Union Baseball

[Unchained]

4-1 after hammering unbeaten Chilhowie 11-0. Yesterday they thumped one of the year in and year out best programs in Kentucky (Hazard) 10-4. Other wins over RV (Wallace is a solid pitcher for the Pack),a very impressive win over 6A North Carolina state finalist Asheville. Their loss was to a 5A South Carolia team (Easely) with several D1 commits including a 6-7 already committed to USC (game was tied 1-1 late). I knew the defense would improve and the pitching would be solid, but my concern was the offense. The last 2 evenings have shown me that we are much better swinging the sticks than last year. I know Abingdon will always be the favorite in baseball in the M7, but don't sleep on this bunch of Bears.

[Stelley]

53 minutes ago, Unchained said:

4-1 after hammering unbeaten Chilhowie 11-0. Yesterday they thumped one of the year in and year out best programs in Kentucky (Hazard) 10-4. Other wins over RV (Wallace is a solid pitcher for the Pack),a very impressive win over 6A North Carolina state finalist Asheville. Their loss was to a 5A South Carolia team (Easely) with several D1 commits including a 6-7 already committed to USC (game was tied 1-1 late). I knew the defense would improve and the pitching would be solid, but my concern was the offense. The last 2 evenings have shown me that we are much better swinging the sticks than last year. I know Abingdon will always be the favorite in baseball in the M7, but don't sleep on this bunch of Bears.

I can assure you no one is sleeping on Union. Two years ago they were slept on but last year and this year everyone knows they’re legit. 
 

Have you heard anything about Neff? Haven’t seen anything about Neff and he didn’t throw against Lebanon in the scrimmage

[swvavol]

3 hours ago, Stelley said:

I can assure you no one is sleeping on Union. Two years ago they were slept on but last year and this year everyone knows they’re legit. 
 

Have you heard anything about Neff? Haven’t seen anything about Neff and he didn’t throw against Lebanon in the scrimmage

I don’t think he is released to pitch yet

[Observer]

12 hours ago, Unchained said:

4-1 after hammering unbeaten Chilhowie 11-0. Yesterday they thumped one of the year in and year out best programs in Kentucky (Hazard) 10-4. Other wins over RV (Wallace is a solid pitcher for the Pack),a very impressive win over 6A North Carolina state finalist Asheville. Their loss was to a 5A South Carolia team (Easely) with several D1 commits including a 6-7 already committed to USC (game was tied 1-1 late). I knew the defense would improve and the pitching would be solid, but my concern was the offense. The last 2 evenings have shown me that we are much better swinging the sticks than last year. I know Abingdon will always be the favorite in baseball in the M7, but don't sleep on this bunch of Bears.

I don't want to turn this into a Ridgeview thread, but Xander Wallace doesn't get the recognition he deserves.  Only giving up one earned run to the bears is very impressive.  He hit a walk-off (run rule) home run against Burton last night too.

[Stelley]

2 hours ago, Observer said:

I don't want to turn this into a Ridgeview thread, but Xander Wallace doesn't get the recognition he deserves.  Only giving up one earned run to the bears is very impressive.  He hit a walk-off (run rule) home run against Burton last night too.

Good to see Ridgeview have a competitive team, with central getting beat by Lee anything can happen in the M7. I knew losing Wyatt would hurt them and would probably cost them both of their games to Battle/Union but I still would have thought their offense would be enough most of the time. Definitely didn’t have that one on my bingo card

Another pretty impressive performance against a M7 team that I feel also deserves a shoutout is Isaac Godsey from Lebanon not surrendering any runs to Abingdon and holding them to 1 hit, granted this is probably the worst hitting team Abingdon has had in a very long time, but nonetheless still pretty good for a kid that has been in the shadows to a couple of pretty good pitchers his first couple of years to do that against a team like abingdon. Would have liked to seen how the game turned out had Lebanon not have to play Tennessee High and Boone this week

[Unchained]

16 hours ago, swvavol said:

I don’t think he is released to pitch yet

Mid-April

[Unchained]

8 hours ago, Observer said:

I don't want to turn this into a Ridgeview thread, but Xander Wallace doesn't get the recognition he deserves.  Only giving up one earned run to the bears is very impressive.  He hit a walk-off (run rule) home run against Burton last night too.

I was impressed with him on the mound last year. RV is dangerous and much-improved-especially defensively. Lee with Aistrop at the reins will be a factor too. The Generals beat the brakes off Central in Wise last night.

[Observer]

Just now, Unchained said:

I was impressed with him on the mound last year. RV is dangerous and much-improved-especially defensively. Lee with Aistrop at the reins will be a factor too. The Generals beat the brakes off Central in Wise last night.

Ridgeview could sneak up and win a few games that most think they wouldn't have a chance in.  Coach Stanley has done a great job building the program.  They lose two key contributors this year, but the cupboard is full with their JV and middle school teams.

[Unchained]

5 hours ago, Stelley said:

Good to see Ridgeview have a competitive team, with central getting beat by Lee anything can happen in the M7. I knew losing Wyatt would hurt them and would probably cost them both of their games to Battle/Union but I still would have thought their offense would be enough most of the time. Definitely didn’t have that one on my bingo card

Another pretty impressive performance against a M7 team that I feel also deserves a shoutout is Isaac Godsey from Lebanon not surrendering any runs to Abingdon and holding them to 1 hit, granted this is probably the worst hitting team Abingdon has had in a very long time, but nonetheless still pretty good for a kid that has been in the shadows to a couple of pretty good pitchers his first couple of years to do that against a team like abingdon. Would have liked to seen how the game turned out had Lebanon not have to play Tennessee High and Boone this week

Phillips their catcher quit too I heard. He was good with the stick.

[Unchained]

The Union bats are really popping right now. Hammering Central 9-0 right now in the second inning.

[Unchained]

16-0 after 2

[Gridiron60]

12 minutes ago, Unchained said:

16-0 after 2

Shew…that’s bad (for Central) , good for Union. Has Union played Battle yet? Aren’t they supposed to be pretty good too? 

[Unchained]

12 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

Shew…that’s bad (for Central) , good for Union. Has Union played Battle yet? Aren’t they supposed to be pretty good too? 

Got them this week. Should be a doozy. JSB is picked to win the M7.

[Unchained]

19-2 the final in 5.

[Observer]

12 hours ago, Unchained said:

19-2 the final in 5.

Love to see Central get curb stomped.  Their all-state player hasn't been very good this year 🤣

[Stelley]

1 hour ago, Observer said:

Love to see Central get curb stomped.  Their all-state player hasn't been very good this year 🤣

Actually he has. Their two runs came from him hitting a double. Not having their all state pitcher seems to be their downfall

[Observer]

49 minutes ago, Stelley said:

Actually he has. Their two runs came from him hitting a double. Not having their all state pitcher seems to be their downfall

It was a joke.  I should have said that he hasn't been able to carry them.

[Unchained]

7 hours ago, Stelley said:

Actually he has. Their two runs came from him hitting a double. Not having their all state pitcher seems to be their downfall

Losing Phillips hurt too.

[Unchained]

Union up 13-1 at GC in the 2nd.

[BigWinners]

Union lost 7-6 at Battle last night in a barn burner. Top of M7 be razor close. 

[ShaneFalco113]

After beating Union in a thriller, John Battle goes on the road and lays the smack down on the almighty Science Hill Hilltoppers -6A with a 13-5 marquee program win.

Someone please share the last time a 2A Virginia school has beat a premier baseball program in 6A in this area in  Science Hill or DB.  A very impressive performance by the Trojans tonight 

John Battle has officially entered the chat

 

[1inStripes]

Saw the last play of the Battle/Union game.  As a fan of aggressive base running that was great execution by Battle.  Sometimes you have to take chances to beat good teams and Battles risk payed off.  Should be another fun matchup between the due later this year.

[Stelley]

10 hours ago, ShaneFalco113 said:

After beating Union in a thriller, John Battle goes on the road and lays the smack down on the almighty Science Hill Hilltoppers -6A with a 13-5 marquee program win.

Someone please share the last time a 2A Virginia school has beat a premier baseball program in 6A in this area in  Science Hill or DB.  A very impressive performance by the Trojans tonight 

John Battle has officially entered the chat

 

It’s always hard to gauge whenever a Virginia school plays a Tennessee school. Since they play a crap ton more games than Va, the TN schools usually are very depleted when they play them and typically throw their worst arms since they don’t mean anything to them, meanwhile the VA school always throws one of their top 2 arms. It was Science Hills 4th game in a week, including two with DB, and have another one scheduled for tomorrow. Battle has always been pretty close to beating them each year and they finally got the job done, still a good win for the program.

[1inStripes]

I wish the VA districts would do similar to what Science Hill and DB done this week.  I know it's different than playing 40+ compared to our 21, but play the same district team in the same week moving forward.  It would lead seeing some different pitching matchups at times and possibly not have as much impact on unbalanced district schedules at times based on who may be playing better than someone else on a given year.

[Stelley]

35 minutes ago, 1inStripes said:

I wish the VA districts would do similar to what Science Hill and DB done this week.  I know it's different than playing 40+ compared to our 21, but play the same district team in the same week moving forward.  It would lead seeing some different pitching matchups at times and possibly not have as much impact on unbalanced district schedules at times based on who may be playing better than someone else on a given year.

Agreed. All it takes in Class 1 & 2 to have a shot at a title is having 2 legit arms and 1 okay arm due to only playing twice a week, until the tournaments start. Meanwhile at the higher levels you need 4 legit arms and even then you’re not guaranteed anything.

But the only thing I’d like to see most before playing the same district team twice in a week is making every postseason matchup a series.