GTBBaseball

Congrats to the Sonnier family, Trevin is a hard worker, solid hitter with tools. Schlos and Mazy have a good kid coming to the program. TCU has some holes to fill so I think he will get going early there with playing time..... Congratulations again guys, Chris Fackler

Our Prospect Glad-club was here playing at Lamar this weekend but I do know the Glad-team sent to Ft Myers finished up yesterday. They tied South Florida Elite 9-9 and beat a club out of Michigan 10-3... Had some losses to solid clubs such as Orlando Scorpions and FTB Mizuno. The ballclub headed back home today from there and had a really nice time. Our Glad-Prospect Club(15-4) has a few more locations to play, at University La-Lafayette and up to Waco, not sure the remaining schedule for the Glad-Squad who went down to Ft Myers. Chris Fackler

I am waiting word from CNN on when the story will air and will email all players on the team once he confirms the date. He did tell me Monday it will air this week at some point. Sidenote: The Prospect Team will play a tournament at Lamars Vincent Beck this weekend.... On Sunday we will go over to play an extra game outside the tournament to help prepare Coach Brauninger and Clint Landrys Babe Ruth 17-18 team at Nederland High at 6pm Sunday evening. Our 17s are in Ft Myers this week, begin play tomorrow with numerous kids from SE Tx involved. [b][u]Gladiator Blue 17 U Roster:[/u][/b] Jesse Riojas - Jacob Walton Hunter Hagler: Vidor Bubba Maxwell: Vidor Anthony Babino Nederland Matt Peno: Vidor Kody Smith: LCM Scott Vaughan: LCM Stephen Schlett: Nederland Tanner Jorgensen: PNG Hunter Knox: PNG Clint Scoggins: Slisbee Lance Brown: Silsbee Justin Flowers: Silsbee Kael Jones: Kirbyville Holden Holsomback: Kirbyville Dillon Carrol Sulphur Tyler Mathis: Lake Charles, LA (Barbe HS) Tyler Burgess: DeQuincy, LA Chris Fackler

Quick Tournament Recap in regards to the SETx Gladiator Prospects Travel Club at the WWBA-Perfect Game 2011 Graduates National Tournament. Our Perfect Game Pool of 6 teams was comprised of Teams with ONLY '011 Graduate Rosters, every team was comprised of some really talented kids and professional coaching staffs. We went 3-3 in tournament play and currently sit 12-4 on the summer season. [u]College Programs who attended our games.[/u] Univ Alabama, Univ Tx, TCU, Baylor, South Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Army, Air Force, Univ La-Lafayette, Univ La-Monroe, East Carolina, LSU, La Tech, Texas A-M, Tulane, Florida Atlantic, Louisville, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Fla State, Florida, Univ Houston, Univ Oklahoma and many more to mention(exhausted from an 11hr van ride back today). The response towards numerous Gladiator players was very, very good and productive. We were very pleased with the way the kids performed early and responded after a string of tough games during the midweek portion of the tournament. Perfect Game took really great care of our field locations and game times as well, very fortunate they set things up for us the way they did for this tournament, gave our kids lots of exposure. National News - CNN will have a story on Gladiator Baseball, Westbrooks Reggie Wilson and Charles Guillory this week on CNN.Com. We will resume games in-state in the upcoming weeks. [u][b]Game 1[/b][/u] Gladiators 7 Huntington WV 0 [u][b]Game 2[/b][/u] Gladiators 3 McCann Braves(Ga) 2 [u][b]Game 3[/b][/u] Dirtbags of North Carolina 8 Gladiators 2 [u][b]Game 4[/b][/u] Diamond-Simcox Tenn 13 Gladiators 0 [u][b]Game 5[/b][/u] World Baseball Fla 6 Gladiators 2 [u][b]Game 6[/b][/u] Gladiators 6 CBC North Carolina 0

SE Texas Gladiator Prospects will compete this week in Marietta Ga in the Perfect Game - World Wood 2011 Graduates Tournament Tuesday vs Huntington (West Virginia) Wednesday vs McCann Braves(Georgia) Thursday vs Dirtbags (North Carolina) Friday vs Diamond-Silcox 17's(Knoxville,Tn) Saturday vs World Baseball (Jacksonville, Fl) Saturday afternoon = Championship Rounds Roster includes players from 11 different high school programs Hunter Hagler   Vidor Austin Stone   PNG Amir Jalali    PNG Cord Cockrell   Acadiana High(La) Andrew Guillote   Sam Houston High(La) Reggie Wilson   Westbrook Dillon Duplant   Hardin Jefferson Jordan Darnall   WOS Zane Anderson   WOS Logan Dugas   Westbrook Forest Zoch   Bridge City Justin Chesson   Sam Houston High(La) Charles Guillory   Westbrook   Rony Sanchez  Memorial Kyle Markum   Hamshire-Fannet Cade Andrus   Sulphur(La)

The Gladiator Program consists of '3' ballclubs, The Red, White, and Blue Squads. The program also has '3' 16under ballclubs as well. Gladiator Blue - Jesse Riojas(WOS Head Coach) and Jacob Walton(Westbrook Head Coach) Gladiator White - Jeff Moye(Pitching Instructor) Gladiator Red - Chris Fackler(Colorado Rockies) and Kyle Green(Head Coach Vidor High) [u][b]Gladiator White 17unders[/b][/u] Brandon Provost  PNG Alex Anderson  PNG Ryan Quinn  Nederland Taylor Townsend  BMT Kelly Ryan Waddell LCM Wayne Stanley Lumberton Ryan Bumstead BMT Kelly Ryan Jannise Westbrook Kody Thompson Barbers Hill Justin Harmon Westbrook Andrew Messina Kelly Blake Coleson Kirbyville Zach Smith Bridge City Tyler Downs Kirbyville [b][u]The Gladiator Red Roster[/u][/b] Reggie Wilson Westbrook Charles Guillory Westbrook Logan Dugas Westbrook Austin Stone PNG Amir Jalali PNG Rony Sanchez PA Memorial Jordan Darnall WOS Zane Anderson WOS Kyle Markum Hamshire-Fannett Forest Zoch Bridge City Andrew Guillote Sam Houston(La) Justin Chesson Sam Houston(La) Cade Andrus Sulphur(La) Cord Cockrell Acadiana(La) [u][b]Gladiator Blue 17unders[/b][/u] Hunter Hagler Vidor Bubba Maxwell Vidor Matt Peno Vidor Lance Brown Silsbee Clint Scoggins Silsbee Kael Jones   Kirbyville Holden Holsomback Kirbyville Scott Vaughn LCM Tanner Jorgensen PNG Hunter Knox PNG Cody Smith LCM Justin Flowers Silsbee Stephen Schlett Nederland Tyler Mathis Lake Charles Barbe(La) Any donations any individuals or businesses could make is welcomed to aid with travel expenses, tournament fees, and hotels. Please contact Board Members; Jody Jannise, David Richardson, Charles Guillory, Ric Taylor or Dave Morrow at www.gladiatorbaseball.org

How about 2 major upsets in the NCAA's leading Lamar hosting a regional vs UL-Lafayette or vice verse? UL-Lafayette is pretty darn good and made the CWS in 2000(Matt Hicks signed with the Cajuns) Lamar over the years has been close as ever, and Southern Miss last year has given many teams a sense of confidence to get it done, win, and advance... Slim chances can become reality for thats why they play these games and what a neat treat for this region if the two programs were to advance. Seeing locals like Matison Smith Eric Harrington VJ Bunner Jake Henderson and more.. would make for a really nice experience for those young men.

I want to make it clear, my comments werent to compare Ty to any other player, I would never do that publicy,  I was stricly stating Ty should recieve and invite.

If Ty Parker was NOT an invite, High School coaches may need to look into this with some persistent motivation to get him on board. This kid represents our area as solid and sound as any player does in SE-Tx. His numbers show he has been the most consistent catcher in this region and not to downsize any other catcher, but his leadership has been the key to a State Ranked team all season. Their pitching is solid this season because Jasper has a warrior behind the plate blocking balls giving their arms confidence and shutting down oppnents run game forcing opponents to go base to base baseball allowing pitchers the freedom to give up a hit or a walk and still get out of innings with no damage. I would hope Im not personally jumping the gun here and hope this young man HAS made the All-Star game in 2010. Chris Fackler

Lamar advances to the NCAA Regionals with a 17-7 win over Tx State tonight. Pairings and sites will be announced Monday and word is open to the public invite to ML Grill on Dowlen at 11am. Congrats Cards

The Cardinals will face the winner of the day game between UTA and Texas State, the final game and berth to an NCAA Regional will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. The Winner heads to an NCAA Regional, good luck to Coach G, Hatten, Ricklefsen and the Lamar Ballclub. Locals Eric Harrington(PNG), Jonathan Dzeidzek(Atoscosita), and Matison Smith(Nederland) have really done well pitching for Lamar in the tournament. SLC Finals Gametime is at 6pm Saturday Night. Head to Baytown to watch PNG at 2pm, Turn back to Nederland for Jasper-Bridge City at 5pm, and listen to Lamar on the radio at 6. Good luck to all.

Thats interesting to learn that an NCAA Institution is accountable for High School Athletic Expenses. I wonder why Lamar would be responsible for paying 3 umpires and not the respective schools who were involved. Do I understand your post correctly, Lamar was suppose to pay the umpires for a high school contest?

I have found out a few concerns recently about the use of Lamars facility for playoff baseball. The coaching staff holds sole responsibility DURING an event at their stadium, so they must be on site to manage every aspect of an event. They cannot be on the road...they(coaching staff) would need to be there to supervise the numerous aspects of running a high school playoff game that would bring say 800-2000fans. Secondly, the facility charge/fees for an event estimate out to roughly $1500-$1600. This entails 4 security guards, announcers, scoreboard, etc... you must realise a scoreboard such as Lamars is NOT such a simple tasks at operating. Also, overall general management of activities at such an event,  as in managing the gate, ticket sales, food-drink sales and more. I read where someone said Rice was used for playoff baseball while they were on the road, maybe they have a 'Baseball Operations position' as many large conference schools have to be in attendance while the coaches are on the road, hence being able to manage events on their field while the ballclub and coaches are not present. For those who have 'rumored' it cost $2500-$4000 to conduct such an event, I have looked into it and those rumors are false. The main concern at a mid-major would be having the staff in place to manage it professionally and make it a Good PR move for the institution, staff, and program with exposing the school to numerous talented high school players. Id assume they want to make a great impression. This could only be done with the coaching staff avaliable to oversee things while the event is taking place. So as I previously stated, Coach Gilligan-Ricklefsen-Hatten welcome as many games as possible there but they want to manage the event properly which is a challenge when they are on the road playing or out with other pririoties as recruiting etc... My personal experience has been fantastic with Jim and his staff, they have always been extremely professional and gone beyond supporting events that I've conducted their for kids. We host tournaments in the summer and fall and our GTB Fall Prospect League whereby numerous college recruiters and professional scouts drive down to see our SETx-SWLa seniors perform could not be done without the support and time Lamars staff puts in to making it happen. Chris Fackler

I wonder what the true reasons are for such a high fee to play the games. I do know most college athletic institutions lock all their athletic programs into contracts with a food&drink service that it is requires their employees sale the products and they independently earn all money being generated from sporting events. As for the field use, that interests me. I do know Coach Gilligan Ricklefsen and Hatten would want all teams in playoffs to perform on their field, they support local programs, coaches, and players the best they are allowed to do under NCAA Rules. Id assume they have their hands tied and cant do much to resolve this situation. Ive personally been wanting to work on taking it a step forward to finding an independent sponsor to conduct a high school tournament in late February for a Super 8 Baseball Tournament, but if the fees were to be enormous, this just could not be feasible. PR is huge for the LU program and its a shame IF the administration or their institutional-controlled guidelines are the road block based on finances only. Lamar has a fantastic field and stadium to view ballgames and Id like to see someone go internally to see why the field fees are so high. Or is this really the main issue to using the field for big stage ballgames. When at McNeese State, we sent out letters to all parish(county) high schools to offer them a selected game on their schedule to play on McNeese's field. We only charged an insurance fee, had formal documentations signed, we gave the schools 50-50 gate and had no extra fees on top. We had our redshirt college players work the field and had a representative run the scoreboard and announcing. For the rival high schools, Barbe & Sulphur games, we would get over 1000people through the gates which was good PR for our program. Lamar can manage this in the same way if done properly with a minimum fee. At the end of the day we are all supportive of all SETx high school programs, regardless if they are YOUR school or not, baseball fans will come out to support another local team in the playoffs.

For the record, I know Jay way better than that, he wants to compete and earn things while developing 'men', but hey, a little slight edge with weather doesnt hurt, lol. Hope all the teams get it done tonight and tomorrow....

Ha, ole Jay Bird, coach Stone isnt dumb, run right back into more rain.... smart strategy on Jays part if I understand the rules correctly.... Is PNG Home team in this game?

This is interesting.... the thing here is depth on the mound more for the Rebs than PNG for PNG has some cushion... If the rebs exhausted their top arm today, do you restart him? Being a college signee and for safety concerns do you try to work a tired and over done pitch count arm, this could be big for the Indians...

[u][b]The GTB Fall Prospect League[/b][/u] I need to begin rounding up names of 2011 and 2012 graduates for the GTB Baseball Fall Prospect League at Lamar University. All players(We only accept 30-32 total players) will pay a fee to perform(Not yet determined), college coaches and professional scouts(if we supply that kind of talent) will be at each Monday night workout/game. We hit Batting Practice, we take infield and outfield to display arm strength and defesive skill level, and play a 9inning game each Monday Night. Right now I am ONLY compiling a list. After my list is completed, I will follow up with cross-checking players with coaches and/or evaluating myself before hand. The Prospect Season will NOT begin until October but prepare yourself in advance that you may be called on to perform for scouts. We are entering our third season with this workout structure. In 2 seasons 37 kids who have received college schoalrships have been involved with the league. We ask if you are a TOP player already receiving letters and phone calls to still contact me for your name and talent will bring more scouts which helps other players in the region to get evaluated as well. We take this very seriously, we want to continue bringing scouts-recruiters into our region to offer our graduates a chance at performing at the collegiate level. I have had some players pass on this opportunity only to find themselves unsigned when May arrives, I ask that you dont be one of those players. We CANNOT assure you of being signed but will lay out a platform for a 4 week span to display yourself to regional college coaches. I also welcome high school coaches to continue with your support as well as involving local select baseball clubs in the SE-Tx region. Send inquiries to my personal email, this is NOT a rush issue as of today, May 13, but the sooner I have names the sooner we can begin processing players and contacting, cross-checking with coaches about you as a player and of our schedule and GTB Rosters. Once agan, we do not begin until October. [email protected]. Thanks in advance, Chris Fackler

[i]UPDATE: Some are confused slightly, this is NOT a process of compiling a summer team for 2010, it is only for me to know which 2010 graduates that have NOT signed with a collegiate program.[/i] I need the List of local 2010 Grad-Players who have not received financial aid to attend college and are the following: Display success on the playing field Academically qualify to enroll and get accepted to attend college Has applied through the NCAA Clearinghouse Has completed their ACT or SAT testing Has a GPA of 2.5 or above [u]Here are names I have thus far:[/u] Logan Johnson Hamshire-Fannett Chris Sweetenham PNG Blake Reyenga PNG Justin Sparrow WOS Taylor Turley WOS Cody Woodward Westbrook Jake Minaldi Hamshire-Fannett Chase Angelle Orangefield Michael Hester Vidor Cody Laird Nederland Nick Cardenas Nederland Luke Rhodes Bridge City Evan Boren Bridge City I need more players. I want to make sure I have SETx kids covered. Thank You in advance, Chris Fackler [email protected]

Contact me when time allows, [email protected], be glad to help in some small way, I can donate numerous items, helmets, gloves, charts, practice uniform-pants, etc.... C Fackler

Admid. Id agree somewhat with your assessment based on WEDNESDAYS performance, but would like to see them play again, they would be worthy of a #3-5 ranked team locally.... Id like to seen their bullpen arms tho....Thats what seperates Ned-PNG-Jasper-O'field during their district seasons from the rest is those four teams, is how those four local teams eat up innings with quality arms.... Yet #34 RHP(86-90mph) was in total command from the start once he realised his fastball was exploding bats, their pitching coach did a good job changing hitters eye levels and working into weak zones....the Mangum kid(#8) 2nd best shortstop Ive seen this Spring, arm strength, footwork, range, and quality leadoff with bat speed, and #33 3hole RF, Scrappy Dirtbag type player. I felt their head coach was so in sinc with his kids, ran at the right times, bunted at right times, just a very flawless game on his kids part....Obviously errors and Vidors bunt game defense gave some momentum to Crosby as well...But overall our area teams dont bunt much here, we hit-n-run but not execute bunts consistently, so defensively it is a question mark on most of our local playoff teams...Everyone is going to face an opponents ace so the Bunt game is a huge weapon, forces opponents to defend and communicate during a faster-paced game...I would have liked to see Crosby face a lil adversity to see how they would have responded though.... They did play a pretty flawless game last night. They won 2 innings in the game and never allowed any momentum shifts with minimal pitch counts. Vidor High and Coach Green, and assistants Jeremy, Sean, and Rex approach the game the right way, they have ALOT to be proud of, it was nice to see that program give its school and community something to place a cap on and be proud of, great season for the Pirates just the right team, unfortunately for our area, won last nights contest. Chris Fackler

Here are a few topics below that I am called or emailed about over the long haul of a season,. Ill place the topics below and leave open for discussion, Please dont point out any one player-Coach-Instructor-etc in particular, thats NOT the point here, but more about the impact, pros n cons about the following and to give insight to others with respect to pitching routines in general. Also please dont compliment certain individuals etc, for it then leads to a possible negative comment in response. Pitch counts per game (Whats the golden number not to surpass. 85, 100, 120, 140??? and why not? or why so?) Total Appearances per season (1 appearance? 2 appearances per week every week of the season?) Rest Days between extended innings (example, 7innings on a Tuesday then back again relief appearance on a Thursday or Friday?) Off day routines (What routines are pitchers doing on off days, running, long toss, flat grounds, etc...) Over use of the arm day in day out at training facilities or practice (Working with high school team at practice, then going to a facility later that night to work out more, etc...) Transfer from High School season to summer season to fall season, total innings, rest days, games....(Total appearances within a calendar year?) Is icing the arm after pitching a good thing or case by case? And feel free to bring up your own questions concerning the rest, recovery of pitchers, to bring an awareness to everyone. Chris Fackler

The next 2 weeks should begin to seperate the top clubs and the clubs who may be a year or two away from success. Southeastern is on a roll, 20-2, a consensus Top 25 ranking and dont think can be sold anymore as just being 'Hot' club. Northwestern St went to #26Tx A&M Wednesday and beats the Aggies 4-2. Lamar is trying to find themselves, defensive play is a huge concern and will be tested the next 2 weekends with a series @Tx State and hosting Southeastern. McNeese's Jade Dillon(BC Grad) was named Pitcher of the week this past week. It would be long long ago, or if ever,  where you would see Lamar, McNeese, and UTSA as the bottom 3 teams on the conference all at one time. I personally feel its good for the conference to have Nicholls, Southeastern, Northwestern doing so well for the conference has been dominated in seasons past by the majority of the Texas schools within the conference. SFA is making its stamp to reach the SLC-Tournament but make a run for a conference title Southeastern hosts Central Arkansas, so they have a chance to padding a 2 or 3 game gap from the 2nd place clubs. [b][u]Southland Conference Standings[/u][/b] SELA - 5-1 SFA 4-1 TxSt - 4-2 Northwestern 3-2 Nicholls 3-3 Sam Houston 3-3 UTA 3-3 A&M-Corpus 3-3 Lamar  2-4 McNeese 2-4 Central Ark 2-4 UTSA 1-5

Sorry guys, I deleted my post, but I always for the most part delete my post after an event has completed... Maybe its just me, but Id think it saves the website space for future threads... Chris Fackler

The Southland Conference is consistently showing they are a Top 10 conference in the country, by turning up the conference overall record(117-70) by going 12and1(LSU Beat Nicholls @LSU) during the week. Big Wins this week were Tx State wins @Tx Tech 13-7, #26 Southeastern La wins @La-Lafayette 9-3, UTSA over Iowa 4-2, Central Arkansas shutouts La Tech 1-0, and Northwestern State remains hot with 2 wins winning 13 of last 14 games. 9 of the 12 conference reps are .500 or above. [b][u]Top 6 in Conference[/u][/b] Southeastern La 16-1 Northwestern State 13-3 Lamar 14-4 SFA 12-4 Nicholls State 11-5 Tx State 10-6