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Team Previews
Gallatin 16-21
1/2/07
Although the Wave lost a lot of
position players and most of our lineup, they have some young players who
have a chance to be really good. Senior Zak Hargett, a TBCA showcase
participant in 2006, is a speedy infielder who will dictate the offense.
He has legit 6.6 speed, and can cause a lot of trouble for opposing teams.
Seniors Spencer Steelman and Ben Foster return at SS and 3B. Both played
extensively last year all over the infield. Steelman is a quality middle
infieder with some pop, and Foster has good power potential. Junior Dustin
Todd was also a 2006 Showcase participant, and brings a strong presence to
the middle of the order. Sophomore Ross Hollins will start in CF, with
Seniors Russ Leath and Ben Miller looking to man the corners. Soph. Ryan
Critchelow will also be in the mix. Antonio "Boo" Butler is a wild card. A
good athlete with solid tools, he could play anywhere on the field if he
wants it bad enough.
Soph. Blake Blumenthal is a legit talent behind the plate. His
older brother is a
former Cincinnati Reds player. Blake must prove he can handle everyday
blocking duties to stay in the lineup. He can swing the bat with good pop.
He will challenged by Senior Tanner Brainerd, who possesses a great arm
and work habits.
The Wave return a good mix of talent and exper-ience on the mound. Logan
Neal LHP, Dustin Todd
RHP, and Ben Miller RHP will lead the rotation. LHP Tyler Scott, RHP Blake
Chambers,RHP Nathan Haynes, and RHP Tanner Brainerd will provide solid
innings for the Wave as well.
Neal has won 12 games the past two seasons, and has college
ability. Todd and Miller are talented righties who have won some games as
well. Chambers, a hard throwing righty, could fill the valuable role of a
much needed closer. Haynes is another talented Soph. who will find some
innings.
New Coach, New Attitude. "Our players have worked exceptionally hard this
fall in the weight room and throwing programs. A new focus on hard work
and discipline is helping our confidence. Our team goal is to play as hard
as we can each time out. Our guys need to know how important it is to
BELIEVE in what they can do - and then be willing to work for it," said
Coach Scott Hunt.
"I think we have some talent; our guys will be disciplined.
Play hard, try to get better each game. We have a nice mix of youth and
Senior leadership. We cannot replace a player like Bo Cook, but we might
be better in a lot of areas. We will have great team speed and solid
pitching. Unfortunately, in 9AAA,you need a whole lot more than that. We
will just try to battle and see what happens, " added Hunt.
Wilson Central
12-26
1/2/07 Wildcats will have to
replace 7 starters off of last years team. They will look to Senior
Catcher Andrew Sloan and Sophomore Cody Liddle to anchor the defense.
Sloan spent most of last season in the DH role and splitting time behind
the plate with Cumberland University signee Evan Sanders. Cody Liddle will
try and build on a successful freshman year as the Wildcats Shortstop.
Senior Robbie Hill will man 1st base while Sr. Marty Bell and Soph. Ross
Hudson will battle for the start at 2nd base. There will be plenty of
competition at 3rd base between Jr. Jessie Snodgrass, Jr. Tyler Pumphrey,
and Soph. Heath Daugherty. The outfield will be wide open as well. Sr.
Bobby Oneal, Sr. Taylor Mudd, Sr. Nick Goins, Jr. Matt Wood, Soph. Ross
Strong, and Soph. Brad Collins all have shots at start-ing come opening
day.
The Wildcats graduated all 4 starters last year. The pitching rotation
will be in question until the inexperienced arms arms prove them-selves.
Look for Sr. Robbie Hill and Jr. Jessie Snodgrass to nail down the top 2
spots. Sr. Lefties Bobby O'Neal and Taylor Mudd will be counted on for
quality innings for this team to be successful. The Wildcat pitching staff
will have to mature quickly. The success of this team will depend on their
ability to get hitters out. There will be 7 new faces in the
starting linup. This 2007 team will have to come together and
compete as a team. One or two players will not be able to carry this team.
How they compete as a whole will determine how they finish in the day in
and day out battles of District 9AAA.
Mt. Juliet 30-11
1/3/07 Top Position Players
OF/1B/P-SR-Taylor Hill-.333/1/24
OF/3B/P-SR-Dustin Murphy-.336/8/26
C/1B/DH-SR-Brett Schultz
OF-SR-Holden Richmond
2B-SR-Devin Dillard
SS/2B/P-SR-BJ Boston
C-JR-Caleb Knox
OF-JR-Tyler Carr
1B/3B/P-JR-Josh Cotham
OF/P-JR-Chase Dalton
OF/1B-JR-Ryan Overstreet
Pitchers
1) Taylor Hill-SR-RHP-11-2/1.3 ERA/121K/24 BB First Team All-State/9AAA
MVP
2) Dustin Murphy-SR-RHP-6-0/2.84 ERA
3) Caleb Hill-SR-LHP-0-0/3.41 ERA
4) BJ Boston-SR-RHP-0-0/5.6 ERA
5) Travis Boyd-JR-RHP-1-0/1.91 ERA
6) Josh Cotham-JR-RHP-2-1/4.94 ERA
"We will have to replace a lot of key positions from 2006. We graduated 10
Seniors and 6 are playing college baseball. We have several talented
players coming into those spots with-out much experience. Pitching has the
talent but has to develop consistency. Defense and Offense should be very
solid. We are looking for an exciting year and expectations will remain
high," said coach Mark Purvis.
Hendersonville 19-21
1/20/07 Top Returning
Players
OF - AJ Dulay (Jr)
OF - Ryne Nicholson (So)
OF - Troy Watson (Jr)
OF - Colton Mansfield (Fr)
1B - Kendall Snyder (So)
2B - Chad McDaniel (So)
SS - Chris Hewgley (Sr) / Daniel Tucker (Fr)
3B - Roo Collins (Sr) / Chris Hewgley (Sr)
C - Stephen Duchac (Sr) / Ben Hendrix (So)
DH - Ben Hendrix (So) / Colton Mansfield (Fr)
Pitching Rotation:
1. Roo Collins (Sr)
2. Ryan Jones (Sr)
3. Troy Watson (Jr)
4. Brandon Hall (So)
5. Jeffrey Keyes (So)
6. Eric Chastain (So)
7. Justin Malkewicz (So)
8. Dennis Jones (Fr)
Keys to this season for HHS will be young kids growing up fast. The
Commandos will start a lot of Sophomores and Freshmen and the few older
players will have to do a good job of helping with leadership and helping
these youngsters to learn how to play at the level that the black and gold
are used to playing at against the great teams in district 9. "We have to
throw a lot of strikes, make routine plays and get key hits from the
middle of our order to have a good year," said H'ville skipper Mike
Hendrix. Beech 32-10
1/23/07 Name
Height Weight Position
Brady Frey 6'1"
165 RHP
Nick Key
6'0" 175 OF
Bret Grizzard 5'8"
185 OF/INF
Jeremy Rice 6'2"
185 1B
Brandon King 5'11"
180 1B/OF
Jake Zinchini 6'0"
160 SS
Brandon Frensley 6'2" 155
LHP
Peyton Townley 6'2"
155 RHP
Ben Crocker 6'4"
160 INF/RHP
The Bucs come off their best
season since '93, in which Beech won its last Region 5 title, before
topping long time nemesis Mt. Juliet for the '06 crown. Gone are Zach
Hendren and Seth McAdams. However the Shackle Island gang return WKU
signee, Brady Frey and Belmont signee, Brandon Frensley to anchor the
mound duties. Peyton Townley and Ben Crocker add depth to the rotation.
Nick Key had a break out year and will anchor the defense in centerfield.
Bret Grizzard adds grit to the lineup with hardnosed play and hustle.
Brandon King hopes to improve on his '06 season at the plate. The smooth
swinging lefty works hard at his craft. The Bucs will have to improve
defensively and be able to execute in crunch time. The infield will be
anchored by SS, Jake Zinchini. Jake has potential to be a great shortstop
if he can make the routine play on a consistent basis.
The key to the success of the '07 Buc
squad is to execute the small game and run the bases aggressively, but
smart. On defense the BHS nine have to be able to play smart and make the
routine plays.
Smyrna 20-14
2/1/07
The Bulldogs return 8 players that were
either starters or part-time starters from last year squad. Senior
shortstop Timothy Egerton, Senior Shawn Land and Junior Sonny Gray return
as three year starters on defense. Senior Rhett Hogan and Junior Kelly
Thomason were both starters last year at 3B and 1B. Senior Jonathan Rhoad
and Junior Casey Blount were part time starters in the OF and Sophomore
Austin Townes caught in non-district games to gain experience.
1B - JR Kelly Thomason/JR Andy Phillips
2B - JR Sonny Gray/Jr Randy Tharpe
SS - SR Timothy Egerton/JR Sonny Gray
3B - SR Rhett Hogan/JR Zach Gallaher
LF - SR Justin Pack/JR Casey Blount
CF - SR Shawn Land/JR Rafferty Hatfield
RF - SR Jonathan Rhoad/SR Rusty Edwards
C - SO Austin Townes/JR Ryan Swader
The pitching staff returns District LHP of the year Jonathan Rhoad, Sonny
Gray, Timothy Eger-ton and Senior Rusty Edwards, all pitched qual-ity
innings in district play. Senior transfer Justin Pack, Senior Rhett Hogan
and Junior Zach Gallaher will be called upon to win non-district games.
1. Sonny Gray - JR - RHP
2. Jonathan Rhoad - SR - LHP
3. Timothy Egerton - SR - RHP
4. Rusty Edwards - SR - RHP
5. Justin Pack - SR - RHP
6. Zach Gallaher - JR - RHP
7. Rhett Hogan - SR - RHP
8. Andy Phillips - JR - RHP
The two keys to success for the 07 Bulldogs will be (1) finding the right
batting order to give Egerton and Gray chances to drive in runs. We must
find a way to score runs at the bottom of the order.(2)Developing a
catcher in Sopho-more Austin Townes and Junior Ryan Swader, one must be
able to handle the catching duties in district play. If both of these can
be solve going into April, we have a chance to be a very good team. |
Team Previews
Franklin 30-10
1/3/07
Top
Returning Players
07 - Drew Mason 3B 6'4/204 R/R
2006 - .339(39x115), 1HR, 21RBI, 39R 49TB
08 - Corban Joseph SS/RHP 6'1/174 L/R
2006 - .461(53x115), 6HR, 55RBI, 47R, 87TB
08 - Matt Dobbins 2B 5'8/161 R/R
2006 - .351(47x134), 27RBI, 50R, 55TB
08 - Casey Dykes C 5'11/198 R/R
2006 - .434(53x122), 46RBI, 42R, 65TB
Top Returning Pitchers
08 - Martin Grude 6'3/167 R/R
2006 - 4W/1L, 35.2IP, 29SO
08 - Matt de la Torre 5'11/174 R/R
2006 - 2W/2L/3S, 17.1IP, 13SO
09 - Colton Robertson 6'3/162 R/R
2006 - 2W/2L, 19IP, 17SO
Martin Grude, Matt de la Torre and
Colton Robertson will be looked upon to anchor a
young but experienced pitching staff. The out-field is the biggest
question mark that the 2007 Rebels will face. Infield play should be solid
as Franklin returns a core group of veteran players. Offense will be led
by Corban Joseph, Casey Dykes and Drew Mason. Franklin will be successful
if the pitching staff can mature early and allow the offense to find it's
legs.
Centennial na
1/8/07 The team will be very young this year with only 4
seniors. They are Austin Blanchard (pitcher) Alan Gasaway (pitcher)
Michael Baldoni(of/INF) and Chase Warden (of).
With some returning young talent we should be competitive if the pitching
holds up. The returning young kids will be led by Matt
Williams who plays shortstop and was a starter last year as a sophomore.
Also Manny Martinez who will be a sophomore will return after seeing a
significant amount of playing time last year as a freshman. Other young
kids who will be getting a shot at playing time this year will be Ryan
Passmore (inf), Luke Fennell (catcher), Chas Barlar (of), Chad
Lister(inf,p) Ben Bull (inf,p) and Cris McCollum (p/of).
This could be a very good team with a lot of young players getting a
significant amount of playing time last season.
Hickman Co.
15-20
1/20/07 Top returning
players:
Quirino Cappintog CF/Sr
Matt Haviland P/IF Sr
Derek McFarlin C/Sr
Kevin Wilson P/1B Jr
Ethan Cannon 2B/Jr
On the mound we are returning Sr. Matt Haviland and Jr. Kevin Wilson
both of whom gave us valuable outings last year. We really must have some
guys step up this season and those who are showing promise are Jr. William
Allen, So. Nick Edwards, Jr. Ben Batts. Overall the potential is there if
we compete in the strike zone for
us to overachieve on the mound and be very competitive.
Finding depth on the mound is a MAJOR key for us, however if we are able
to do that as well as execute little things offensively, we might have a
chance to be competitive in our dist-rict. Guys that we are looking for
contribu-tions out of will be Andrew Fink So, Taylor Nash So, Tylor
Heymans So, and Junior Sean Moore. The simple fact is WE must play
extreme-ly hard in every game because everyone in our district is very
talented and well coached making every night a challenge for our pro-
gram. Ravenwood
1/22/07 RHS graduated 10 players
from last seasons and have lost 3 others. We have 3 returning players with
significant playing experience. PJ Fran-ceson and Germantown, Houston JR
transfer Kes Carter will anchor the OF. Ben Bottoms returns as our
defensive leader at SS. His keystone mate at 2b is SR Hunter Sexton. SR
Will Preist and JR Trey Parsley will be working into their first seasons
as starters at the corners. Reliable SR Austin Baird will move
behind the plate this season to keep the RHS catching
tradition alive and strong.
12 PJ FRancescon .372 AVG, 3 HR
12 Hunter sexton, 2B .348 AVG in 23 ABs
12 Ben Bottoms, SS 13 games played
12 Austin Baird, C,OF .450 post season AVG
12 Will Priest, 3B,played in 11 games
12 Nick Turko, 1B, OF
11 Trey Parsley, 1B, P
11 Kes Carter, OF, P D1 prospect
Top Pitchers
PJ Franceson, 1.50 ERA, 95 K's
Kes Carter, stats unavailable
PJ Francescon is the lone Raptor returning with any mound experience.
Transfer LHP Kes Carter will look to further his career @ RHS on the
mound. Will Priest, Nick Turko, Trey Parsley, and Garret Askew will round
out the staff.
Keys for success the RHS program will be the ability of talented yet as of
yet unproven players being able to step and play with confi-dence. After
losing 13 players from last year's roster we are excited about the
opportunities for this hard working group. Overton
29-8
2/5/07 Top Returning Players
Bryce Ellis
sr of .374
RJ Rayborn jr ss .434
Andy Cornell sr dh/c .241
Taylor Morrison sr 2b .267
Ben Johnson sr 7-0 1.74 era
Brian Moore jr 1-2 5.77 era
Overton faces a rebuilding
year after two strong years of graduates. The Bobcats play in a very tough
district and the young guys will have to mature in a hurry for Coach
Morrison.
This years squad returns only 4 everyday start-ers and only 1 pitcher
w/more than 13 varsity innings pitched. Sr Nelson Devine-1b, Jr Josh
Stevens-c, Jr Drew McBroom-of, Jr Will Clark-DH/1b should contribute
quickly with Jr Brian Moore and newcomer Sr Jordan Hale battling for 3b/of
postion. Contributions from So Cody Matthews-P, So Cole Patterson-P, So
Colt Norton- OF, Fr Connor Moore-P, Fr Drew Allen-P/inf will also be
needed from a young and inexperienced team. Independence
11-18
2/7/07 Top returning seniors are
Johnny Kuchar, Will Johnson, and Will Carlton. Top returning juniors are
Alex Reese and Jake McClendon.
The pitching staff all returns, but still re-mains young with Will Johnson
being the lone senior starter. Blake Carden returns where he led the staff
in strikeouts last year as a freshman. A big boost would be getting junior
Alex Reese into the rotation after sitting out a year with some arm
problems.
Our first key is getting a health Alex Reese back into the rotation. The
second big key is getting more offensive production out of our lineup. Our
lineup last year was relatively young, but only hit for .269 as a team.
We're optimistic that that area will be improved, with our lineup all
returning and being a year older. Defensively we should settle down and
improve with a years maturity, and do a better
job helping out our pitching staff. |
