Friday, August 1, 2008

Lost a wild one in the tourney

We lost a wild one in the tourney 4-3. Thought we might have to use Nick to pitch again. Our starter walked batters, hit batters until it was 3-0 with 0 outs in the 1st and bases still loaded. Changed pitchers, bringing in a senior and finally got out of that jam. 2nd inning they get another unearned run on walks & hit batters. 4-0 end of 2. We get a rally in the 6th to make it 4-3 end of 6. 7th inning Nick is 4th batter in the order. He has thrived on this scenario in the past and has always either won the game or tied it with clutch hits in the past, including a home run on a couple of ocassions. Clearly a HR was not going to happen because of the use of wooden bats. Two outs now & the batter before him gets on, steals 2nd. The stage is set!!! Nicholas battles to a full count, fouls off a couple of pitches in that full count, fouls off a couple more after the count went full then sends a fly ball into deep center. The wind (40mph gusts blowing in from right field) held it up long enough for the center fielder to make a play on it. All in all it was a decent run as we won the league but finished 2nd in the tourney.

Tourney time


Nicholas got the call to start the 1st game of the season ending tourney. This surprised me a bit as I was thinking he might come in and close this game out. He has never started a high school game on the mound. Needless to say Nick Stone (my son) was on fire. As he has done on the previous 1st 2 batters he had faced when entering a game, he struck the batter out on 3 pitches. In his 1st complete game he had I think 8 strike outs, gave up 1 hit, gave up 2 walks, 0 runs. He now has 16 K's, 4 walks, given up 2 hits, gave up 0 runs, has 2 wins & 1 save as a rookie high school pitcher. He pitched 9 full innings of high school baseball.

The team will play in the championship game today at 4pm!

GO CARDS!!!!

High school league season ending

The high school league that Nicholas played in at Loeb Stadium is coming to an end. Today was the last regular season games. Nicholas had good solid contact on his 1st at bat after we worked on his batting stance yesterday. A grounder to the shortstop that resulted in a fielders choice so he ended up on 1st. He then proceeded to steal 2nd and later score. He got a good solid base hit down the 3rd base line in a later inning.

In the last inning & his team leading 4-2 he made a spectacular diving catch in center field to get the 1st out and prevent a potential rally by the opposing team.

Next week the tourney starts and he has a 10am game at beautiful Loeb Stadium.

Go Cards!!!

1st high school pitching win

By Larry
Nicholas had a terrible day at the plate. But, they brought him in to pitch in the 2nd game with the team down 4-2. He pitched inning 5, 6 & 7. He struck the 1st batter out on 3 pitches. Then proceeded to strike out the side in this the 5th inning on 13 pitches. We're still down 4-2. In the 6th he struck out the 1st batter, walked the next, got a fly out to center, struck out the last batter. He now has 5 strike outs in 2 innings. End of 6 we trail 4-3 now. In top of the last inning our team gets 6 runs giving us the lead 9-4. Last inning he strikes out the 1st batter, the next batter gets a single, the next batter hits into a
double play to shortstop to end the game. Nicholas gets his 1st high school pitching win!In 4 innings of high school baseball as a 14 year old pitcher Nicholas has given up 0 runs, 2 walks and has 8 strike outs!!! Averaging 2 K's per inning. He has given up 1 hit. He has 1 win, 1 save & 0 losses as a high school pitcher!!!

My son and big time baseball

Well, Nicholas and his Squires Team finished their season about 2 months ago. It came to an end in a round for The Pony World Series. Since school has started and Nicholas being in the 9th grade recreation baseball as he once knew it is over. It's high school baseball now which means BIG TIME BASEBALL. Since school started his high school baseball coach has put him on a weight program and has the pitching coach working with him 2 days a week.

Ironically Lafayette has a high school fall ball league at beautiful Loeb Stadium just across the street from our house. It's every Tippecanoe County kids dream to play here because it has been the host site for The Colt World Series!!! Known world wide because kids ages 15-16 from countries like Puerto Rico, Mexico and other distant places play a tourney here every year in August.

Nicholas wanted a chance at the age of 14 to play against regional high school standouts. Several players in this high school league have already played for Colt World Series Teams.

In his 1st 2 games of the year he had a couple of grounders to the infield for outs and a walk, some stolen bases & some routine plays in the outfield. In his 3rd high school game he got his 1st RBI, a ground out to 2nd that brought in the runner from 3rd.

In is 4th high school game his stats changed drastically. Subbing in n out because of lack of experience he went 2-2 at the plate. He had a double early then a bases loaded double that brought in 3 runs!!! Two tremendous shots to right center and deep.

He has been desperately wanting to pitch which surprises me some and yet doesn't. Nicholas has always loved pressure and at the age of 14 he's certainly getting that here. He finally got to pitch his 1st inning, closing out a 10-0 lead. He struck out the 1st batter on 3 pitches, walked the next batter, who stole 2nd. Got a fly out to center, a wild pitch sends the runner to 3rd. Up comes the 4th batter and playing against this level of players I was ready for the wheels to fly off. He struck the batter out, game over and his 1st high school pitching save!!!

Loeb Stadium

High School Fall Ball