Gallipolis to face Athens in tourney

[pkp76]

Coach Gibson really has more options on the mound than you might think. He has two pitchers that have significant innings throwing strikes and winning games but he also has two, maybe even three pitchers who have a decent number of innings pitching under control and getting batters out by letting the defense work for them. Then Coach has one hard thrower who has issues finding the zone but has been improving and really has closer type stuff.

Who says the starter has to pitch a full game. In a spring time high school tournament when pitchers are still rounding into form, Coach Gibson can take one game at a time and be creative.

By the way, the Athens team is starting to hit consistantly.

[athens78]

I think there is three games between the Gallia game and Waverly game so I'm Saying Cline goes in both.

[blaze275]

Ya gotta get past gallia first. Dont look too far ahead.

[athens78]

I don't think Athens will have an issue with Cline on the mound. Dogs roll over Gallia in this one.

[g w mclintock]

Any updates?

[JabbatheDel]

I don't think Athens will have an issue with Cline on the mound. Dogs roll over Gallia in this one.

Gallia Academy-5
Athens-4

It's too bad Athens couldn't beat a rinky-dink GA team even with the second coming on the hill.

Well played game on both sides, but GA made the Dogs roll over in the end.

[tigersfan88]

[quote="gahs4ever"]The winner of the Waverly-GAHS will play the winner of Marietta-Chillicothe at the Chillicothe VA on 5/18 in a district semi-final.quote]

Actually i belive the winner of Marietta-Chillicothe plays against the winner of New Lex-Fairfield Union

[g w mclintock]

Tough loss for the Bulldogs but kudos for a very good season...

[athens78]

I would have never guest it. Hats off to Gallia and good luck to Waverly.

[Cap'n Scoop]

Congrats to Gallia, always a well coached and disciplined team.

[blaze275]

Good game Athens,you played very well.

[JabbatheDel]

I would have never guest it. Hats off to Gallia and good luck to Waverly.

exactly what color are sour grapes? I always wanted to get some at Wal-Mart but I don't know what they look like.........

[athens78]

Hey I said hats off to Gallia. Again I didn't think they could beat Cline who I understand was undefeated in the TVC. I admit I was wrong and good luck to Gallia. Sour Grapes may be GREEN right now. Athens loses 5 games this year which was all to DII teams of course which they play come tournament time. Besides Meigs and Vinton Co. all the other teams that we played in league are DIII and then we played DIV 3 times losing once to them. Also I don't think with all the S.E.O.A.L teams in the sectional Athens will ever get a good tournament draw. Maybe we should get rid of all the non league games with DIII and IV teams and replace them with teams our own size. Who knows. Again I was wrong and congrats to Gallia and good luck against Waverly.

[JabbatheDel]

Hey I said hats off to Gallia. Again I didn't think they could beat Cline who I understand was undefeated in the TVC. I admit I was wrong and good luck to Gallia. Sour Grapes may be GREEN right now. Athens loses 5 games this year which was all to DII teams of course which they play come tournament time. Besides Meigs and Vinton Co. all the other teams that we played in league are DIII and then we played DIV 3 times losing once to them. Also I don't think with all the S.E.O.A.L teams in the sectional Athens will ever get a good tournament draw. Maybe we should get rid of all the non league games with DIII and IV teams and replace them with teams our own size. Who knows. Again I was wrong and congrats to Gallia and good luck against Waverly.

I was just ribbin ya a little bit. But it seems to me that you would want the team that beats you to go deep in the tourney rather than get beat in the next round, right? Maybe you guys should have stayed in the SEOAL. Just an opinion, not stirring trouble or talkin bad.

[Regulator]

I don't think Athens left the SEOAL because of baseball. They competed well year in and year out. The other sports were having their problems competing so it made sense to make the move. Plus the there are closer games, meaning bigger gates, meaning more money for the Athletics program. Smart move if you ask me. However, I do believe the TVC should be called the W.E.A.K league. Therefore it is really important for a coach to upgrade their non league schedule to include some tougher teams, in order to give it some clout come tournament draw time. Win or lose, they will be better for it. But I am sure Coach Gibson understands his team more then anybody else. Also, I predicted a TVC championship for the Bulldogs in baseball this year.

[NYBuckeye96]

I don't think Athens left the SEOAL because of baseball. They competed well year in and year out. The other sports were having their problems competing so it made sense to make the move. Plus the there are closer games, meaning bigger gates, meaning more money for the Athletics program. Smart move if you ask me. However, I do believe the TVC should be called the W.E.A.K league. Therefore it is really important for a coach to upgrade their non league schedule to include some tougher teams, in order to give it some clout come tournament draw time. Win or lose, they will be better for it. But I am sure Coach Gibson understands his team more then anybody else. Also, I predicted a TVC championship for the Bulldogs in baseball this year.

I partially agree with you. Yes, Athens is better off in the TVC. No, the TVC is not the "W.E.A.K. league". Yes, TVC teams on average are not as good as SEOAL schools, but it is because the TVC schools are smaller in size than the SEOAL schools and have fewer boys available to field a team. For example, Nelsonville-York doesn't even have a reserve team in baseball because their aren't enough boys playing baseball to even field a reserve team. NY currently doesn't have a junior high program (but is looking at adding it). So for NY, the varsity baseball team is basicly the only baseball option to kids after little league baseball, and there is a big developmental difference between little league and high school varsity baseball. This is why NY tends to not do well in baseball in most years.

Athens is by far the largest school in the TVC. The Bulldogs will always receive lower seeds in the tournaments for most sports because the majority of their games are against smaller schools. Tournament seeding primarily looks at a teams record versus similar sized schools first of all. Athens went 12-0 in the TVC playing smaller schools. Athens also played much smaller TVC Hocking Eastern 3 times, going 2-1. That left I believe a double header with Sheridan and Gallia County as schools similar in size to Athens. Athens went 1-3 against those teams similar in size. That is why Athens received a lower tournament seeding.......not because the TVC is "weak".

A tradeoff for Athens being a part of the TVC and having increased revenues is the fact that Athens is now the "big school" in the league and will really have to up the non-league schedule if it wants to receive higher seeding. Three non-league games against tiny Eastern doesn't impress those who seed the teams come tournament time. Athens will have to strategically plan those nonleague games and win the majority of them if the Bulldogs ever hope to host a tournament game.

Had any D III school gone 12-0 in the league, they most likely would have been hosting a playoff game. There is a huge difference in going 12-0 in the TVC as a D II school than going 12-0 as a D III or D IV school.

So this is ultimately the tradeoff to Athens for being a part of the TVC. Is Athens better off being in the TVC? Definately! There is just more pressure for Athens to be strategic in who they play as non-league games in all sports and there is even greater pressure to win those non-league games to have any hope of ever receiving a higher seed in the tournaments of various sports.

[bleacher coach]

NYBuckeye96,I take exception to your nieve belief that tiny Eastern hurt Athens tournament draw. Tiny Eastern thumped a couple of teams in the TVC Ohio & SEO in scrimmages then went on to split regular season games with teams such as Adena (d-3 Powerhouse) & D-1 Parkersburg & easily beat the only Ohio team other than Athens that they played(Belpre-dh). Therefore I`d say the Ohio did more for their seeding than playing "Tiny Little Eastern." Gallipolis also had Eastern scheduled twice but were rained out both times.

Gibson & Corvin wouldn`t schedule Eastern if they didn`t have a top notch program & facility.

[NYBuckeye96]

When Athens plays all smaller schools in league play, they must play mostly D II schools in nonleague play if they want a higher seed in the tournament. This is a fact of life in how the seeding is done. Overall records are not the top priority for the seeded schools, it is how well you perform against similar-sized schools during the regular season.

Gallipolis has more leeway to play Eastern as a nonleague game because the Blue Devils play several D II sized schools in SEOAL play as well as many of their nonleague games. Athens doesn't have this luxery in TVC league play, so it is even more critical that those nonleague games be against D II sized schools for Athens.

I'm not taking a shot at Eastern, they are a top D IV program in southeast Ohio. I'm just stating the facts of life here concerning how teams are seeded in the tournaments.

[pkp76]

Hopefully the Athens team has learned that non-league games are important and must be seen as an opportunity to win, just like any other game. Still, it looks like the folks who set the brackets got it just about right in the case of Gallia (4) playing Athens (5). In the end, 4 beat 5, 5 to 4 in a well contested game where one or two plays could have changed the outcome. It will be interesting to see how Gallia fares.