Not off the Press: Looking through the spring notebooks and talking pitchers' duels
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
So which do you prefer … a low-scoring baseball game or a game full of hits and runs?
I had the opportunity to watch both types of games within a few hours of each other on Saturday afternoon when I first watched a 2-1 win by the Whiteoak Wildcats, at WHS, followed by a 14-7 win by the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs over the McClain Tigers at LCHS.
Both games were entertaining in their own respects, but there is no type of baseball game I'd rather watch than a pitchers' duel, and that's what I had the opportunity to watch on Saturday.
As for Saturday's game … the pitching by Whiteoak's Luke Taggert was impressive. He had the Indians swinging at the first pitch, and many of his outs were ground ball outs … in fact, 11 of the 21 outs were ground ball outs. Six were by fly ball/pop up, three were strikeouts and one was a force out at third base.
[[In-content Ad]]One of the stats that I didn't use in the article was Taggert had thrown just 51 pitches through six innings, as he faced 19 batters in that span. Average that out to less than three pitches per batter (2.68).
Of the 11 ground ball outs, four were right back to Taggert at 1-3, three went to second baseman Michael Smith for 4-3 outs, and two each went to shortstop Gage Carraher and third baseman Doc Seip for 5-3 and 6-3 outs. Catching all the infield throws at first base was Zach Docter, who at one point in the top of the sixth made a very nice scoop at first, which at the time kept the no-hit bid intact for the third out of the inning.
Taggert held the HHS 1-3 hitters to 0-for-8 with one walk; the 4-6 hitters, 1-for-7 with one walk and one hit batter; and the 7-9 hitters, 0-for-7 with one walk.
To be a pitchers' duel, though, both pitchers have to be on, and Hillsboro's Levi Fleming didn't disappoint. Fleming had an excellent pitching line of six innings pitched, five hits, three walks, one run, one earned run and five strikeouts. That is an outstanding day on the mound.
Fleming kept the 1-3 hitters of WHS to 1-for-8 with one walk and three strikeouts. The 4-6 WHS hitters were kept at 2-for-8 with one walk and one strikeout, and the 7-9 hitters went 2-for-8 with one strikeout and one walk.
Both pitchers gave the fans in attendance Saturday a glimpse that Highland County has some quality pitchers who take the mound each game.
I can't stress how much as a fan of baseball I enjoyed the game, and one other stat that stood out was the small amount of errors, as both teams committed just one error each. This season, I've seen games where teams committed well over 15 errors combined, so to see defense like I witnessed on Saturday in the Highland County battle was so exciting.
• Other baseball/softball thoughts
This past week … Mowrystown was pitchers' duel city with the aforementioned matchup of Taggert vs. Fleming, but also on Thursday, with the softball pitchers' duel of Lauren Larrick (FHS) vs. Kiley Sosby (WHS) and in baseball on the same day with Gage Carraher (WHS) vs. Zach Cox (FHS).
In the softball matchup, Larrick tossed a seven-inning no-hitter, and Sosby struck out 15 batters. It was at least the second no-hitter of Larrick's high school career, and Sosby seems to have a very positive future ahead in high school softball. What makes these two pitchers so great is they both play competitive softball in the summer, and from the results, it's easy to see they work very hard at their craft.
In the Thursday baseball game at WHS, the pitching greatness began with the ceremonial first pitch as Kip Young (a former Detroit Tiger) was honored with a plaque for all his accomplishments in the game of baseball by the Whiteoak baseball program.
Following the first pitch, I wrote: "After Young tossed the first pitch before the game, some of the magic of the former major leaguer must have rubbed off on starting pitchers Gage Carraher of WHS and Zach Cox of FHS, as they combined to allow just 10 total hits."
It was a fun game to watch. For one, WHS led 3-0 after the first inning, so some thought this game could get out of control early, but it didn't and turned into a pitchers' duel with Carraher eventually gaining the complete game win. Carraher struck out 13 batters and gave up two earned runs on five hits and three walks. Cox was also on point, pitching six innings while striking out six and allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk.
Do you want to know exactly how you know a game is a pitchers' duel? It's a pitchers' duel when the baseball game finishes before the softball game … which rarely happens but happened on at least two occasions this past week.
Another individual performance that stood out occurred on Wednesday when Hillsboro senior Tyler Griego had the following day in a HHS 10-1 win over Miami Trace … Griego finished 2-for-3 with a walk, home run and three RBIs at the plate. He also earned the pitching win on the mound as he threw 118 pitches in seven innings. The senior allowed one run (none earned) on three hits, two walks and two hit batters, while striking out nine batters.
• Facts from games I didn't attend
Due to the fact a majority of the baseball and softball coaches email game stats from a majority of their games this spring, here are some good performances from games that I was unable to attend last week.
- On Saturday, the Fairfield baseball team combined to score 41 runs in two games against Portsmouth Clay … I don't care who a team plays, that's a lot of runs.
- The McClain Lady Tigers softball team scored 25 runs against Waverly.
- The Hillsboro Indians gained a quality non-league win against a good baseball program in Adena.
- McClain earned their first SCOL win of the season by defeating London 2-1 at Mitchell Park in Greenfield after trailing by one run in the fifth inning.
- Sounded like two great extra-inning games with WHS baseball winning against Eastern Brown and LC falling in extra innings to Ripley. Division II of the SHL will be a battle for the championship.
• Random thoughts on high school sports
- I meant every last word that I wrote in my print column this past week.
- I was pleased to see there were many others from all over Highland County who agreed with my opinions in that column. I wasn't pleased with that just because it was what I thought, but for the simple fact people know when something just isn't right.
- Had a great time covering track & field this week at McClain with Hillsboro and Whiteoak also in attendance. It was exciting that the closest finish of all the events came in the final race.
- A potential game of the week could be Tuesday when the Fairfield Lion baseball team hosts Fayetteville. A possible pitchers' duel could be on the horizon.
• Baseball is back, and the Masters
So stoked over the return of Major League Baseball, but first I want to talk about the final day of The Masters golf tournament.
My goodness, how great was that shot by Bubba Watson on 10 in the second playoff … from the pine? That was maybe the best golf shot I've seen watching a golf tournament live. Sunday was a great day for golf.
A fun fact on the 2012 Masters champion … he owns a General Lee car from "The Dukes of Hazzard," that he bought for $110,000.
As for the first week of MLB … the biggest surprise is the New York Yankees being 0-3, getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, but I'm not surprised by the start of the Boston Red Sox. My preseason pick of the Rays winning the AL East looking good after three games.
But it's the first week … no need to panic if you are a fan of any team.
As for the Cincinnati Reds, they are off to the right start with a series win against the Miami Marlins. The pitching from Johnny Cueto on Opening Day will hopefully be a sight to see for the rest of the season.
• Stat of the Week
Against Lynchburg-Clay, McClain's Sarah Thompson was 4-for-5 (one triple, one double) with five runs and five RBIs. Thompson was also the winning pitcher in the circle.
• Quote of the Week
"Against Lynchburg-Clay, we played a lot better, and we gave a lot of the girls who don't play as much more playing time. They got a lot of innings and played very well. I was proud of how the girls ended the day." — Jarrod Haines, McClain softball coach following the Lady Tigers' win over LC, Saturday.
• (A second) Quote of the Week
"This was a good ballgame. Luke (Taggert) backed into the start because originally we wanted Zach Docter to start, but earlier in the week he threw a lot of pitches, so we wanted him to rest a little bit more." — Chris Veidt, Whiteoak baseball coach following the Wildcats' 2-1 win over Hillsboro, Saturday.
• One last item of business
On Saturday evening for about an hour, I attended the official unveiling of the Highland House Museum Marshall High School display. The display is very fitting for the championship trophies of the former Marshall High School, and the presentation by Highland County sports historian and HCP contributor Bob Patton was very interesting. I learned a few things – OK, a lot of things – I didn't know much about, so thanks to Bob and to the historical society for keeping history alive.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.
I had the opportunity to watch both types of games within a few hours of each other on Saturday afternoon when I first watched a 2-1 win by the Whiteoak Wildcats, at WHS, followed by a 14-7 win by the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs over the McClain Tigers at LCHS.
Both games were entertaining in their own respects, but there is no type of baseball game I'd rather watch than a pitchers' duel, and that's what I had the opportunity to watch on Saturday.
As for Saturday's game … the pitching by Whiteoak's Luke Taggert was impressive. He had the Indians swinging at the first pitch, and many of his outs were ground ball outs … in fact, 11 of the 21 outs were ground ball outs. Six were by fly ball/pop up, three were strikeouts and one was a force out at third base.
[[In-content Ad]]One of the stats that I didn't use in the article was Taggert had thrown just 51 pitches through six innings, as he faced 19 batters in that span. Average that out to less than three pitches per batter (2.68).
Of the 11 ground ball outs, four were right back to Taggert at 1-3, three went to second baseman Michael Smith for 4-3 outs, and two each went to shortstop Gage Carraher and third baseman Doc Seip for 5-3 and 6-3 outs. Catching all the infield throws at first base was Zach Docter, who at one point in the top of the sixth made a very nice scoop at first, which at the time kept the no-hit bid intact for the third out of the inning.
Taggert held the HHS 1-3 hitters to 0-for-8 with one walk; the 4-6 hitters, 1-for-7 with one walk and one hit batter; and the 7-9 hitters, 0-for-7 with one walk.
To be a pitchers' duel, though, both pitchers have to be on, and Hillsboro's Levi Fleming didn't disappoint. Fleming had an excellent pitching line of six innings pitched, five hits, three walks, one run, one earned run and five strikeouts. That is an outstanding day on the mound.
Fleming kept the 1-3 hitters of WHS to 1-for-8 with one walk and three strikeouts. The 4-6 WHS hitters were kept at 2-for-8 with one walk and one strikeout, and the 7-9 hitters went 2-for-8 with one strikeout and one walk.
Both pitchers gave the fans in attendance Saturday a glimpse that Highland County has some quality pitchers who take the mound each game.
I can't stress how much as a fan of baseball I enjoyed the game, and one other stat that stood out was the small amount of errors, as both teams committed just one error each. This season, I've seen games where teams committed well over 15 errors combined, so to see defense like I witnessed on Saturday in the Highland County battle was so exciting.
• Other baseball/softball thoughts
This past week … Mowrystown was pitchers' duel city with the aforementioned matchup of Taggert vs. Fleming, but also on Thursday, with the softball pitchers' duel of Lauren Larrick (FHS) vs. Kiley Sosby (WHS) and in baseball on the same day with Gage Carraher (WHS) vs. Zach Cox (FHS).
In the softball matchup, Larrick tossed a seven-inning no-hitter, and Sosby struck out 15 batters. It was at least the second no-hitter of Larrick's high school career, and Sosby seems to have a very positive future ahead in high school softball. What makes these two pitchers so great is they both play competitive softball in the summer, and from the results, it's easy to see they work very hard at their craft.
In the Thursday baseball game at WHS, the pitching greatness began with the ceremonial first pitch as Kip Young (a former Detroit Tiger) was honored with a plaque for all his accomplishments in the game of baseball by the Whiteoak baseball program.
Following the first pitch, I wrote: "After Young tossed the first pitch before the game, some of the magic of the former major leaguer must have rubbed off on starting pitchers Gage Carraher of WHS and Zach Cox of FHS, as they combined to allow just 10 total hits."
It was a fun game to watch. For one, WHS led 3-0 after the first inning, so some thought this game could get out of control early, but it didn't and turned into a pitchers' duel with Carraher eventually gaining the complete game win. Carraher struck out 13 batters and gave up two earned runs on five hits and three walks. Cox was also on point, pitching six innings while striking out six and allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk.
Do you want to know exactly how you know a game is a pitchers' duel? It's a pitchers' duel when the baseball game finishes before the softball game … which rarely happens but happened on at least two occasions this past week.
Another individual performance that stood out occurred on Wednesday when Hillsboro senior Tyler Griego had the following day in a HHS 10-1 win over Miami Trace … Griego finished 2-for-3 with a walk, home run and three RBIs at the plate. He also earned the pitching win on the mound as he threw 118 pitches in seven innings. The senior allowed one run (none earned) on three hits, two walks and two hit batters, while striking out nine batters.
• Facts from games I didn't attend
Due to the fact a majority of the baseball and softball coaches email game stats from a majority of their games this spring, here are some good performances from games that I was unable to attend last week.
- On Saturday, the Fairfield baseball team combined to score 41 runs in two games against Portsmouth Clay … I don't care who a team plays, that's a lot of runs.
- The McClain Lady Tigers softball team scored 25 runs against Waverly.
- The Hillsboro Indians gained a quality non-league win against a good baseball program in Adena.
- McClain earned their first SCOL win of the season by defeating London 2-1 at Mitchell Park in Greenfield after trailing by one run in the fifth inning.
- Sounded like two great extra-inning games with WHS baseball winning against Eastern Brown and LC falling in extra innings to Ripley. Division II of the SHL will be a battle for the championship.
• Random thoughts on high school sports
- I meant every last word that I wrote in my print column this past week.
- I was pleased to see there were many others from all over Highland County who agreed with my opinions in that column. I wasn't pleased with that just because it was what I thought, but for the simple fact people know when something just isn't right.
- Had a great time covering track & field this week at McClain with Hillsboro and Whiteoak also in attendance. It was exciting that the closest finish of all the events came in the final race.
- A potential game of the week could be Tuesday when the Fairfield Lion baseball team hosts Fayetteville. A possible pitchers' duel could be on the horizon.
• Baseball is back, and the Masters
So stoked over the return of Major League Baseball, but first I want to talk about the final day of The Masters golf tournament.
My goodness, how great was that shot by Bubba Watson on 10 in the second playoff … from the pine? That was maybe the best golf shot I've seen watching a golf tournament live. Sunday was a great day for golf.
A fun fact on the 2012 Masters champion … he owns a General Lee car from "The Dukes of Hazzard," that he bought for $110,000.
As for the first week of MLB … the biggest surprise is the New York Yankees being 0-3, getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, but I'm not surprised by the start of the Boston Red Sox. My preseason pick of the Rays winning the AL East looking good after three games.
But it's the first week … no need to panic if you are a fan of any team.
As for the Cincinnati Reds, they are off to the right start with a series win against the Miami Marlins. The pitching from Johnny Cueto on Opening Day will hopefully be a sight to see for the rest of the season.
• Stat of the Week
Against Lynchburg-Clay, McClain's Sarah Thompson was 4-for-5 (one triple, one double) with five runs and five RBIs. Thompson was also the winning pitcher in the circle.
• Quote of the Week
"Against Lynchburg-Clay, we played a lot better, and we gave a lot of the girls who don't play as much more playing time. They got a lot of innings and played very well. I was proud of how the girls ended the day." — Jarrod Haines, McClain softball coach following the Lady Tigers' win over LC, Saturday.
• (A second) Quote of the Week
"This was a good ballgame. Luke (Taggert) backed into the start because originally we wanted Zach Docter to start, but earlier in the week he threw a lot of pitches, so we wanted him to rest a little bit more." — Chris Veidt, Whiteoak baseball coach following the Wildcats' 2-1 win over Hillsboro, Saturday.
• One last item of business
On Saturday evening for about an hour, I attended the official unveiling of the Highland House Museum Marshall High School display. The display is very fitting for the championship trophies of the former Marshall High School, and the presentation by Highland County sports historian and HCP contributor Bob Patton was very interesting. I learned a few things – OK, a lot of things – I didn't know much about, so thanks to Bob and to the historical society for keeping history alive.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter @hcpsportseditor.