Week 1 baseball thoughts
Play ball.
It’s hard to believe that the first official week of the 2010 high school baseball season has been completed. The brisk local weather hardly makes it feel like it’s time to play some baseball, but it’s March in Utah so what else would you expect?
I’m looking forward to another season of covering high school baseball. I watched my first game on Friday. It was supposed to be an early season showdown between Spanish Fork and Cottonwood, but the Dons just hammered the Colts.
Spanish Fork looked to be in midseason form, which was a surprise to Dons coach Jim “Shoe” Nelson. He wasn’t entirely pleased with how his team looked in practice so far this season, but he couldn’t have been happier with how it played against the Colts.
Nelson pointed out that the Dons are not eight runs better than Cottonwood by any stretch of the imagination. But the funny thing (OK, maybe you had to be there) was that both Nelson and Colts coach Jon Hoover said the same thing in separate interviews following the game: they were eight runs better on Friday.
I will have a statewide baseball preview in next Sunday’s paper and on deseretnews.com. Until then and in the days after, I’m going write about each region on this blog — how teams are projected to finish, which players are returning, and what to look for. I’ll start with Region 1 on Monday and work my way through the rest of the leagues.
With that out of the way, here are a few things that stood out to me from the first week of the 2010 season:
–Final thoughts on Spanish Fork and Cottonwood after Friday’s game. I’ll be shocked if there’s a better team in the state than the Dons. They have pitching depth as always, the top shutdown pitcher in the state in Adam Duke, and a solid No. 2 in James Lengal. No disrespect to the rest of 4A, but it’s too bad Spanish Fork isn’t in 5A for one more season.
As far as the Colts go, I wouldn’t go and kick any dirt on them just yet. They had an off day, but still feature plenty of talent. Hoover was displeased with how passive they were at the plate, some poor pitching placement in key situations and lack of execution. It’s just a matter of time before Cottonwood gets those things together.
–Teams aren’t supposed to come out crushing the ball in cold Utah weather. Bonneville didn’t get the memo. The Lakers, led by first-year coach Trevor Howell, scored 45 runs in their first three games in wins over Weber, Fremont and Roy. Sam Hall has been on fire, as he had seven RBIs against Weber and blasted a home run against Roy. Bonneville, with five returning starters, looks like a team to watch in 4A.
–Here are two teams I like: Granger and Lehi. Anyone who’s been paying attention the last few years knows that the Lancers are an up-and-coming program under coach Garrett Clark. Granger won a tournament in Mesquite, Nev. over the weekend and will be one of the contenders in Region 2. Lehi earned an impressive nonleague win over Provo in a preseason tournament. The Pioneers face 5A’s top-ranked team, Lone Peak, on Tuesday in a game I think I’ll cover.
–Cyprus coach Bob Fratto is my guy. That’s just how it is. I think I’m going to have to give him a new nickname though, as he’s starting to remind me of a guy that used to coach a certain college football team we both like. In honor of Lou Holtz, Fratto may be the new “Sandbagger.” All I’ve heard from him is how he returns no starters this season, it’s going to be a struggle to make the state tournament, baseball might be outlawed in Magna, etc., etc.
Well, the Pirates got off to a nice start, beating Judge and Fremont to open 2-0. Cyprus might not have much varsity experience, but you know it will be scrappy and play hard as usual. Not even the Sandbagger can dispute that.
–Region 4 has gotten a lot of hype about how strong it is in various sports this school year. You’re probably tired of reading about it. I’m probably tired of reading and writing about it. But I have to admit the league looks awfully tough in baseball. Lone Peak is ranked No. 1. The Knights, Jordan and Alta look like they can score runs with anyone. Pleasant Grove, Brighton and American Fork are also quality clubs, and Hillcrest is no pushover. In the first week of the season, Region 4 went 10-2 against nonleague opponents.
It’s way too early in the season to determine how the various regions stack up against each other in 5A. But for now, we know that Region 2 looks good as it went 11-2 in the first week. Region 3 didn’t play much in the first week, and Region 1 didn’t win much, going 4-11.
–Some players to highlight from Week 1: Canyon View’s Kameron King (3-for-3, 5 RBIs against Del Sol, Nev.); Rowland Hall’s Peter Shipman (a HR, two RBIs, pitching win in 3-2 victory over South Sevier, nine strikeouts in four innings in a 5-4 win over Millard); Jordan’s Reggie Jones (four doubles and a home run in two games); Skyline’s Casey Gerves (one-hit allowed in six innings pitched against Clearfield); South Summit’s Denver Hansen (double, home run, winning pitcher against Ben Lomond).
–Our first top 20 of the season will be posted late Monday. It feels like mission impossible trying to put the rankings together this early in the season. How would you rank them?
–What else happened in the first week of the season? What did I miss? Any surprises or disappointments?