Congrats to VMI!

I've said it to anyone that talked VMI. Marlin Ikenberry is the hardest working coach in these parts...If hardwork and dedication get rewarded he's due -- big time.

If he got a position where he didn't have to recruit with one hand tied behind his back -- (military atmosphere at VMI)he'd build a nationale power.

Time for teams like VT, Duke, and others to pay attention.

Congrats to he and his team -- well earned!

Also very classy what Tom Slater had to say for VMI

Mega Dittos from Lynchburg, too. The past two years, I think I have seen the VMI staff at about every showcase tourney and camp my son has been at--they are definitely working the commonwealth hard. Great wins for the Big South and VA baseball.

Ike is a great person and may very well be one of the hardest working coaches you will ever meet. What he has accomplished with the program since he took over is amazing.

O42

Kudos go out to Chris Henderson (Colonial Forge HS grad and now a Rat at VMI)--his last two starts helped propel VMI to wins. Not a bad start to his collegiate career. Dittos on the effort put forth by Coach Ikenberry and his staff--this reinforces the adage that hard work pays off...and that there are no shortcuts...

VMI '86

VMI 12 and 4. What is going on up in the mountains of Lexington this year? I have also heard that all of this is without sr. ace JJ Hollenbeck and injured Chris Henderson who started off as the teams #3 leaving a lone sophmore and a handful of freshmen. Did this new set of coaches add to any of this? It says on thier webpage that they have all new coaches except for Marlin Ikenberry. The team offensivly seems to be able to put some runs up and the pitching staff, though young, seems to be effective of keeping runs off. What's the deal up there? They seem that they could be the best D1 school in the state at this rate.

They have certainly put a lot of energy into recruiting the past few years, and it seems to be paying off. BUT, they've got a long way to go to be Va's best. UVA will be tough to catch up with at this point.

Very good point. UVA is off to a good start. I checked both websites and it seems they play each other in mid April. I would like to see thier aces match up but being a mid week out of conference game, I guess it will just be a battle of the bull pens. I would like to see Coach Ikenberry line up weekend series' with teams like them just as instate rivals games. Then it would leave no questions about best teams. Just a thought.

Don't blame Coach Ike. It's just not possible, given the required conference schedule and the soon-to-be-effective NCAA rule limiting the season to circa Feb. 20-forward. Heck, the ACC teams don't even play every other conference team any more -- there are more opponents than weekends available.

But UVA has more than three solid starters, so VMI will see some good pitching. And I know VMI has some depth there, too, so the midweek game should be a good show and a decent test for both squads. (Has VMI let frosh Matt Edwards pitch yet?)

I understand the scheduling thing, but instead of no name northern teams, lets see the VA boys fight it out for the title. And I am not very familiar with the team I just saw that they were off to a very fast start with 2 over Auburn and 1 from Mercer whose beaten some #1s. I mean between VMI UVA VT ODU JMU VCU there are some very good teams that I would like to see matched up over a weekend. JMHO...

quote:

Originally posted by 8CrashDavis8:
They seem that they could be the best D1 school in the state at this rate.

I like the enthusiasm but lets take a reality check and wait a bit before giving them a berth in Omaha.

Im not saying that they are that good just I saw they were doing well early and seem to have some good strenghts that they are working with such as 7 returning position players and some good young arms (all form the Keydet website). Thats all. Just giving some love to a group of young guys playing well.