MIF04

Disagree about the difference Buchanan makes. He is the best defensive catcher in the area. That not only makes 'team defense' better, it makes the pitchers better. Put another way, a lesser catcher makes the pitcher 'less'. Second, he brings a strong offensive presence to a lineup that needs one. Third, and perhaps most important, the kid is a 'Natural Born Leader'. I think its hard enough to get to Austin will all your hosses and that much harder when you lose one. This is no knock on the rest of the guys. You need all the pieces of the puzzle to capture this kind of prize. And I don't think the district will be surprised. They're used to PNG being good....really good.

If BC were to lose Angelle or LCM lose Ehlert, then both teams would be in significantly worse shape than they are. Do I think (should the unthinkable happen) these teams won't make the playoffs? No. But their playoff run will be a lot shorter. From an injury standpoint, PNG could best handle the loss of a pitcher BUT if Buchanan doesn't bounce back then that WILL BE trouble for the Indians. As far as pressure, there is no question that can play a role but this BC team has been there, done that last year. I think there is an equal amount of outside pressure being applied at LCM (on a rival forum, this has been called 'the greatest LCM team ever' -- not that I agree, but that does 'raise expectations'. That is especially true when you realize (as coaches and players at LCM do) that this HAS TO be their year because the cupboard is bare for the next couple of years. Pressure? Its part of the game. So are injuries but I hope and pray that doesn't play a role this year. And (since I mentioned them by name), that prayer goes 'extra strong' out to Kevin and Clayton -- they're not only quality players...they're quality people. Stay healthy !!!!

I think everyone knows that Angelle and (a healthy) Haymon gives BC the best 1-2 punch in the Region (and the Triangle, for that matter). Incidentally, all reports are that Haymon is healthy. Their #3 is a pretty good pitcher in his own right in Stringer. Now for the questions: 1. They have lost some pretty significant talent in Hayes, Myers and Coulter. 2. BC will need Coleman to step in at SS (good player, by the way) and (most likely) soph. Jackson at C. Jackson can swing it pretty #@$# well but the question remains how well he will play defensively. Time will tell on that. 3. Offensively, they will move Dishon from bottom of order to top of order. If he plays up to his potential (and make no mistake about it -- he is the most projectible player in the area at either D-1 or MLB level), then BC will be potent. If not, they will be even more reliant on their pitching. With all that being said, I'd bet a few bucks in Vegas on BC going back to Austin. There are other really good teams in the region (Hudson, Jasper, for example) but no one has the quality that BS has on the mound. Its still true -- pitching wins.

Don't they have a front line pitcher named Reagan, too? A right hander? I do seem to remember that (for some reason)????

Trying to get some more detailed info on Jasper and Silsbee: What do these teams have pitching-wise? Who are their top 3 or 4 hitters.? Thanks.

Coach David Huggins welcomes back a strong corp of pitching with LHP C. Jones (jr.) and RHPs Anthony Fazio (soph) and Jake Henderson (sr.). That alone should make and keep them competitive. Their district (St. Pius and St. Thomas) is a pretty good district. St. Thomas (with A. Gonzales, a Rice signee) is tough.

Any idea who they're talking to, etc?

Cody Sparks from BC is going to Tulane (football). Good kid, good player, and well deserved for Cody.

LCM and PNG would rather beat each other than probably anyone else. I don't think you'll see either Griff or Stone 'playing for second' in 20-4A.

Looking WAY ahead: The UIL bracket for Region III places the winner of 20-4A (and 20-4A 3rd place team) in the same half of the bracket as: champs of 18 (Montgomery) champs of 24 (Angleton) champs of 22 (Waltrip) The runner-up from 20-4A is in the bottom half of the bracket and could avoid all of these teams (except one -- in the region finals). The toughest test would be Brenham (if runner-up in 18-4A) or the winner of the Friendswood/Channelview district. Food for thought....

Whew. First bat to break the list price of $300 ($329). Sure makes me miss the ol' Tennessee Thumpers !!!!

I think that the 3rd spot here depends on how well the Roebuck kid from HJ comes back from injury.

John Falgout (West Brook) signs with Air Force Academy. Congrats to John Mike and his family.

It would be nice to compile a list of who has signed/verbal commit to college. For those have not committed, who are they considering, etc. Here are the obvious one: Angelle (BC) to Texas A & M Ehlert (LCM) to Texas A & M Harwood (PNG) to Rice Haymon (BC) to McNeese There are a large contingent of '06 grads who are top notch baseball players beyond these guys. Where are they going or who are they talking to? PNG -- Powell, McInnis, Buchanan, Mire LCM -- Dugas, Womack, Schneider, Adams WB -- Falgout PA -- Freeman WOS -- Sparks, Ayers etc, etc. If we can get a good list going, we'll turn this thread into a perm post. Thanks.

This was a wild game. WOS scores the 1st 7 points, BNC coach gets a "T", and it looks like a blowout. BC comes back and takes lead midway in 2nd quarter but WOS runs their lead back up to 9 by half. WOS continues streak and has lead up to 20 late in 3rd quarter. BC comes out in the 4th and cuts the lead to 5 with 5 1/2 left. BC goes cold and WOS wins going away. WOS is obviously missing 2 of their better guys but BC played very tough. Worth the trip to see this one.

My bad on the Sparks kid. I just missed him. He is very good pitcher, comes from the left side, etc. Not much depth at WOS this year unless some of the football players decide to play 'for the fun of it'. I think how kids like Coleman, Dishon, Jackson, etc. play will determineif BC gets back to Austin. No question that they have the 1-2 punch on mound to get there. I'm not as sure about the Stringer kid (and have only seen him in game situations 2 or 3 times). Quite honestly, as the #3, he is not as significant to BC's long term success (assuming no injury) as how the position players step up. Still you gotta like BC having 3 guys from the left side. By the way, the Coleman kid is a very fine ballplayer. I include Dugas and McInnis in the 'group' of kids that could have a breakout season for LCM and PNG. Whether it be Dugas, Womack, Adams, etc., someone will step up for the Bears just like McInnis, Johnson, Barnett will step up for the Indians. I think Griff is more 'set' right now on what he is going to do this season than Stone but, as always, time will tell.

Update on Buchanan today -- good news. Released and starting hit off tee without pain. Big plus for PNG.

Agree that, by the time season ends, the list will add some names and lose some names (that's why its the preseason list, right?). A lot of guys would be on the 'watch' list: P Roebuck (sr. HJ) -- returning after missing entire jr. season due to injury P Haymon (sr. BC) -- also returning after missing entire jr. season due to injury P McInnis (sr. PNG) -- logjam for innings at PNG but threw a lot of innings last year due to Powell's injury. If he gets to throw a lot, could have super stats C Barrera (sr. HF) -- returning starter for the "Horns C Jackson (soph BC) -- projected starter to fill big shoes left by Myers. This kid can (and will) hit the baseball. Inf. Roebuck (soph HJ) -- starter as freshman. After that season of being thrown into fire, he could emerge as bona fide player. Inf. Hearn (jr. PNG) -- starter as soph. Since someone else at PNG needs to step up offensively, this could be the guy. Has surprising gap power for his size. OF Calhoun (jr. Silsbee) -- top of the order guy for Tigers with some power to go with CF speed. UT Ayers (sr. WOS) -- could be 'Stangs #1 and also SS. Should be their MVP this season. UT Gardiner (soph Ozen) -- leader of good core group at Ozen. Probably a year away. Hard to project but LCM has a # of kids who could step up (who will be true #2 pitcher, who else will carry offense besides Ehlert and Rowell, etc.). The same is true with PNG. Same uncertainty at Nederland.

I haven't seen the Alvis kid play as much (too far north for too many Tues. or Fri. night trips). Murphy is a quality kid at a 5A program, and has started at 3B since fresh. season. Both are top line players.

5A: West Brook makes playoffs as #3 team altho' Spring and Baytown Sterling may have something to say about that (Kingwood and Humble clear 1 and 2). West Brook makes it to the 2nd round before being elminated. Look for Kingwood or Humble to advance to the regional final (I give Kingwood an edge with a repeat trip to Austin possible). PA Memorial continues its 'tradition' of not making the playoffs and brings up the rear of a most difficult district. 4A LCM, PNG and Nederland advance as no one else in this district is of the caliber of these 3 teams. Ozen is very young and may be 1 year away (also, this district will weaken significantly at the top in 2007 and 2008). Vidor and Lumberton don't advance although Nederland is (overall) in a down year for them (and they should remember what happened to them 2 years ago when Ozen did sneak in). Nederland is eliminated after the 1st round. LCM and PNG last several rounds with bracketing determining who gets knocked out first. Sorry guys but I like Mongomery to win this Region and advance to Austin. 3A Bridge City waltzes through with ease with WOS and either HJ or O-field as the 3rd rep from this district. It is (overall) a weak baseball district and both WOS and the 3rd place team are eliminated in round 1. Jasper wins their district and Silsbee makes the playoffs. Silsbee goes out in the 1st round and Jasper in the 2nd (unless these teams get a very favorable bracket). Not much noise (play off wise) from this district. Bridge City and Lufkin Hudson are the 2 best bets to make it to Austin out of this region with Barbers Hill a dark horse. They have a particularly solid group of underclassmen.

To stir some debate, what would your pre-season all area team be: 4 pitchers, C, 1b, 2b, SS, Inf., 3b, OF, OF, OF, Util (x 2) and DH (x2): P: Ehlert (LCM), Angelle (BC), Smith (Ned) Harwood (PNG) C: Buchanan (PNG) 1B: Womack (LCM) 2B: Ferguson (WB) SS: Schneider (LCM) Inf: Laird (Ned) 3B: Murphy (WB) OF: Serna (WB) OF: Mosley (Ned) OF: Dishon (BC) UT: Ayers (WOS), Freeman (Mem) DH: Rowell (LCM), Mire (PNG) Food for thought....

LCM and PNG will be class of 4A with Nederland the 3rd playoff team (but a distant third at that). 1. Pitching-wise, LCM has the best #1 in the district with Ehlert. PNG has the most quality pitching depth (Harwood, healthy Powell, Mire and McInnis). 2. Position-wise, LCM returns more offense than does PNG. The Indians need C Buchanan to get well (he is healing very slowly after broken arm in football and there is some doubt as to whether he is ready yet). If they lose him, they are in significant trouble both defensively and offensively. I'll take LCM to win the district (of course, last time I said that it was PNG who wound up in the state tourney). If Buchanan is healthy, PNG may be better positioned to make a play off run with deeper quality pitching. It is a very tough region -- the road to Austin in 4A goes through Montgomery this year. And, on the LCM-BC p*ss*** match, it is clear that some bad feelings were generated last year. I don't blame Bryant for not playing LCM although I'd love to see that game. By the way, BC has the best 1-2 tandem in the area (pitching-wise) with Angelle and Haymon (who IS healthy). If they can replace the position players lost (and that will be a tall order), they do deserve that #1 ranking. Play ball !!!!

BC may have as good a pitching as anyone in SE Texas. They have Angelle (LH -- A&M signee) and Haymon (LH -- McNeese signee). Haymon missed last season with Tommy John but all reports are that he is healthy and velocity is returning. His arm must be OK -- he knocked down 9 3-pointers in BB vs. H-F this week!!!! BC did lose a lot of quality position players (Hayes, Myers, Coulter, Stevens). While the pitching is a plus at BC, the day to day lineup (against quality teams) remains their question mark. District wise, its a weak baseball district so they should cruise there. When the playoffs start is when the real questions begin.

22-5A PA Mem WB Lee Sterling Kingwood Humble (altho' the next realignment when Kingwood and Humble each split will be really interesting) From there, UIL has several options: Lufkin was considered last time but rejected because of travel. Spring and Westfield wll probably go elsewhere (they appealed the last realignment because they didn't want the travel to PA and Bmt). You might see some combination including Deer Park, North Shore and/or La Porte. The talk is that some districts are going to because larger because of the extra playoff team. You could have some districts combined (22, 23 and 24 reduced to only 2 districts). Or they could leave 22-5A as it is, and add 2 teams (North Shore?). Talk about a football district!!!!