bjp | DeKalb TV

Can Dekalb Win Baseball Sectional?

Tonight at 6:00 pm, the Class 4A baseball sectional starts at Dekalb High School. East Noble will be taking on FW North in the only game this evening.

The Dekalb Barons will start play tomorrow night when they will take on FW Northrop at 5:00 pm. The second game tomorrow will pit Columbia City vs FW Snider right after the Baron’s game. On Monday at 10:00 am, Carroll will take on the winner of Wednesday’s game, and then Thursdays winners will play the second game on Monday, with those winners then playing for the championship on Monday night at 7:00 pm.

The question for all of us Dekalb fans is, can the Barons win this thing?

After seeing Dekalb play numerous times throughout the season, watching them evolve as a team, and most importantly, having healthy pitching, my opinion is yes, they can take this thing and move on to regional play.

Carter Stafford, Dylan Cagle, Jacob Dickey, Phil Bassett, and Will Vadney are all poised and ready to take the “bump” and do their jobs. All have had moments this year when they have been very good.

The thing about this years sectional is that there is no clear-cut favorite. Anyone could rise up, get hot, and take home the hardware. I liken it quite a bit to 5 or 6 years ago when before the sectional I thought the only team that couldn’t win it was Columbia City, and then the Eagles went out and took care of business, and moved on in the tourney.

If Dekalb gets solid pitching from the above mentioned quintet, and they can get the timely hitting from senior leaders Bayley Coleman, Nick McDonald, and Ty Rottger, throw in the defense staying stay sharp and tight, who says this team couldn’t take it all?

Friends, Family, & Baseball

In the rush-rush, hectic, fast paced results now world in which we live, what is the best way to kick back, and enjoy life a little bit?

In my opinion, it is having the ability to spend time with friends or family, and do that kicking back by enjoying a baseball game together.

Baseball has a truly nice environment. It is slow paced, works at its own speed, and if you look close enough, there are a ton of life lessons in the “action,” that can be discussed for days afterward.

In my days of coaching, I would always try to teach my pitchers that every single pitch had a bearing on the outcome of the game. The thought process of pitch one, to the final pitch of the final out of the game is truly amazing. Between that first pitch to the final pitch, this is where all of the nuances take place that are cause for eternal debates.

I had a couple of opportunities in the recent past to experience great baseball situations in two very different environments.

In March, I was able to attend a number of Spring Training games in Arizona. I was able to see my beloved Texas Rangers (please no offense Cleveland Indians), the Reds, the Giants, the Cubs, and the Angels. Spring Training is much more laid back than the regular season.

It was during the game against the Cubs that I had the opportunity to attend the game with one of my oldest, and best friends, Bruce Frazier, who lives in Scottsdale. We had a great time breaking the game down, catching up on old times, and as an extra bonus, we were able to go to a sports restaurant afterward and watch the Ohio State-Syracuse basketball game. Having my son Joey, who works for the Rangers, join us afterward was an extra bonus. It was a truly relaxing time.

Then, just a few weeks back, when the Rangers were in Cleveland for a “real” game, I had the chance to go to “the Jake,” and watch Texas play Cleveland. My heart is always torn when these teams hook-up, as I am a tremendous fan of each. It was also a great atmosphere, as there were plenty of family and friends in attendance. My wife Maureen, her sister Sue, our niece Krista, our niece Brittany and her boyfriend,our nephew Josh, and ours and Joey’s friends from Auburn, Andy Rice and his family.

Nice time relaxing, enjoying, cheering, discussing, second-guessing, but most of all, having fun and creating memories.

Junior Will Vadney Steals the Show on Senior Night

The Dekalb Baron baseball team hosted the Concordia Cadets in their regular season finale on Monday night.

Good defense, timely hitting, and an excellent pitching outing from Will Vadney propelled the Barons to a 7-1 win, and sent eleven Dekalb Barons out on a winning note on their special night that ended the regular season.

Matt Frane, Landon Emenhiser, Carter Stafford, Jacob Dickey, Scott Day, Phil Bassett, Ty Rottger, Cody Burniston, Bayley Coleman, Nick McDonald, and statman Wade Hantz were all introduced with their parents in a ceremony before the game that paid homage to their careers at Dekalb.

The game highlight on this night though, was the complete game, seven strikeout, no walk performance by Vadney. He was in control throughout, pitching with confidence, working quickly, and keeping the Cadets off balance for the entire game.

Dekalb’s offense came through with a number of timely hits. Leading the attack were Emenhiser, Coleman, and Frane who each tallied two hits.

The Barons will start Class 4A sectional play on Thursday night when they will play FW Northrop at Dekalb High School, starting at 5:00 pm.

Carroll Primed for Another Run

The Carroll Chargers baseball team brought their swag to Dekalb High School on Tuesday night to take on the Barons in the NHC finale for both of these baseball teams for this season.

Carroll, the 2 time defending class 4A state champions, started early & fast, as they tallied 5 runs in the first 2 innings off of Dekalb starter Carter Stafford.

The Barons were their own worst enemy in the first inning, as a couple of miscues contributed to 2 runs scoring.

As the night wore on, you could see that the Chargers look like a team that is primed for a possible “three-peat.”

Good pitching, timely hitting, making the plays on defense, it all was present at Baron field on this night, but unfortunately for Dekalb, it was coming from the other dugout.

All that the Barons could muster on the offensive side were 3 singles, 2 from Stafford, and one from Ty Rottger.

The sectional starts next week, and maybe if these teams meet again, Dekalb can find a way to knock off the Chargers.

Rare Feats on the Diamond – Who would You Rather Be?

During this past week, we who follow professional baseball saw not one, but two rare feats from a hitter that you normally go years without seeing.

Early in the week, Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers swatted not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 home runs in a game against Baltimore. He also threw in a double for good measure. Never in the history of American League baseball had a player had 18 total bases in a game.

Then late in the week, Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds hit 3 home runs in a game, the last coming with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to win the game for his squad.

Just 2 tremendous games for 2 of the games finest players.

The question is, if you were a player, which feat would you rather have accomplished?

Hamilton’s exploits came in a blow-out game. Votto’s came in a tense, come from behind battle.

In my way of thinking, I’ll take Hamilton’s game any time. He was only the 16th player to have ever hit 4 dingers in a game. That’s less than the total number of perfect games that have been thrown in Major League history.

Though both are tremendous accomplishments, my money is on Josh.

The Greatness of Omar Vizquel

I originally published this story a few months back, and since that time, Omar Vizquel has announced that he will be retiring at the end of this season. During that time, both Jeter & Rodriguez have moved up a few notches on the all-time hits list, but Omar’s name still is not highlighted. It’s somewhat hidden down there near the bottom of top 50 of all time.

With the baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this weekend, I just wanted to take this opportunity so say once again what a travesty it would be if Omar Vizquel were not elected to the Hall of Fame when his time comes. In five years. On the first ballot.

As Peter Griffin of “Family Guy” has been known to say, I saw something this morning that really “grinds my gears.”

There was a list in a local publication that had the top 50 hits leaders of all time in major league baseball. Out of those 50, players still active were listed in bold print. Sitting at 19 was Derek Jeter, and sitting at 47 was Alex Rodriguez. That was it for current players.

During rain delay, drawing Omar did of my son

Taking a closer look, in 45th place, in non-bold print mind you, was Omar Vizquel. Omar is still a utility infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays.

This “omission,” somewhat describes Vizquel’s career, always flying “under the radar.”

If you have followed Omar when he burst onto the scene as shortstop of those Cleveland Indian great teams of the mid to late nineties, you realize that simply put, no one compares to Vizquel when it comes to playing the position.

Besides being the best fielding shortstop in the history of the game, Omar has amassed almost 3000 base hits.

It will be a travesty if Vizquel does not end up in Cooperstown when his playing days are over. I certainly hope that not doing back flips on the diamond keeps him out of “the hall.”

Trine Baseball Fever – Catch It!

The Trine University Thunder baseball team played a pivotal 4 game series with Adrian College of Michigan over this past weekend.

Pivotal not only in the fact that if Trine at least split the series, they would guarantee themselves second place in the MIAA, and a first round home playoff game, but pivotal in its implications in the rise and future success of Thunder baseball.

Adrian has been the class of the MIAA for many years. They came into the weekend series having already clinched first place in the conference, and they were ranked 8th nationally in NCAA division 3 college baseball.

Trine lost a heartbreaker in the first game of the doubleheader at Adrian on Friday, 4-3, as the Thunder gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the last inning.

The second game saw junior righty Jake Rightnower throw a 2 hit shutout, and Trine was a winner by the score of 1-0.

On Sunday, Adrian came out fired up, and won the first game at Trine 6-3. Again, a sparkling pitching performance, this time by senior Mike Sentman, enabled the Thunder to get the split, again by the score of 1-0.

Adrian had not been shutout in over 250 games, and Trine was able to do it twice in 3 days.

With the wins over the weekend, Trine set a season record for victories with 24.

Trine will play in the conference tourney on Wednesday at 4:00 pm, as they will host Hope College.

Success in this tourney will only be icing on the cake for this fine squad of young men.

Continued success in the coming years only seems inevitable.

The groundwork has been laid.

Jake, Where Have You Gone?

I had the opportunity to attend a Texas Rangers-Cleveland Indians game at “Progressive Field” in Cleveland over the weekend.

In my heart, this stadium is still “The Jake.”

Having witnessed many a game at this facility after it opened in 1994, most of the time it was in an SRO environment. The Indians sold out over 400 games back during that period.

So on Saturday night, in a game between 2 division leaders, with the Rangers having won the past 2 American League pennants, the Tribe had their second biggest “crowd” of the season, at a little over 21,000.

Where are the fans? The Indians have a number of fine young players, and also sport a number of wily veterans.

Is it apathy? Do the people care? Is there that much animosity towards the owners? How is the team marketed to the public?

These are all legitimate questions. The only thing that I know is this. If I lived in the area, I would attend some games and stay behind this team.

In case you don’t know, they are for real, and are in it for the long haul.

Cagle’s Pitching, Big First Inning Leads Dekalb Over East Noble

The Dekalb Baron baseball team upped their record to 11-4 as they ran roughshod over the East Noble Knights on Thursday night, winning 10-0 in five innings. With the win, Dekalb moved to 1-1 in the NHC conference standings.

Junior Dylan Cagle tossed a no hitter for the Barons, only allowing 2 baserunners. Cagle was in command all night with a nice assortment of pitches.

Dekalb’s offense staked Cagle to an early lead, as they plated 6 runs in the opening frame. Doubles by Carter Stafford, Logan Shilling, Bayley Coleman, and Ty Rottger were all key in that first inning.

The Barons added 3 more runs in the 4th, and closed out the game with a run in the 5th.

Dekalb goes on the road for 4 games next week. They will be at Columbia City on Tuesday, at Homestead on Thursday, and then a DH at Manchester on Saturday will close out what promises to be a tough week of baseball for the Barons.

Memories of Cleveland Municipal Stadium

Anyone around my age who grew up in NE Ohio loving baseball, probably had the opportunity to go to a Cleveland Indian’s game at the “old mistake by the lake” in Cleveland.

I actually use that term with true affection, as I enjoyed many a Summer night watching my beloved Indians play.

Picture I took of "Sudden" Sam McDowell at Cleveland Stadium in 1970

I saw my first game in July of 1965 with my Dad and 2 brothers, as we went to see my favorite player, Sam McDowell, pitch against the defending American League champs, the New York Yankees.

McDowell pitched a gem, as he shutout the Yankees, 3-0. My second favorite player, Leon Wagner, even hit a home run. Along the way, Mcdowell struck out Mickey Mantle 3 times.

During most of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, it was mostly futility for Cleveland, as the Indians rarely had a winning season. Along the way though, many great memories with many great friends took place in that ballpark.

Over the course of a 5-6 year period, I saw the Indians sweep 5 doubleheaders, when DH’s were still in vogue. I missed seeing a no-hitter pitched not once, but twice by one day during those years. (Sonny Siebert & Dick Bosman)

I even witnessed Nolan Ryan’s last win in the Major Leagues in August of 1993 at the Stadium.

I think back on those years fondly, as they were times of great enjoyment.

I know that when people talk old ballyards, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Tiger Stadium are always mentioned prominently.

But in my heart, Cleveland Stadium will always be the best.