk briefly with Coach Baioni after the game and you could tell he was thrilled beyond thrilled with the turnout and support of the HHS student body, especially the football team. That kind of support certainly fires up a team. HHS has a ton of momemtum going right now and not someone I'd want to be playing.

Wow. This is a pretty solid beatdown and a nice turnaround from when Bryan Station run-ruled them earlier in the season 12-2. On an 11-game winning streak to boot.

And most certainly in a one-and-out environment. Sometimes the best overall team does not make it to the end in this sport, but that's part of what makes it so great IMO. A team - like Highlands - gets hot and suddenly records and logic get thrown out the window.

I would have been willing to bet you my house that the championship game in the 9th would not consist of the two teams coming out of the 36th district. Clearly, I would be homeless tonight. NCC, who has had some fielding issues at times this year (at least from what I've seen and heard) has played outstanding defense to date and gotten terrific pitching from Cain and Bartel. Defense and pitching - the heart of quality baseball. And Highlands goes to show what happens when a team gets hot at the right time of year. They've got a ton of momemtum going into tomorrow night's game and would think a fair amount of confidence, having knocked off NCC just a week ago. Should be a great game.

Great game from NCC perspective. Not so great from Ryle perspective. NCC got a terrific pitching performance from Bartel, who went the distance. Very nice pitcher who has a solid curve that he gets over consistently, good zip on his fastball, and very good control. Surprised I haven't heard more about him up until now (probably me not paying enough attention). NCC played outstanding defense and got two plays from their RF that were flat-out ridiculous. The first one was a headfirst diving catch of a tailing foulball down the RF line in the 2nd inning (I think) that he dove at without any regard for the fact that he was headed right towards and very close to the concrete wall. The second one was not quite as spectacular, but still darn impressive, and hurt Ryle even more, as it occurred in the 6th inning with Ryle down to just a few precious outs. Ryle led this game 1-0 after the first inning and held the lead through 3 innings. In the 4th, NCC put 5 unearned runs on the board. Ryle had a couple of errors that hurt them and NCC took advantage with several timely hits. Ryle really never got much going with the sticks tonight. They put together a little rally in the 7th inning with 2 outs and had runners at 2B and 3B when the final out was made. Right before this batter struck out to end the game, he hit a slicing ball down the RF line that landed no more than 6 inches foul and would have tied the game. But it was not to be. Ultimately, NCC played the better game tonight and deserved to win. Hats off to them and best of luck going forward.

I would say TT's statement is fine if you removed the "Cov Cath fans" comment and replaced it with something like "fans around the state" or "coaches around the state." Not sure I perceive any arrogance out of CCH fans. They have a great program and great teams year in and year out and they know it and are proud of it. Nothing wrong with that.

Once these new schools are built, do you not think there are substantial operating costs? Things such as teacher/administration salaries, books/supplies, school buses, electric, heating, maintenance, and on and on? The completion of the brick structure is hardly the end point of the process. With regard to Kenton County - I have been told that because they are, for the most part, land-locked, their school populations have essentially remained steady for years. Therefore, they have no need to build entirely new schools to support such rapid growth as is occurring here in Boone County, and have the available funds to vastly upgrade their existing facilities. The improvements made to the sports facilities at Dixie, Simon Kenton, and Scott over the past five years has been staggering. No such luck here in Boone (other than Ryle's football field, which was done entirely with privately-raised money). Every extra dollar that comes in is put towards the next new school building to be built. It is even more challenging for the non-football sports at Boone Schools. Football draws a good crowd here in Boone County and the gates are substantial, regardless whether the A.D. keeps a percentage of the gate or not. But what about a sport like baseball? The games are not highly attended, so there is little income generated. There is zero dollars provided by the school itself to the baseball program - all monies are self-generated. As in 100%. And since we don't have gates revenues or substantial concessions sales (at Ryle the band works the concession standsat football games and keeps all profits), we have to come up with various other fundraising plans - working Xavier basketball games, selling t-shirts, selling Reds' Kid Glove tickets, selling "Diamond Club" memberships, etc.... All of this is essentially put on the backs of the parents.

Here's what I found on the KHSBCA website regarding winningest currently active Kentucky baseball coaches: From NKY: #4 Krumpelbeck (841) #7 Maxwell (585) #19 Roesel (386) #25 Schulkens (299) - which, btw, worries me a tad since his 300th could potentially come in the 9th semi-final against Ryle! #29 Myerhoff (272) Great job by all these fine coaches. Still a ways to go to match Kentucky's all-time winningest coach - Larry Gumm of Green County High School with 1006 wins!

I did a fairly lengthy pre-season NKY baseball preview writeup for BGP a few years ago and got to talk at length with Coach Maxwell. He was super to talk to and pretty clear he had a nice sense of humor. Love to meet the guy in person sometime.

Your son is a very good outfielder. Good luck to him if he attempts to play on, and if not, congrats on a nice high school career and many good memories. My son has been graduated for two seasons now and the game memories are as fresh as ever.

Well, perhaps in the interest of disclosing something Coach Roesel might prefer I not, I probably should not specifically say. I will only say that Lawson has been the official #2 all year long, while Ernst has indeed had a terrific season himself (35 innings, 0.61 ERA, including a complete game 3-hit 6-1 win over Dixie). I think either one will be effective and limit NCC offensively. Again, however, Ryle will need to bring their hitting sticks and not expect their pitcher to hold the opponent to 1 or 2 runs.

So between the charges dropped against one person and charges greatly reduced against the other three, it appears that no one will be doing any actual jail time for this crime? Seems reasonable . . . . :irked:

^ Agree with what you written, TT, but at the same time many of these NKY teams are partly responsible for this lack of respect. Until NKY makes a bit more consistent impact at the state tournament, it is an environment by and large dominated by the Louisivlle and Lexington-area schools. If you want these teams to "respect" you and the coaches to vote for you, then you need to get out and schedule - and beat - some of these teams. Playing the same NKY teams over and over and over won't get you many statewide ranking votes and, frankly, won't make you all that much better of a team either. Now, that being said, I have no idea why a school like Ryle - who played and beat quite a number of state-ranked teams this year - would not have gotten more attention. I guess some of the coaches downstate are simply stuck in their past voting ways and won't vote for any school not named Covington Catholic or Beechwood. So be it, ultimately the rankings mean little and NKY can get themselves the ultimate level of respect by capturing a couple of state championships.

Tells me that the 9th rep should be able to meaningfully compete at state, as Ryle beat Bryan Station twice this year. And no, not assuming that Ryle will be the 9th rep, only that whoever wins the 9th will be playing some quality baseball certainly on par with the Ryle team that notched these two wins. Let's face it - it's been a while since a 9th team has gone to state and made some noise. Perhaps this is the year.

Weather looking awesome for games Wednesday (80 degrees, mostly sunny) and Thursday (75 degrees, sunny with some clouds). No rain in forecast either day, nor any brutal temperatures.

Tough ending to season for Scott, but a nice turnaround this year for Coach Tramme and his team. Good luck going forward.

Highlands seems to have their mojo going now. Would never have thought it possible 3 weeks ago, but I'll go with HHS in a close one over Dixie to send them into the championship game. (Where they will lose to Ryle ).

I certainly don't think he'll pitch 7 innings, but I don't think it would be at all surprising - or dangerous - to see him throw 50-60 pitches. He's been monitored pretty closely this year and had always been given appropriate rest between starts, so don't think there's any arm fatigue issue here at all.

Was wondering that myself a while back because that exact scenario (with Downs) could have occurred. I went through the NFHS scorebook and didn't see anything. So barring some specific reason why they should not be allowed, I would think it should be. It's odd, no doubt, and can't be compared to MLD socring rules since it could never happen. In the above referenced game with Downs, he pitched 6 innings and left with Ryle in the lead. In the 7th, a Ryle reliever put a couple guys on base, so Coach Roesel brought Downs back in. He gave up a hit which allowed the tying run to score. So he ended up initially leaving the game after 6 innings as the potential winning pitcher and left the 7th inning as having had a blown save. Kind of odd . . .

Guess we were typing at the same time. Apparently you type faster.

I didn't realize they pulled Cain after 5 innings. That would make him available for Wednesday night's game (needs only one day rest). Less than 3 innings - no rest needed 3-5 innings - 1 day rest needed 6 innings - 2 days rest needed 7 or more innings - 3 days rest needed Maximum 9 innings in a day and 15 innings in a week. 1 pitch = 1 inning (i.e., 5 innings plus one pitch in 6th inning, regardless whether an out was made, is equal to 6 innings).

Ryle and Newport Central Catholic will meet up for the third time this season on Wednesday night at Florence Freedom in the semifinal round of the 9th Region tourney. They have met twice earlier this season and each team was on the winning end of a 5-4 score, so this will be the rubber match. Both teams used their aces in the opening round game and will be unavailable. So who ya got? I will stay with Ryle. Their #2 pitcher, Mitch Lawson, is very good as long as he stays away from walks. Ryle has been swinging the bats fairly well and has been playing very solid defense. I look for them to win this somewhere along the lines of a 7-3 score.

I honestly didn't think it felt all that bad in the stadium and didn't see any players act as though the heat was bothering them (I was sitting in second row near Ryle dugout). I'd say the push back to 6:30 start time was a good decision and very successful.

For those that weren't there in person, Downs is the real deal. I felt that Ryle was a pretty safe prediction over Holy Cross in this game simply due to him pitching. He doesn't not give up many hits and when he does, there aren't extra baserunners that come around to score because he put them on via walks. He has outstanding control for a high school pitcher, especially one the throws as hard as he does and mixes in all three pitches. I believe just tied the record for wins in a season by a Ryle pitcher with 10. BTW, HC's pitcher Fuller threw very well himself. Ryle strung together a couple hits in the 4th to plate 3 runs, but other than that, he pretty much had Ryle's number.