Southeastern District

If I am not mistaken, that is the reverse of last year's game.

Everything was opposite today from 2008.

WB Soph. pitcher comes up big with a solid performance to knock off the top seed IR (exact reverse of '08)... WB was the one who came in with an edge, with some thing to prove...

Hats off to the Bruins. Thompson pitched well & they played D, the opposite of IR tonight. 5-6 of WB's 7 leadoff batters were put on (Howerin, IR starting pitcher was off from the jump), IR made some VERY sloppy plays on D & on the bases, and did not show the same plate discipline as Branch.

There was one bright spot for IR as 1B/P Chris Cartwright did what he could, making a sharp 1B-SS-1B double play, then coming in to try & keep the game within reach on the mound, while at the plate hitting two balls to the track into the teeth of the wind (one that Kidd made a great catch on). Another day could have been 2 HRs.

But overall, WB won all phases, Good job Bruins! ... & good luck to all the SED teams in the Eastern Regionals!

Great Bridge 3, Hickory 2

Perkins and Stokes combine to no hit Hickory. Stokes should get the win, and Inman his first loss. Great Bridge advances to tomorrow's championship game against Western Branch.

WB sure seemed like they wanted this game more. Thompson pitched a great game to lead them to victory...

IR started off to "laid-back" and the late push to make it a game came up well short.. Multiple walks paired with misplayed balls in the outfield led to more Bruin chances. ( Although IR SS made a number of great plays to limit more WB runs)

Also, WB played small ball, many bunts were called and they were for the most part successful

WB surely has the bats and stud pitcher in Thompson to nab the last SED regional bid, and my guess is despite the bad showing, this game will serve as a wake up call and IR will bounce back in the Regionals

Usually IR is the first to come and post their scores...I wonder why they haven't commented on tonights game? I am not sure why they didn't come to "win"....it just didn't look like the same team that had playing the entire season...understand they didn't pitch their top 2 pitchers but from what I saw, it looked pretty bleak (I saw the last 3 innings)...anyway, congrats to WB...good game!

WB Reporter -- I did read all the posts..not sure why I missed who wrote what...yes, I see now that they did respond...but I still am not sure why they didn't put their top pitchers out there? It might have made a difference. It just didn't look like they cared about the game because they knew they already had a spot to the regions...that is what I was looking to find out. It seemed every game they played this season, they went in to win. I am not sure why they held back on their pitching since they would not have to play another game for a week. That is what I was looking for! Do you know the answer?? BTW -- Thanks for the great reporting this season.

earlydawn, i agree...

however, it wasnt about resting arms, my guess is the top 2 pitchers were not used to try and get others mound work.. In order to make a solid run at the state title they probably felt that they needed to solidify a few others on the mound to compliment the two...

but the fact is IR still played its normal lineup, minus the pitcher, and still did not play well. regardless of who is pitching, the lineup has to back him up..

but like i said the WB pitcher pitched a great game and the Bruins hit the ball well. hopefully WB continues its solid play and IR learns from this loss and bounces back and makes a run in the regionals..... all SED regional final anyone ?

I came on to report the score when I got home, but it was already posted. My comment is 2 posts up from yours... but...

To explain Kevin Howerin pitching tonight...

1) Going into regionals, it is understood that Dean Ali is the #1, but if IR gets by Granby, then the team needs someone ELSE "battle-tested" (faced a good team) to take the bump versus Menchville or #2 Beach team.

2) Kevin had given up only 4 hits & 2 ER in 16.1 IP this season while striking out 19. He also pitched & allowed no hits through 5 innings of the play-in game victory last year over a strong Nansemond River team.

That is the reasoning for the pitching selection...

Cartwright, who came in in relief, was 4-0 and beat Hickory on the last day of the season, allowing 1 ER in 6 IP while striking out 7. The two guys are not JV pitchers. Dean gets the pub but the rest of the IR staff was 11-0 this year with a 1.40 ERA and 80+K's in 60+IP.

Obviously it didn't work out tonight, as Kevin wasn't sharp, but Dean Ali wouldn't have won the game either for the Braves as they did not score a run... it's the plate appearances/baserunning that were very subpar.

Regardless, WB EARNED their victory, Thompson was great, and they deserve ALL of the credit.

Agree with River Baseball 24. Tonight it did not matter who pitched for IR. Thompson was throwing 87-88 mph fast balls and keeping the IR batters off balance with at least two types of off speed pitches. If you do not score any runs, you cannot win a baseball game. Coupled with sound defense, WB prevailed tonight.

Sometimes, you must simply credit the other guy. In this case, WB's pitcher was awesome.

A sophomore was throwing 87-88? Haven't seen many in the area this year throw that hard consistently!

Bryan Cave did that last year as a freshman I believe over on the peninsula.

It is just hard to believe speeds unless there was a gun on them at the time!

A Stalker (gun) to be exact. Thompson isn't the only one throwing in the upper 80's. Check out Jake Cave, a left hander, at Hampton Christian. He throws 88-90.

B. Cave is Jake's father. He coaches baseball at the Apprentice School. A good guy!

Not that I don't believe the speeds but I find it amazing that most of the pitchers from the area drop 4-5 mph or more when they get to college!

Knight, I think that is because they are overworked in high school. Kids throwing a 120 to 140 pitches in a game, and then coming back two or three days later to throw another 120 to 140 pitches. Additionally, I wonder how many of the pitchers are taking care of their arms. Warming up properly before they pitch, and warming down after they pitch. Getting proper rest, etc.

As far as the speed, that is really not that important. Change of speed and location are what really matters. WB pitcher really changed speeds well and spotted his pitches. Of the 21 outs, 10-12 were soft ground balls. One of the two hits was a grounder through the hole. Cartwright had the only two hard hit balls. Two long outs to CF. I believe they were fastballs, but you should talk to the catcher or pitcher to be sure.

You are correct, Bryan is the dad and Jake is the son.

No one is really talking about the GB-H game... paper barely mentions it and no one is talking about it here really...

Was WB the only SED team to play a clean game yesterday? I wasn't in attendance for the GB-H game... what happened besides seeing 2 base hits all night? Must have been a tight, emotional game for both sides I assume?

Re GB Hickory game

Inman was starting pitcher for H, Perkins for GB. Hickory scored first in the bottom of the 1st. Matt Campbell was walked with one out. Eventually came home on a PB. Top 2nd, Ryan VanAsh singled but did not score. Top 4th, Hickory pitcher had control problems. Walked 3 batters in a row, then hit the next batter to bring home the tying run. Stokes took the mound for GB in the 4th inheriting one runner via a BB. Between then and the end of the game, Stokes faced only 1 batter over the minimum. At the end of 4, score was 1-1.

GB did their damage in the top of 5th. Lead off (Justin Lee)walked and then was sacced to 2nd by Hunter Higgerson. 3rd batter grounded out. Then Patrick Cody singled up the middle to bring home Justin Lee, the go-ahead run. Anthony Stokes then singled home Cody to make the score 3-1.

Sheilor took the mound for Hickory in the 6th and retired all 5 batters he faced with the help of his left fielder making a great catch. Hickory made noise at the bottom of the 7th when Sheilor, the first batter was walked (and later scored on an FC by Hollowell), but Stokes retired the next 3 batters to end the game.

Side note: Thought that all pitchers for the night (WB, IR, H, & GB)probably gave up more BB & HB than they usually do. At a QUICK glance (in other words, have not balanced the books), Howerin gave up 4, Cartwright 4, Thompson 2, Inman 8, Perkins 4, Stokes 1.

Hope I was not too detailed.

Heard WB beat GB 9-5. Any details out there?

Final score was WB 9, Great Bridge 5. GB scored first in the bottom of the 3rd with 2 UE runs to make it 2-0. In top of 4th, line drive up the middle hit the arm of GB's starting pitcher and knocked him out of the game but WB still did not score that inning. In the bottom of the 4th, Preston Grissom (GB) doubled and was brought in when Austin Craig singled on the left side. Score at end of 4 was GB 3, WB 0. Tyler Manugo (WB) led off the top of 5 with a single, Garrett Brooks (next batter) reached on BB. Both scored when Shane Johnsonbough hit between 1st and 2nd to make the score 3-2, GB. GB scored 1 in the bottom of 5, making score 4-2 GB. WB busted the game open in the 6th, scoring 7 runs on 5 hits, and GB scored 1 in the bottom of the 6th to reach the final score of 9-5.

Shane Johnsonbaugh, a freshman, pitched the complete game for WB. Tyler Manugo,Brandon Doggett and CJ Mc Andrews contributed two hits each to the winning cause with four other Bruins having one hit each.

Not sure about the gun readings on Nick....he wasn't as sharp as he usually is. If he was 87-88, Stokes HAD to be 90+. That was the hardest I have seen Stokes in 4 outings this year.

Either way, congrats to WB. They played well and earned both wins.

Talking to a college coach who was at the games, Stokes was 83-85 and Thompson was 84-86. I personally did not attend the games.

I agree..
Stokes certainly can pitch, but i think 90 may be pushing it...

Please re-read...Nick is capable of throwing 87-88 but he wasn't near that against IR as a previous poster claimed. That is hat I was addressing.

my mistake, read the post too fast!