LTHS,  how is your son doing now?

LTHS, what is the deal with Tyler Clark not playing for NCWC; is he injured or what?

Quote from: LTHSdad on February 19, 2012, 10:47:24 AM
NCWC takes 3 of 4 from NYU-Poly.  I wasn't very impressed with NYU with exception of their number 1 pitcher SO Nate Albers who locked up in a pitching duel Saturday vs SR Roby Costa and beat us 1-0. 

For NCWC bats really came alive and pitching was A+.  3 of 4 starters went deep into the games which allowed Coach Long to not expose the young bullpen.  Hitting, FR Ricardo Ciuffetelli doesn't have a position but kid is hitting .524 so we are moving him around the field to make sure his bat is in lineup.  I also believe FR SS Brad Guengerich should be the leadoff as the young men can swing the stick (.400 so far) and has some speed.  Looking forward to next week as we'll go head-to-head with Ferrum.

I am happy to see Costa getting some quality innings and pitching well on the mound for the Bishops this year. The kid has had to bide his time for three years now and he has been very patient. Looks like he is going to be a solid contributor to the staff this year. I hope Coach Long is able to figure out how to utilize his bullpen this year. He's had a tendency to run his starters in the ground the past couple of years granted the bullpens were a little shaky.

Quote from: baseballVA on November 09, 2011, 07:37:00 PM
no kid wants to chose d3 over d1.

This is an untrue statement as others have pointed out. My son had the opportunity to go play at a D1 college coming out of high school. This school was honest and upfront with him letting him know he would have to redshirt his freshmen year and would be destined to be a left-handed reliever out of their bullpen and they offered no educational major that he had the least bit interest in so they were quickly scratched from his list of possible college choices. He had a handful of offers from good D2 schools but only one of those fell into the range of distance he wanted to travel away from home and although they did offer a major he was interested in he knew up front it would probably be his junior year before he started seeing significant pitching appearances (this school won the D2 national championship his college freshman year and the coach left the door open for him to transfer to them any time he wanted to with athletic scholarship money on the table all the way through his college career-a fine and a highly respected coach). As a young man that had been a starting pitcher all his life and had never spent any time not playing on the bench was looking for a college with the right educational field and a place where he felt like he could earn his way onto the mound his freshman year. A ton of D3 schools recruited him and he quickly narrowed his choices down and made his final decision. As a freshman he gained some significant pitching time and and began his sophomore year as a weekday starter posting a great record and by the end of the year had worked his way up to share time as the number two starter. As a Junior and Senior he went on to serve as the number one starter for his team and in the midst of this after his freshman year he was invited to play in a wood bat college leagues (one of only two D3 players on the team that year) where after his junior year summer (the only D3 player) he garnered the league's Most Outstanding Pitcher Award.
In June 2011, I had the honor and privilege of watching my son walk across the stage at NCWC and receive his BS in Environmental Science on time- eight semesters in four years which he has since put to good use.
So, he absolutely made the perfect decision for himself. He played with some great teams, great teammates and friends, accomplished some really good things on the baseball field and also accomplished the most important thing of going to college-gained a great education.
So the right D3 school was the perfect fit for him (and for me and his mom as well for with the academic awards scholarships he was given the financial cost on us was basically a wash versus he D2 or D3 option) to attain all of his goals as it is for many other young men.

Quote from: LTHSdad on March 07, 2011, 02:17:53 PM
Almost mid way thru the NC Wesleyan season and we stand at 4-11...not good.  PSU Abington coming into Rocky Mount, NC wednesday for DH.  They are 1-6 so if we can't sweep these guys we might as well start playing some freshman and see if someone else can step up and hit.

Offense - Only 2 regulars (SS Rahm and C Clark) are hitting above .280...that's not going to get it done!  I still think 3B Freshman Jose Parra has a very good stick but needs more consistent playing time.

Defense - Fresh C. Powers needs to be at DH or 1B.  2B job still up for grabs...I like Fresh Sturtz there or JR A. Nichols.  3B is not hitting at all and OF feels like a new lineup out there every game.

Pitching - Webb and Knowles are only consistent starters although SU rough them up this weekend.  As of late SO Jake Alexander, FR Ben Longton, JR Roby Costa and SO CW Vought are only consistent arms coming off bullpen.  let's stop shuffling guys around and stick to some roles with the same players so we can get some consistency.

Up next PSU Abington...

You are 100% correct! In many years of watching NCWC baseball I have never seen Coach Long change the line up every game. He has always determined the best line up and started them every game. This year it's been like the players are playing musical chairs, nobody knows who's going to start and what position they will play and in a lot of games players are playing out of their position; especially Powers as he has no business in the outfield or at second base. The players do not know their roles and what to expect from day-to-day and is one big shuffled up mess for the Bishops up to this point. I know for a fact that the players are very frustrated with what's been going on with the constant lineup changes. The defense has been very subpar with a ton of mistakes not showing up in the box score as errors. The offense is struggling mightily due to poor approaches at the plate. As you stated, set up line up and let them play every game and find some consistency. Things need to turnaround very quickly or this will be the worst season for NCWC in many years.

I agree with LTHSdad,it was a tough loss for the Bishops yesterday. Knowles pitched a much better game than the score indicated, in fact he pitched very well, and not to take anything away from Averett, they have a very good hitting ballclub, but right field killed us yesterday. Three of the five hits they recorded in the second inning were routine flyballs that should have been caught in right field if a true outfielder had been playing that position instead of a converted third baseman who is too slow for a college outfielder, unable to read the ball off the bat and takes bad angles to the ball once he makes his read. I apologize that it sounds like I'm putting the young man down but I'm really not, I'm sure he's doing the best that he can of what he's being asked to do, BUT he is being played in a position that he has not used to playing and does not have the tools to play that position. The backbreaker in that inning was a 235 foot bloop flyball that should have been easily caught, with the bases loaded, that was severely miss read and played and while trying to make a sliding catch the ball scooted under his glove resulting in a recorded triple driving in three runs. Some other mistakes and an error piled on even more runs in the second inning and put the Bishops in a very deep hole early in the game. If the same speedy outfield had been in place on Sunday that played Saturday this would have been an entirely different game, NCWC still may have lost the game as we only scored three runs, but it would have been a much closer game and who knows what would have happened if that had been the situation.
It is also very obvious that the Bishops hitters are missing Coach Byrd, the hitting coach from last year, as the approach at the plate for most players is trying to pull every pitch instead of taking a pitch away back up the middle or to the backside. Some adjustments need to be made quickly to get their offense producing the runs that they are capable of putting up.

Quote from: LTHSdad on February 07, 2011, 06:57:13 AM
NCWC started their season impressively yesterday.  Bats looked like they were in mid season form with 10-3 and 7-4 win over EMU.  A lot of freshman played yesterday and for the most part were very impressive.  With Seniors Webb and Knowles performance like yesterday on a weekly basis, the Bishops will be hard to handle come conference weekend play.  Lynchburg is next on Wednesday, let's make it 3-0!

I totally agree with your assessment. The offense will be greatly improved this year particularly since a couple of starters did not even dress out yesterday. The freshman look very promising and NCWC is the deepest at every position that I have  seen in four years. The question mark of the closer was answered yesterday and no longer a question, the Junior college transfer Fylnn will be outstanding in that role. The infusion of a lot of very good young arms will help to bolster the bullpen, to help the returning upperclassman in the bullpen and allow some of them to become quality weekday starters. Yesterday, the shaky part of the team was the outfield with several miss play balls that should have easily been caught and one that was dropped after the ball hit in the palm of the glove and all these were recorded as hits (? for some reason), but the outfield will become outstanding (exceptional speed) with the return of some starters and a few games of experience.

Quote from: D-BAT on February 07, 2011, 07:36:27 AM

Quote from: LTHSdad on February 07, 2011, 06:57:13 AM
NCWC started their season impressively yesterday.  Bats looked like they were in mid season form with 10-3 and 7-4 win over EMU.  A lot of freshman played yesterday and for the most part were very impressive.  With Seniors Webb and Knowles performance like yesterday on a weekly basis, the Bishops will be hard to handle come conference weekend play.  Lynchburg is next on Wednesday, let's make it 3-0!

What's your impression of the NEW bats?

I'll give you my impression of the new bats. They are deadened and much more comparable to a wood bat. Home runs and power numbers will be down with the new bat. As far as batting average, they will have a slight effect on average but it is going to balance out somewhat because some hits that would normally carry out to the outfielders that would be caught will now drop in front of them and some of the hits that would carry over the out fielders will now be caught. Ground balls on the infield also do not have as much pop as before but can also produce some infield hits with slow rollers; the infielders will have to make the adjustment of charging the ball harder immediately off the bat.

I am about to hit the sack, get a good nights sleep, wake up in the morning to a bright and shiny day and head to Rocky Mount to see my first college baseball of 2011! Alleluia

Here we go  Battling Bishops, let's start the year off with a bang.

1 week from today I hope the weather next Sunday is as nice as today...but it probably will be 30 degrees with 30 mph wind gust in Rocky Mount

Quote from: LTHSdad on January 19, 2011, 08:48:01 PM
Wow...NCWC 4th?  They only lost closer John Childs and LF Joel Creef and from what my son has told me, have reloaded on the bats.  Pitching will be solid.  My only question is who will close?  NCWC will not have another 17-19 season...and even with that, they won the regular season title by I believe going 9-3 in Conference if I'm correct.  I look for huge years from 1B Z. Alexander, OF D. Moore, INF J. Rahm and OF  JJ Allen.  On the mound don't be surprised if Webb and Knowles end up as the best 1-2 punch in the USA South.

I don't get it either, but according to the team they love being picked forth to finish in the conference and are fired up planning on using this as additional motivation towards having a great season and hopefully winning the regular season crown again and the USA South tournament. They know they will be dog fight and will have to bring their A game every weekend!

NCWC has brought in a quality class of freshman position players and pitchers to reload their team.They started practice Monday and from what I understand things are going well.Their biggest question right now is the back end bullpen and who is going to replace the closer John Childs. NCWC has started a JV program again this year mainly due to the depth of the team. The overall program, I believe, will have approximately 36 players on the roster. On paper this year team has the potential to be much better than last years team but only time and game results will tell. The USA South conference should be fun and exciting to watch again this year.  I can't hardly wait for it to start... Ready to see some baseball!

The word I'm getting out of NCWC fall camp is they have brought in a great class packed with position players who are outstanding hitters, some with plus power, defensively strong and additional quality pitching to help. They only lost 2 starters, LF and the bulldog closer, so it sounds like they are reloading to take another run at the USA South Title again. The toughest spot they must replace is an outstanding closer, hope someone can step up for that spot and add some help in bullpen.

Knowles, NCWC, named Cal Ripken League Most Outstanding Pitcher of the Year Award

http://www.ripkensrcollegebaseball.org/published/archives/all-league08302010.html

I've met him several times when Mt. Olive was recruiting my son. As I said we just met with him some so he may be a fine fellow and great pitching coach, but I find it hard to believe he would move down to a DIII school unless he has humbled some. We'll see, if he does come, he'll have a bunch of good young sophomore arms to develop and hopefully a good freshman class along with some good upper class men and two senior proven high quality starters.