Gallipolis to face Athens in tourney

[jottings]

No. 4 seed Gallipolis will battle No. 5 seed Athens at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 11, on Memorial Field in Gallipolis in the 2009 No. 1 South Sectional baseball tournament opener.

The TVC champion Bulldogs are 11-4 on the year while the second place SEOAL South Division Blue Devils are 12-8 on the year.

In a non-league twinbill at Athens on April 18, GAHS downed AHS at Athens, 16-5 and 13-10, but Athens did not pitch its ace, Jared Cline, who has since accepted a baseball scholarship to attend Marietta College.

On the other hand, GAHS has dropped three straight games since beating Ironton 15-6 on April 24.

No. 8 seed Warren Local (6-8) will battle No. 9 seed Vinton County (4-11) in a play-in game on Saturday, May 9, at 1 p.m. The winner will take on No. 1 seed Waverly at Waverly on Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m.

Winner of the Gallipolis-Athens game will battle winner of the Waverly-Warren-Vinton County games on Thursday, May 14, at 5 p.m.

Winner of the South Sectional will advance to the Division II District Tournament, to begin May 18 at Paint (VA) Stadium in Chillicothe at 5 p.m.

In the South 2 Sectional, No. 2 Chillicothe (15-7) will tackle No. 7 Jackson (6-9) on Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m.

No. 3 Marietta (12-6) will take on No. 5 Meigs (9-8) on Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m.

In the North 1 Sectional, No. 8 Fairfield Union (12-10) will battle No. 9 Greenfield McClain (8-10) on Saturday, May 9, at 1 p.m., in a play-in game.

Winner of that game will take on No. 1 Hillsboro (11-0) on Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m.

No. 4 New Lexington (12-5) will meet No. 5 Washington CH at 5 p.m., on Monday, May 11.

In the North 2 Sectional, No. 2 Circleville (13-6) will meet No. 7 Miami Trace (8-7) on Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m. No. 3 Sheridan (15-6) will play No. 6 Logan Elm (10-7) at 5 p.m, on Monday, May 11.

District finals will be held on Wednesday, May 20 at Paint Stadium, starting at 5 p.m.

[athens78]

Is the Gallia, Athens game a sectional Final or would that be against Waverly?

[jottings]

GAHS-Athens winner to face No. 1 seed Waverly in sectional finals at Waverly on Thursday, May 14, at 5 p.m. (Unless Warren or Vinton County advance to the sectional finals with upset wins.)

[athens78]

I was afraid that would happen to us as far as the seed. Tough luck for the Bulldogs.

[questionmark]

I think this is perfect for Athens...

Gallia has not seen Cline or Maffin and Athens faced Gallia's Best Already...

Also, Athens is playing great right now and I believe Gallia is strugglin' a little bit...

[athens78]

Do you pitch Cline for Gallia or save him for the Waverly? It's a shame the TVC champs have a 5 seed and will possible end up facing Waverly to get out of the sectional.

[jottings]

I say go with your best pitcher in first game. If he wins' at least you make it to the finals.

(Old pal the late Odie O'Donnell, back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, hod a powerful Little League team. In the Kyger Creek post-season tournament, he used his second string pitcher and got beat, not once, but twice in two years.)

[questionmark]

I agree Cline has to be on the hill...

Look back at the '04 Game between Athens & Sheridan when the Generals decided not to start Josh Berrera vs the Bulldogs and in the 1st inning the 2nd stringer gave up a 2-run dinger to Chris Hewitt who put it over the left field fence. Athens got out to an early lead, played great defense, had timely hitting (Josh Stanley's single just over the 1st baseman with the bases loaded to score 2 off of Berrera) and Phil Hewitt's dominating 12 K performance on the hill and you find yourself sitting at home with a fresh arm ACE on the couch...

Gotta WIN the 1st to get to the 2nd!

[swbaseballfan]

every year this happens, teams decide to pitch their #2 started to save their #1 for the next game and it bites them in the rear 75% of the time....and the 25% that actualy advance end up loosing against the much more talented team anyway. i say go for the win in the first game with the best that you have and hope you can ride the momentum into a win in the next round against the beter team.

i say this now, but when the tourney gets here i will probobly be pulling for the #2 starter in the opening game in hopes of having the #1 starter in the game against the beter team!!!!

baseball is a game of chance, sometimes you have to lay it all on the table and hope the cards you need are delt to you. everyday is a new day and you never know what could happen

[athens78]

Can someone explain the innings a pitcher is allowed to pitch? Would there be enough time in between games for
Cline to pitch both games or is there a certain amount of days he would have to sit before pitching again?

[jottings]

I think its 10 innings a week. Not sure. Bulldog 64 will have the answer.

[jottings]

Ice piers almost covered along the Gallipolis Park front off First Ave. Wonder how far Chickamauga Creek is from covering the GAHS baseball field?

[Rufus]

10 innings every 3 days.

usually you can make it through most of the tournament with your stud on the mound. When you get to regionals and the games are closer together, it gets tricky. You need at least 2 studs on the hill to make it to state.

[Gib25]

Everybody is talking about who Athens should pitch. How about Gallia? Just a thought.

[jottings]

Beau Whaley, Austin Roush, Kruize Wandling, John Troester, Chuck Calvert and Tyler Eastmen have been throwing for GAHS the past few days.

After getting off to a 11-2 start, GAHS is now 12-9 on the year, having lost seven of their last eight games and four straight--Jackson, 7-4, Chillicothe, 8-6, Meigs 12-9 and Warren Local.9-2.

Frist time around, Devils beat all of the above teams except South Division champion Chillicothe. The Cavs posted 18-17, 14-4 and 8-6 wins over GAHS.

Two losses that really hurt were 5-4 at Portsmouth and 7-4 at Jackson.

Whaley, Wandling and Roush were winning early in the year. Eastman hasn't done too bad the past few days. Troester and Calvert have split their wins and losses.

[athens78]

Then Cline should be able to pitch both sectional games. That's great and gives Athens a better chance against Waverly. I think they should get past Gallia easy since they haven't faced Cline yet.

[Gib25]

There is no such animal as an easy win at Gallia.

[Cap'n Scoop]

After watching Gallia struggle against Warren's Zach Heath last night, I give the edge to Athens if Cline is pitching. Should be a great game between two well coached teams.

[JoeGatto]

Regardless of the 10 innings every three days rule, if the sectional games are only 2 days apart (one day of rest between them) there is no way Cline (or any ace for any team) would be ready to start the sectional final if he throws even just an average amount of pitches for a 7 inning game. I seriously doubt that Coach Gibson or Coach Stewart would start the same pitcher on one day of rest.
In my opinion, the 10 innings rule is not a good one. It should be based on number of pitches thrown, not innings.

[Farr]

Frozen ropes....good call on that and I would take it a step further. At Warren we have a STRICT 85 pitch limit on our pitchers. I see coaches in this area throw their guys 100+ pitches all the time. We have let only 1 pitcher go over 90(he threw 92) the whole year and that was so he can get a complete game. Sometimes the coaches need for glory surpasses their own good senses.....In one of the recent games, I bet a kid threw 100 in 4 innings....NOT GOOD