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Thursday |
JOHNSON COUNTY LONGHORN BASEBALL |
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NEWS
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BallCharts.com/jchsbaseball |
Attendance:
Mountain City
TN
USA
| Posted May 19/12 - "Harder than it looked 10-1 win" | |||||||||
| The Warriors earned a return trip to Murfreesboro on Friday night at CAK with a harder-than-it-looked 10-1 win over Johnson County in the state sectionals. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/may/19/cak-overcomes-slow-start-against-johnson-county/ |
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| Posted May 19/12 - Historic Season | |||||||||
| The most successful postseason run in school history started in the regular season. *We beat Unicoi County on April 17th for the first time since 2006 and only the second time in school history-Box Score *We beat the Sullivan East Patriots for the first time since they joined the Three Rivers Conferene in 2010 on Monday, April 30th, dropping them from a District 1 AA Tournament first round bye as the #2 seed, to having to play in the first round as the #3 seed-Box Score. *We beat the Sullivan North Raiders in the opening round of the District 1 AA Tournament on Friday, May 4th, behind a tremendous outing from right handed pitcher, Harley Reece, who we started over staff ace, Ryan Mahala (saving him), and a two out, two strike, extra innings double by senior second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, down the right field line, scoring Jacob Henson and River Cazire, who both reached on errors (hey, sometimes you need a little luck). Box Score *The next day, Saturday, May 5th, we beat the #1 seed, regular season champion, Elizabethton Cyclones, behind a dominant pitching performance from Mahala, three first inning runs, and some great defense at shortstop from Judd Hammons and first base from Daniel Helm. Box Score *The next day, Sunday, May 6th, we beat the Unicoi Couny Blue Devils for the third time in school history and the second time in 2012, behind a gutsy start from Reece on one day of rest, and a gutsy relief appearance from Mahala, on no rest! Box Score This game advanced us to the District 1 AA Tournament Championshp and a Region 1 AA Semifinal game. *After we dropped two games to the Unicoi County Blue Devils to finish second in the District 1 AA Tournament for only the third time in school history, we had to travel to the District 2 champion, Greeneville Greene Devils, who had beat Sullivan East (2010) and the Elizabethton Cyclones (2011) in a region semifinal game the previous two years. We left Greeneville with a 5-1 win and a trip to the Region 1 championship and a sectional game. This was the first region win in school history. Box Score *More to come............. |
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| Posted May 17/12 - Sectional Game | |||||||||
| JCHS Baseball will travel to Christian Academy of Knoxville (CAK) tomorrow, Friday, May 18th, to play for a trip to the state tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 PM. | |||||||||
| Posted May 16/12 - 2nd Place Regional Finish | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns finished second to the Unicoi County Blue Devils in the Region 1 Region, just as they did in the District 1 AA Tournament. The regional championship loss sends us to Christian Academy of Knoxville for a sectional game, with a state tournament birth on the line. CAK defeated Pigeon Forge to host a sectional game. More information will be provided as it becomes available. The latest 2012 TSSAA DIVISION I CLASS AA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT bracket: http://www.tssaa.org/2011Champions/StateBaseball/ClassAA/Region.pdf |
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| Posted May 16/12 - Regional Tournament Bracket | |||||||||
| 2012 TSSAA Division I Class AA Region Baseball Tournament: http://www.tssaa.org/2011Champions/StateBaseball/ClassAA/Region.htm |
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| Posted May 15/12 - JCHS Makes School History | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns made school history on Tuesday, May 15th, as we won a Region 1 Regional Semifinals game for the first time in school history, in this, only our third appearance in a regional game. Our 5-1 win over the District 2 champion, Greeneville Greene Devils sends us to Unicoi County on Wednesday, for our seventh meeting of the year with the Blue Devils. First pitch in the regional final game will be at 6:00. The winner will host a sectional game on Friday and the loser will travel for a sectional game on Friday, for a birth in the "Spring Fling" state tournament. | |||||||||
| Posted May 14/12 - May 14/12 | |||||||||
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The Region 1 Semifinal game between District 1 runner up, JCHS and the District 2 champion, Greeneville Greene Devils was washed out on Monday, May 14th. We will try again, today, Tuesday, May 15th. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM. The winner will travel to Unicoi County on Wednesday, May 16th to play in the Region 1 Championship. The winner of that game will host a sectional game on Friday, May 18th to earn an appearance in the “Spring Fling” State Tournament, beginning on Tuesday, May 22nd. The loser of the regional championship will travel for a sectional game on Friday. Other than the regional championship game, all games from here on out are single elimination, meaning if JCHS does not win at Greeneville on Tuesday night, our 2012 season will be over!! The Region 1 Regional Semifinal will be carried live on 1390 AM WMCT and www.wmctradio.net. |
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| Posted May 12/12 - District 1 AA All Tournament Team | |||||||||
| District 1 AA All Tournament Team MVP-Jonathan Davis-Unicoi County Blue Devils Unicoi County Blue Devils-Austin Green, Timmy Graham, Ryan Lingerfelt Johnson County Longhorns-Harley Reece, Judd Hammons, Ryan Mahala Elizabethton Cyclones-Wes Montgomery, Anthony Ward Sullivan East Patriots-Aaron Boiling, Austin Glover Sullivan North-Cory Rowe Happy Valley Warriors-Justin Reagan *Courtesy of the Johnson City Press |
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| Posted May 11/12 - JCHS Finishes Second In District 1 AA Touranment | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns battled and competed, but fell short to the Unicoi County Blue Devils by the score of 5-3 in the District 1 AA Tournament championship elimination game. The Longhorns will now travel to Greeneville High, Hardin Park/Alexander Field, to play the District 2 AA champion, Greeneville Greene Devils on Monday. We will have more information as it becomes available. Juniors, Judd Hammons and Ryan Mahala and senior, Harley Reece, made the District 1 AA All Tournament Team. |
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| Posted May 11/12 - May 11/12 | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns and Unicoi County Blue Devils are in the final game of the District 1 AA Tournament today at Anglin Field on the campus of Milligan College. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00. The winner will host a Regional championship game on Wednesday. The loser travels to the District 2 champion, Greeneville Greene Devils on Monday in a Regional semifinal game. Tonight's District 1 AA Championship Game will be broadcast live on http://www.wmctradio.net/ |
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| Posted May 10/12 - Postseason Madness | |||||||||
| If the Johnson County Longhorns win the District 1 AA Championship over the Unicoi County Blue Devils, we will host the Regional Championship game in Johnson County on Wednesday. The following article explains why: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Sports/article.php?id=100203 Today's District 1 AA Championship Game will be broadcast live on http://www.wmctradio.net/ JCHS Longhorns get a mention in the Elizabethton Star. |
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| Posted May 6/12 - JCHS Wins Again | |||||||||
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In 1993 the Johnson County Longhorn Baseball club advanced to the District 1 AA Tournament championship game, losing to eventual champion Unicoi County. On Sunday, May 6th, 2012, the JCHS Longhorns advanced to the regional tournament for the second time in school history; this time beating the Unicoi County Blue Devils by the score of 2-1. Harley Reece, starting on the mound on only one day of rest, pitched into the 6th inning, before giving way to ace, Ryan Mahala, who came in after throwing a seven inning complete game on Saturday against the Elizabethton Cyclones. Reece was charged with only one run in his 5 1/3 innings of work. He kept UCHS off balance with a knuckleballs and curveballs, mixing in enough fastballs to keep the Blue Devils honest. Mahala did what Mahala does, and that's strike batters out. The big right hander struck out 5 in his 2 and 2/3 innings of gutsy relief work. Here are more highlights: |
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| Posted May 5/12 - JCHS Is One Win Away From A Regional Birth | |||||||||
| From the Johnson City Press | |||||||||
| Posted May 5/12 - JCHS Wins Thriller In District 1 AA Tournament Opener | |||||||||
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Earning the #4 seed outright and getting the last at-bat as the home team on the scoreboard proved to be crucial for JCHS on Friday, May 4th in the District 1 AA Tournament opening game. In the bottom half of the 8th inning centerfielder, Jacob Henson, and right fielder, River Cazire reached on errors by the Sullivan North shorstop. Chad Hodgkiss came to the plate with one out, but quickly fell behind the North pitcher, West. With two strikes Hodgkiss laced a single that hugged the right field line, scoring Henson from second and River Cazire all the way from first base, for a walkoff Johnson County postseason win. Senior, Harley Reece, started the game on the bump for Johnson County and pitched into extra innings. Reece surrendered only one earned run through his eight innings of work to improve his record to 3-0 on the year. Today, Saturday, May 5th, Johnson County will throw right hander, Ryan Mahala against the #1 seed Elizabethton Cyclones. First pitch is schedule for 1:00 at Anglin Field. |
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| Posted May 4/12 - Longhorns Have Offensive Explosion on Senior Night | |||||||||
| A 24-0 JCHS win was sure to boost some offensive statistics. Here is the boxscore from Thursday's game: Senior Night Boxscore. The list below shows how much batting averages and other offensive statistics increased after the win vs. the Cloudland Highlanders: *Second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, raised his season batting average from .241 to .274. He raised his on base percentage from .333 to .357. *Senior, Andy Stout, raised his average from .276 to .323. His RBI total more than doubled, as entering yesterday's game he had knocked in four runs on the season. As of today, Friday, May 4th, Stout now has nine RBI on the year. *Daniel Helm finished the 2012 regular season with an amazing .457 batting average. The first baseman also hit his second triple of the year and knocked in his 22nd run. *Big Harley Reece added to his run production numbers vs. Cloudland, as he hit his fourth 2012 home run and knocked in his 20th, 21st, and 22nd runs of the season. The 22 RBI tied Daniel Helm for the team lead. *Senior night was special for Bobby Taylor. The hard working senior pitched four shutout innings in first career Varsity start, had two hits, and knocked in a Longhorn run. *Junior, Jon Vannoy came a few inches of hitting his second 2012 home run (He hit a JV bomb at Sullivan North), as he hit a pinch hit double that almost cleared the left field wall. |
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| Posted May 3/12 - Senior Night/District 1 AA Tournament | |||||||||
| Tonight, Thursday, May 3rd, we will honor our 2012 Longhorn Baseball senior class. The JV game vs. the Cloudland Highlanders has been cancelled. First pitch for the Varsity game is 4:30, with senior night festivities to follow. *Senior, Bobby Taylor, will be this afternoon's starting pitcher. It will be Taylor's first Varsity career start on the mound. His work ethic and love for the game, and Longhorn Baseball in particular, does not go unnoticed by anyone associated with our baseball progam. He hit over .300 on the 2011 JCHS JV club, including a three double, four RBI performance vs. the Sullivan East JV Patriots. *Senior, Chad Hodgkiss, teamed with shortstop, Judd Hammons, to be the starting middle infield on the 2010 and 2011 JV Longhorn clubs that went a combined 18-10, and the Varsity middle infield during this 2012 season. Hodgkiss has shown a great ability to bunt the baseball for hits with push and drag bunts, and when he is on his game, can hit the ball the other way (opposite field) as well as anyone. *Senior, Andy Stout, has hit over .300 for his Varsity career and had a great 2010 season as the ace pitcher for the JV Longhorn club, including a dominating performance in a complete game win vs. the Unicoi County Blue Devils JV squad. *I would hate to think of where we would be without senior, Dusty Stout. Coming off of an impressive senior basketball season as point guard for Coach Austin Atwood, Dusty has played tremendous outfield defense and got some big hits this season, including three bunt singles in a Three Rivers Conference win at the Sullivan North Raiders. D. Stout has hit .323 for the season. *#23, Harley Reece, has been a run producer in our program since his 2010 sophomore year on the JV club. He did not slow down as a 2011 Varsity starter. Reece has belted six career home runs and hit over .300. Harley has also been pitching the best baseball of his career recently. |
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| Posted May 2/12 - District 1 AA Tournament Information | |||||||||
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JCHS will be the home team in our District 1 AA Tournament opener on Friday afternoon. We, as the #4 seed, will play the #5 seed Sullivan North Raiders at 5:00 PM. A Longhorn victory will send us to play the #1 seed Elizabethton Cyclones on Saturday at 1:00 PM. The District 1 AA Tournament will be held at Milligan College-Anglin Field. |
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| Posted Apr 30/12 - Final 2012 Three Rivers Conference Regular Season Game | |||||||||
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Today, Monday, April 30th is the final Three Rivers Conference regular season baseball game for both the Johnson County Longhorns and the Sullivan East Patriots. It will be JCHS ace, Ryan Mahala, and his 6-1 record (47 Ks in 48 1/3 innings/1.59 ERA) against a very good Patriot baseball club. A Longhorn win would give us seven conference wins, which would equal our final 2011 total, including our two District 1 AA Tournament wins. It would also guarantee our first winning regular season since 2006 (13-13 in 2011). First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 PM. |
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| Posted Apr 29/12 - JV Longhorns Back To .500 | |||||||||
| The JCHS JV Longhorns evened their record at 8-8 on Saturday with a 7-3 win over the University High JV Junior Bucs. Sam Thomas, who has been our best JV pitcher over the last several weeks, improved his record to 5-1 on the season. *Thomas now has a season ERA of 2.42. He pitched five shutout innings on Saturday, striking out six, only walking one batter, and giving up only three hits. Sam also reached base three times on offense, drawing two walks and being hit by a pitch. *Nate Plyler knocked in his team leading sixth and seventh runs of the season on a base hit, scoring designated hitter, Jon Vannoy, and courtesy runner, Judd Hammons (running for Thomas). *First baseman, Jake Sutherland, his his first career triple in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring centerfielder, River Cazire. It was Sutherland's sixth RBI of the season. *Andy Woods, who started the game at third base (with Thomas on the mound), moved to right field (with Judd Hammons on the mound), and pitched (the final 2/3 inning), went 2-2, including an RBI sinlge that scored Thomas in the bottom of the fifth. Woods has been one of our best offensive players since the April 9th game at Sullivan North. The JV Longhorns will finish the 2012 season with 17 games played, which may be a school record for JV. It will be the most JV games in the Pete Pavusek era. A win on Thursday vs. the Cloudland Highlanders will give this JV club a winning record. That is very impressive when you consider the details of our season. Our original shortstop, River Cazire, was moved back to the outfield, his natural spot (eventually moving from LF to CF). Our current shortstop, Adam Worley, is a true second baseman (the position he began the season playing). Our current second baseman, Nathaniel Graybeal, has been an outfielder in his JCHS career, before moving to the IF this season. Andy Woods, an outfielder, has filled in at third base when Sam Thomas has pitched. Jon Vannoy has hit in the middle of the order all season, served as our designated hitter, played first base when Jake Sutherland pitched, and pitched himself, has not played since sixth grade. Junior Judd Hammons, has threw bullpens to prepare for pitching in his JCHS career, but has not been called on to pitch often since Little League. Freshman, R.J. Hassett, had not played organized baseball since third or fourth grade. Only one of our freshmen (Harley Stout) played both years of JCMS Baseball. We only have two guys hitting over .300 (Woods/Vannoy). Our leading RBI guy, Nate Plyler, only has seven on the season, and our team ERA is 6.52. I say all of that to say this, this is not a fancy team. This is not a team that is going to wow anyone with statistics. This is a team with players who have been wrote off! This is a team with players that no one would have expected a lot from, but through guts, intensity, hard work, and team play, this 2012 JV Longhorn club has the abiliy to finish with a winning record; a record they should always be proud of! A winning record would not be cheap, as we had big wins at Elizabethton (April 6th), behind a complete game, ten strikeout effort from Hammons, an April 9th win at Sullivan North, and an April 21st win vs. David Crockett. As we look back on JV Longhorn Baseball we will always remember this team as one who came together as a group, united as a team, and gave everything they had! |
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| Posted Apr 25/12 - JCHS Locks Up Fourth Place | |||||||||
| What else can be said about Ryan Mahala that has not already been said during the 2012 season? The big right hander defeated the Sullivan North Raiders for the third time this season, giving JCHS our first three game season sweep of a team since the Three Rivers Conference started playing each team three times in the 2010 season. Mahala is having the best season for a Johnson County pitcher in over a decade, but Tuesday's win was a total team effort. Highlights are below: *Shortstop, Judd Hammons, raised his season batting average to a season high .403. Hammons went 2-2 with two walks, a stolen base (7th of the season) and an RBI. *Mahala threw 106 pitches on the day, with an amazing 73 of them being for strikes. Ryan got ahead in the count 0-1 a staggering 81% of the time. He is also starting to heat back up at the plate, as he recorded a base knock on the afternoon. *Daniel Helm raised his season batting average to .462. The first baseman recorded his first career triple in the bottom of the 5th. He went 3-4 on the day with two runs batted in. *Andy Stout had a base hit on the day from the nine spot in the lineup. *Dusty Stout went 3-4 with 2 RBI. *A contribution that should not be overlooked is the contribution of two reserves and a spot starter in the bottom of the 6th inning. Andy Woods, who went in the game in the top of the 6th as a defensive replacement for Blade Hampton, who started his first career game in right field, to get his bat in the lineup, scorched a base hit to left field with one out. Bobby Taylor, pinch hitting for second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, drew a walk in a tough at-bat. River Cazire, who started in left field for Johnson County, hit a line drive shot to right field to load the bases (Woods, Taylor, Cazire). After an Andy Stout pop out, Judd Hammons drew a bases loaded walk, scoring Woods, for a two out RBI. Dusty Stout then singled to right field to score Taylor from 3B. Our fifth and sixth runs, insurance runs, crossed the plate thanks to contributions from guys stepping up when given the opportunity. *Hodgkiss had a nice push bunt base hit for the home team in the bottom of the second inning. *Jon Vannoy reached base as a pinch hitter in the botton of the 5th and scored the second Longhorn run. Our sixth conference win of the season is one more than we had during the 2011 regular season. We host Sullivan East on Monday, looking to get our seventh conference win of the season. |
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| Posted Apr 24/12 - Where We Stand | |||||||||
| After Monday's loss at the hands of the Elizabethton Cyclones here are the Three Rivers Conference standings: Conference Overall Elizabethton Cyclones 11-1 19-6 Sullivan East Patriots 9-4 17-8 Unicoi County Blue Devils 7-6 11-14 Johnson County Longhorns 5-8 10-9 Sullivan North Raiders 4-9 8-14 Happy Valley Warriors 1-11 2-18 Ryan Mahala will take his 5-1 record to the mound today vs. the Sullivan North Raiders. Unicoi beat Sullivan East on Monday, eliminating our competition for third place with Unicoi in the Three Rivers Conference regular season race because the Blue Devils hold the tiebreaker over us. If the Raiders were to beat us today, Tuesday, April 24th, we would share identical 5-9 conference records with Sullivan North, but we own the tiebreaker because Mahala's two wins agains North (March 20th/April 9th) gave us the season series. In the District 1 AA Tournament the #1 and #2 seeds get a bye (Cyclones and Patriots). The third seed, Unicoi, will play the #6 seed, Happy Valley. For the second consecutive year we will open up with Sullivan North, but this year we would be the home team and have the last at-bat because we will be the higher seed, if things hold up as they are now. A win today would give us six conference wins and give us sole possession of fourth. If we lose today we would have to beat Sullivan East on Monday to finish fourth outright or hope North loses their final conference game next week against Elizabethton. We went into the 2011 District 1 AA Tournament as the #5 seed and lost to North in the opener before eliminating Happy Valley and North, prior to being knocked out by Elizabethton. A win on Tuesday will give us the season sweep of Sullivan North, move us back up to two games over .500, and give us a fourth place record all of our own. Hope to see you at the ballpark today. |
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| Posted Apr 23/12 - Game Still On | |||||||||
| The Varsity Longhorns will host the Elizabethton Cyclones today, with first pitch at 5:00. The JV Longhorn game has been cancelled. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 23/12 - Longhorns Look To Stay Hot Vs. Cyclones | |||||||||
| If weather allows the Johnson County Longhorns will look to continue their streak of good baseball today vs. the Elizabethton Cyclones. JCHS has won four games in a row and five of six overall. This includes three conference (Three Rivers Conference) wins in their last four conference games. The Sullivan Central Cougars had a 12-2 out of conference record coming to Johnson County on Friday afternoon. They were handed their third out of conference loss of the 2012 season at the hands of a career day on the mound from senior, Harley Reece, and some clutch hitting. *Reece threw 101 pitches, with 60 of them being strikes. He threw a first pitch strike 58% of the time. Reece struck out 3 Cougar batters on the day, on his way to collecting his second win of the season and his second complete game. Friday's game was Harley's third consecutive strong pitching performance (at Hampton, at Happy Valley, vs. Central). *First baseman, Daniel Helm had two more hits. He recorded a single, double, knocked in a run, scored two runs, and stole a bag. Helm is hitting .448 on the year. *Designated Hitter, Ryan Mahala, had two hits for the home team, knocking in three runs in the 4-1 Longhorn victory. Ryan raised his season average back over .300, at .302. *Andy Stout has been getting hot for the Longhorns. Stout had a base hit, scored a run, and stole a base. Andy has raised his season batting average to an even .300. *Senior, Bobby Taylor, scored a run for Johnson County off the bench. |
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| Posted Apr 22/12 - JV Longhorns Stun JV David Crockett Pioneers | |||||||||
| Sam Thomas pitched the best baseball of his young career for four innings on Saturday, holding the David Crockett Pioneers to three hits and three runs before tiring in the fifth inning. Thomas struck out four Pioneer batters in the game one win. The JV Longhorns got a little sloppy in a 7-1 game two loss. Highlights are below: *Centerfielder, River Cazire, who has been playing nice defense since being moved to the middle of the outfield, went 2-5 on the day with two runs scored and a stolen base, his seventh stolen base of the JV season. Cazire has a .359 on base percentage on the JV season. *#36, Thomas, earnd his JV leading fourth win of the 2012 season. He also hit his third double. *Catcher, Blade Hampton, who continues to learn and improve on defense, knocked in a run with a two out base hit in the bottom of the third inning in the first game. *Freshman, Harley Stout, had a base knock on the day and made a nice sliding catch in left field. Stout scored his seventh run of the year. *Junior, Andy Woods, went 4-4 on the day. He played third base in game one when Thomas pitched, and his usual left field slot in the second game. Woods stole home and scored a run on the back end of a double steal in the bottom of the fourth in the opening game. Andy raised his season batting average to .375. *Jon Vannoy went 2-2 in the first game of the doubleheader and pitched in relif in both games. Vannoy recorded the final three outs of the win. Jon has now pitched in five games this season and is hitting .333 on the season, receiving most of his at-bats from the designated hitter slot. *Adam Worley, playing shortstop, reached base three times on the day. He walked in the first game and drew another walk and recorded a base hit in game #2. *First baseman, Jake Sutherland, was hit by three pitches on the day. We call balls that hit batters "ugly finders." Sutherland has been hit by eight of those balls this season. The JV Longhorns have a .500 record (7-7) going into Monday's game vs. the Elizabethton Cyclones. |
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| Posted Apr 20/12 - First Pitch Time Change | |||||||||
| Andy Woods will be looking for his second consecutive win on the mound and some revenge against the Sullivan Central Cougars. Woods took a one hitter into the bottom of the 7th at the Cougars, but a win was not to be for Woods and JCHS. Johnson County, coming off of a big win at Unicoi County, has won three games in a row and four of five overall. First pitch has been moved up to 4:00. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you and enjoy Longhorn Baseball. The JV Longhorns will host the David Crockett Pioneers in a doubleheader tomorrow, Saturday, April 21st. First pitch is now scheduled for 1:00. Sam Thomas will take the ball for JCHS in the first game. |
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| Posted Apr 19/12 - JV Schedule Changes | |||||||||
| The JV Longhorns host the David Crockett Pioneers this Saturday in a doubleheader. First pitch will be at 1:00. It was originally scheduled to be a single game with first pitch at 3:00 PM, but the washout on Saturday, March 24th at David Crockett added another home game for the JCHS JV club. Looking ahead, next Saturday, April 28th the JV Longhorns host the University High Jr. Bucs. First pitch has been moved up to 1:00 due to University High having their prom that night. We apologize for any inconvenience. |
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| Posted Apr 18/12 - JCHS Stuns UCHS | |||||||||
| For the second time in school history Johnson County High School has defeated Unicoi County High School on the baseball diamond, with both wins coming at Baxter Field. Ryan Mahala was dominant on Tuesday afternoon! The strong armed right hander threw a complete game shutout, surrendering only six hits, walking three, and striking out eleven Blue Devil batters. Mahala threw 124 pitches and 76% of the time he got ahead in the county with a first pitch strike. Ryan improved his record to 5-1 on the season and an even more impressive 4-1 against Three Rivers Conference teams. *The only JCHS run came when Judd Hammons led off the game with a double down the left field line off of Unicoi starting pitcher, B. Foy. Hammons advanced to third base on a Foy wild pitch and scored when left fielder, Dusty Stout, grounded out to Blue Devil shortstop, G. Whitson. *Unicoi threatened in the bottom of the 7th. H. Goddard singled to right field with one out. The next batter, leadoff hitter, A. Green, hit a shot to the right-center gap. Right fielder, Andy Stout, fielded the ball at the fence and fired it to his cutt-off man, first baseman, Daniel Helm, who hit catcher, Ryan Smith to cut, Goddard, the tying run, at the plate! Green advanced to third base, but there were now two outs. Mahala got catcher, Timy Graham to pop out to Judd Hammons to end the game! *JCHS is now over .500 (9-8) for the first time this season and has won two consecutive Three Rivers Conference games for the first time this season. |
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| Posted Apr 17/12 - Longhorns Earn Fourth Conference Win Of The Season | |||||||||
| JCHS took the season series from the Happy Valley Warriors, outscoring the tribe 21-6 over the final two games, including a 11-5 win on Monday, April 16th. Andy Woods evened his career record up at 6-6 (Varsity & JV) and earned his first career Varsity win. *Baseball is a funny game. Shorstop, Judd Hammons, by his own admission, had a difficult offensive first half of the 2012 season. He is making up for it in the second half. Hammons has 10 hits in his last 15 at-bats, to raise his season average to .385 to go along with a .458 on base percentage, which is second on the club behind Daniel Helm's .509 OBP. Judd has also been playing more consistent defense at the shortstop position. *Daniel Helm went 3-4 with two doubles and 2 RBI, and crossed the plate three times. Helm now has seven doubles and seventeen runs batted in on the year. He is hitting a robust .462. *Slugger, Harley Reece, went 2-4 with a 2B and 2 RBI. Reece leads the ball club with eight doubles and is second with 16 runs batted in. He also pitched three shutout innings of relief out of the bullpen, coming off of his first win of the season last Thursday, April 12th at the Hampton Bulldogs. *Jacob Henson went 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI. He stole two bases and scored a run. *Dusty Stout, Chad Hodgkiss, and Andy Stout all recorded base knocks for Johnson County. Andy Stout had an outfield assist, doubling a runner off second base, and Chad Hodgkiss had an assist from shall RF, doubling a Warrior runner off first base. The Longhorns travel to Unicoi County today for a big regular season baseball game against the Blue Devils. Unicoi is coming off of an 18-3 pounding of the Sullivan North Raiders on Monday evening. A win for JCHS would move the Longhorns one game behind the Blue Devils in the win column in the Three Rivers Conference. Ryan Mahala will be looking for his fifth win of the regular season and fourth conference win. |
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| Posted Apr 15/12 - JCHS Look To Take Season Series Against Happy Valley | |||||||||
| The Longhorns dropped a 13-8 decision at Happy Valley on Opening Day (Mondy, March 12th) and JCHS beat the Warriors by the score of 10-1, behind a strong pitching performance from Ryan Mahala, on Tuesday, March 27th. Today, Monday, April 16th, the visiting Longhorns look to take the season series. Junior, right hander, Andy Woods will be looking for his first win of the 2012 season. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 14/12 - JV Club Drops Frustrating Game | |||||||||
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The JCHS JV Longhorns have dropped five consecutive games to the Unicoi County Blue Devil JV club since sweeping them in a doubleheader at home durng the 2010 season. |
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| Posted Apr 13/12 - JCHS Plays Well At Bulldogs | |||||||||
| Harley Reece hit one of the most impressive home runs you will ever see and earned his first win of the season in a complete game (5 inning game) performance. Below are highlights: *Reece hit an RBI double that appeared to have a chance to go out of the park in the top of the 2nd inning, before hitting a monster 2-run shot in the top of the 4th, for his third home run of the 2012 season and 2nd and 3rd RBI on the day. *Daniel Helm is not a young man of many words, but his play has spoke volumes during the 2012 season. Helm collected two more hits and knocked in three more runs to raise his season batting average to .438 and give him 15 RBI on the year. *Shortstop, Judd Hammons hit his fourth and fifth doubles of the season, against Hampton, to raise his season batting average to .354. *Dusty Stout continued his amazing season. The senior, who had not played baseball since his 2009 freshman year, and not had received a lot of repetition since his 2008 eighth grade season, collected three more hits on Thursday. Stout is now hitting .409 on the year. He also stole three bases vs. the Bulldogs. *Andy Stout, Jacob Henson, and Ryan Smith had a hit apiece for Johnson County, with Henson's being a 2B down the left field line. Smith collected his 3rd RBI of the season. JCHS travels to Cannon-Gouge Park on Monday to play the Warriors of Happy Valley in Three Rivers Conference action. The two teams have split their season series. |
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| Posted Apr 12/12 - Getting It Done | |||||||||
| #12, Daniel Helm and #23, Harley Reece are getting it done against the best teams in the Three Rivers Conference (Sullivan East, Elizabethton, Unicoi County). Helm is hitting .417 (8-17) against the top three conference teams with a HR and 6 RBI. He has hit two doubles against those clubs as well. Harley Reece is hitting . 500 (9-18) against those teams, with 4 RBI and three doubles. |
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| Posted Apr 12/12 - The Road Trip Continues | |||||||||
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The JCHS Longhorns have logged a lot of miles this week, with a trip to Sullivan North on Monday for Varsity and JV Baseball, and then two seperate trips to the Sullivan East Patriots (JV on Tuesday and Varsity on Wednesday). Today, Thursday, April 12th, we travel to the Hampton Bulldogs for Varsity and JV Baseball. Harley Reece will take the ball for the visiting team and sophomore right hander, Sam Thomas, will take the ball for Johnson County in the second game. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. |
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| Posted Apr 11/12 - Road Trip To Sullivan East | |||||||||
| The Varsity Longhorns travel to Sullivan East today to play the Patriots, in a game that was originally scheduled for yesterday, April 10th. Right hander, Andy Woods, will take the ball for the visiting team. Woods, who has pitched solid baseball in his last three starts, is looking for his first win of the 2012 season. #24 has walkd only two batters in his over 20 innings of work this season. The JV Longhorns did not play well against a solid Sullivan East JV baseball club on Tuesday, April 10th, but there was some bright spots that we do not want to ignore. *Nathaniel Graybeal collected his first career JV hit, a double to left field. *Sophomore, Sam Thomas, hit his first JCHS home run, a 2-run shot over the left field wall. *Andy Woods went 2-3 on the afternoon, with a couple of line drive shots to left field. *River Cazire, now playing centerfield, stole two bases, his fifth and sixth stolen bases of the 2012 JV season. The JV Longhorns will next be in action on Thursday, following the Varsity game at the Hampton Bulldogs. |
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| Posted Apr 10/12 - JCHS Sweeps North In Varsity/JV Doubleheader | |||||||||
| The Longhorns earned their third conference win of the 2012 season and second victory over the Sullivan North Raiders this season on Monday, April 9th. Ryan Mahala improved to 4-1 on the season, Judd Hammons batting average soared, and Dusty Stout continues to make up for lost time. Hightlights below: *Ryan Mahala threw 119 pitches, continuing to work deep in games for Johnson County. It was Mahala's fourth complete game (CG) of the season. He got ahead in the county by throwing a first pitch strike 59% of the time. Ryan struck out six Raider batters, against six walks. Mahala has struck out 30 batters in 34 and 1/3 innings on the year. *Shortstop, Judd Hammons batting average has been slowly rising, as he came into Monday's game with a .270 average, but after his 3-3 performance, Hammon's is now hitting .325. He also knocked in this fourth run of the season with a base hit in the top of the 6th. *Dusty Stout continues to impress. He has played nice defense in both corner outfield slots, and on Monday accomplished a rarity, as he recorded three infield base hits on three bunts (two push bunts and a drag bunt). Stout is now hitting a very impressive .389 on the year. *Daniel Helm has been the most consistent Longhorn hitter in 2012. Monday Daniel recorded a base hit, knocked in a run, and scored a run. He is hitting .463 on the season, which has to be one of the highest averages in the Three Rivers Conference. *Third baseman, Harley Reece, hit two doubles and knocked in two runs. It was the sixth double and ninth and tenth runs batted in for Harley. Mahala, Jacob Henson, and Ryan Smith also recorded base knocks for the visiting team. Henson got some needed mound work in the JV game, as Jacob threw 95 pitches, which is far and away his highest pitch count total of the 2012 season. He struck out six Raider JV batters in a complete game win. *Jon Vannoy contined his impressive JV season on Monday, by hitting his first career home run, a 2-run line drive shot, over the left field wall. *Andy Woods (batter) and Judd Hammons (courtesy runner) executed an impressive suicide squeeze in the top of the 5th. *Blade Hampton recorded a 2-run double and continues to show improvement and increased confidence behind the plate. *River Cazire produced two singles, stole two bases, and scored a run in the 8-5 JV Longhorn win. *First baseman, Jake Sutherland, recorded two base hits, to continue his consistent offensive season. *Second baseman, Nathaniel Graybeal, drew two walks and is looking more and more comfortable at his new second base position. |
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| Posted Apr 10/12 - Schedule Changes | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns will now travel to Sullivan East tomorrow, Wednesday, April 11th. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00. The JV Longhorns do travel to the Sullivan East Patriots today, Tuesday, April 10th, with first pitch scheduled for 5:00 PM. Judd Hammons, coming off of a strong start at the Elizabethton Cyclones, will take the ball for JCHS. The Varsity schedule change was made due to first baseman, Daniel Helm, and centerfielder, Jacob Henson, having a National Honor Society ceremony to attend today at JCHS. Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your support of Longhorn Baseball. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 8/12 - JCHS To Travel To Sullivan North | |||||||||
| JCHS Baseball will travel to the Sullivan North Raiders on Monday, April 9th. Ryan Mahala will be on the rubber for the Longhorns, looking to win his third conference game of the season and fourth overall. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. Jacob Henson will come down and make an emergency start for the JV Longhorns. Judd Hammons threw 118 pitches in a seven inning complete game win on Friday at Elizabethton (striking out 10 Cyclone batters in the process), so he will only be on two days rest on Monday (Saturday and Sunday), and Sam Thomas and Jake Sutherland started in the doubleheader vs. the Unicoi County JV club on Saturdy. Henson will come down and get some work in and help the JV club out in the process. Hammons will start on three days rest on Tuesday at Sullivan East. The JCHS JV club has some neat success stories through the first eight games of the 2012 season. Junior, Jon Vannoy, who has not played the game since Little League, is leading the team with a .313 batting average. Freshman, Nate Plyler, who played sparingly for the JCMS Longhorns, is leading the team in runs batted in and R.J. Hassett, who also had not played the game since Little League, is turning into dependable base runner. |
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| Posted Apr 7/12 - Busy Weekend For JCHS Baseball | |||||||||
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School may have not been in session in Johnson County, but JCHS Baseball was in full swing on Friday and the JV Longhorns came back for a home doubleheader vs. the Unicoi County Blue Devils JV squad on Saturday. Box scores are available for each game and the season statistics are updated. Longhorn Baseball wishes each of you a blessed Easter holiday. |
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| Posted Apr 5/12 - Feedback | |||||||||
| I want to encourage feedback, opinions, and insight from our fans using our feedback tab, second from the bottom on the left. The last post was March 15th, 2011. We encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to be heard in a professional, classy manner. Thanks. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 5/12 - JCHS Falls To Unicoi County | |||||||||
| All you can ask out of your starting pitcher is to give you a chance to win. Ryan Mahala pitched well enough to win on Wednesday April 4th. The righthander threw his 3rd complete game of the 2012 season. Here are the highlights: *Mahala threw 115 pitches (68 for strikes) in his complete game effort. He struck out 5, against 4 walks. Mahala is now 3-1 on the season. He also hit his 4th double off the year, a gap shot to left-center. *First baseman, Daniel Helm, hit his 5th double of the season and raised his season batting average to .472. In should not go without notice that Helm always displays a team first attitude and goes about his business in a professional manner. *Jacob Henson also hit his 5th double of the 2012 season in the bottom of the 5th, scoring Judd Hammons, who led off the inning with a 2B. Henson is hitting .378 on the season, with a .465 on base percentage. He has a 3B, HR, 6 2B, 6 SB, 11 RBI, and has scored 15 runs, for a nice overall offensive season up to this point. *Shortstop, Judd Hammons hit his 3rd double of the year, the 4th hit by JCHS batters on the afternoon. *Dusty Stout recorded a base hit in the bottom of the 7th and previously contributed with a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 3rd, moving over Bobby Taylor, courtesy runner for catcher, Ryan Smith. *Smith went 2-3 at the dish, raising his season average to .267 in 15 at-bats. We will travel to Elizabethton tomorrow to play the Cyclones. This game is scheduled because of our being washed out Tuesday night at Elizabethton. First pitch is schedule for 12:00 noon. Andy Woods, who only threw 36 pitches on Tuesday, will once again take the ball for the Longhorns. The JV Longhorns will follow. Judd Hammons will be on the rubber for Johnson County. I want to take the time to thank our parents and fans. We have some of the most supportive parents in Northeast Tennessee. If you agree or disagree with the decisions that are made, you remain supportive and conduct yourself in a first class manner. You are to be commended for that. Thank you. |
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| Posted Apr 3/12 - Game Called Due To Inclement Weather | |||||||||
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JCHS junior right hander, Andy Woods, was locked into a pitching duel with Elizabethton Cyclone hurler, Wes Montgomery, when the game was delayed due to lightning, and later called because of rain. Elizabethton had a 1-0 lead, while the Longhorn defense had one out in the top of the 4th, when home plate umpire, Adam Knobloch spotted the lightning. We are working on rescheduling this Three Rivers Conference baseball game and the JV Longhorn game that was to follow. |
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| Posted Apr 3/12 - Tentative Lineups | |||||||||
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The tentative lineups for today's JCHS Baseball games are: |
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| Posted Apr 2/12 - Rescheduled | |||||||||
| Today's postponement vs. the Unicoi County Blue Devils has been moved to this Wednesday. We normally do not play on Wednesday, and Unicoi County normally schedules their first pitch for 5:00. However, we will play at 4:00 this Wednesday, April 4th. Tomorrow we travel to the Elizabethton Cyclones at Joe O'Brien Field (home of the Elizabethton Twins minor league club). Junior, Andy Woods, who has pitched well in his last two starts, will take the ball tomorrow at the Cyclones, and Junior, Ryan Mahala, will take the ball on Wednesday vs. the Blue Devils. The JV JCHS Longhorns will travel to the Elizabethton Cyclones tomorrow. Junior, Judd Hammons, who pitched in tough luck his last time out, vs. the Sullivan East Patriots JV club, will take the ball for the visiting team. |
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| Posted Apr 2/12 - Postponement | |||||||||
| Today's game vs. the Unicoi County Blue Devils has been postponed due to inclement weather. We are in the process of rescheduling this Three Rivers Conference baseball game. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 30/12 - Varsity & JV Longhorns Put Up Big Offensive Numbers | |||||||||
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JCHS Baseball offensive statistics went up on Thursday afternoon for both the Varsity and JV Longhorns. Jacob Henson hit a grad slam, Harley Reece homered for the second consecutive game, and sophomore, Blade Hampton, hit a home run in his first career Varsity plate appearance. Here is a link to the box score for all the details: http://www.ballcharts.com/teams/game.php?team=jchsbaseball&gameid=141. The JV statistics are also uploaded from Thursday's game: /teams/game.php?team=jchsbaseball&gameid=183&league_game=0 |
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| Posted Mar 29/12 - Longhorns Travel Travel To Cloudland | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns travel to Cloudland High School today to play the Highlanders. Senior right hander, Harley Reece, will be on the bump for the visiting team. Many players enjoy playing at Cloudland because their short fence makes home runs a realisitc possibility, even for players who are not known for power potential. Some recent highlights from games at Cloudland would be 2010 graduate, Cody Greer, hitting his first career home run during his 2010 senior season and his dad, Rick, going through the thicket of briers behind the OF fence to retrieve the home run ball. 2011 Graduate, Danny Herman, hit 6 home runs in his JCHS career, including a game tieing 3-run long ball at home vs. the Unicoi Blue Devils during the 2011 season, and an opposite field shot vs. the Sullivan North Raiders at Milligan College (Anglin Field) in the 2011 District 1 AA Tournament. Four of Herman's career bombs came at Cloudland High, as Danny had two multiple home run games at the Highlanders (2010/2011 seasons). First pitch is at 4:30 today, as we wait for the offensive fireworks to begin!! Thank you for your support of JCHS Longhorn Baseball. The JV Longhorns will play following the Varsity game, looking for their 3rd win of the 2012 season. Sophomore lefty, Jake Sutherland, will take the ball for the JV club. Freshman, Adam Worley, will be making his season debut at the shortstop position. |
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| Posted Mar 28/12 - Longhorns Even Season Series With Warriors | |||||||||
| Junior right handed pitcher, Ryan Mahala, was very good last Tuesday, March 20th vs. the Sullivan North Raiders. Yesterday, Tuesday, March 27th, Mahala was dominant. He struck out nine Warrior batters against only two walks, and allowed only three hits. The offense was powered by third baseman, Harley Reece and shorstop, Judd Hammons, as they both hit home runs over the left field wall. Below are more highlights: *It was the first 2012 home run for Harley Reece and 4th of his JCHS career. Reece also added a single on the afternoon, to go along with his 2-run bomb. *The home run for Hammons was his first career JCHS long ball. Hammons almost hit a second home run in the game, pulling a long foul ball over the left field fence. He also added a 2B (double) and a stolen base (4th of the season) on the afternoon. *Centerfielder, Jacob Henson, went 2-4 and stole his 6th base of the 2012 season. Henson hit two doubles and knocked in 3 Longhorn runs. Jacob is putting together a nice all around season. http://www.ballcharts.com/teams/player.php?team=jchsbaseball&playerid=30&getteam=0 *Mahala improved his season record to 3-0. Ryan threw 103 pitches on the afternoon, 67 of them for strikes. He threw first pitch strikes 77% of the game on Monday afternoon. *Senior, Dusty Stout, contributed two hits on the afternoon, including a drag bunt for a hit. *Left fielder, Andy Stout, also added a hit and a stolen base for JCHS. *Junior, River Cazire, scored two runs as a courtesy runner. *Senior second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, also added two runs for the home team. We will travel to Roan Mountain tomorrow, Thursday, March 29th, to battle the Cloudland Highlanders. |
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| Posted Mar 27/12 - JCHS Drops Conference Game To Sullivan East | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns had a 3-2 lead on Monday vs. the Sullivan East Patriots until the top of the 5th inning, behind an RBI 1B from first baseman, Daniel Helm, and an 2 RBI 2B off of the bat of Harley Reece, who played third base on Monday afternoon. Unfortunately these Longhorn runs came in the bottom of the 1st inning and Sullivan East ace, Aaron Boiling, settled down and surrendered only three JCHS base runners the rest of the way in a 9-3 JCHS loss. Below are some highlights: *Daniel Helm now has 10 RBI through the first eight games of the 2012 season, consistently hitting the ball hard and playing very good first base defense. *Andy Woods is proving he can give us as a chance to win on the Varsity level when he is on the mound. He has zero walks in his two Varsity starts this season, and his changeup and curveball have been very effective. *Jacob Henson had a base knock and stole two bases on Monday vs. East. *Reece's RBI double was his 4th of the 2012 season, tieing Helm for the team lead. *Andy Stout displayed a good curveball and a good sinker in this 7th inning relief appearance. *Junior catcher, Ryan Smith, has improved his release time and accuracy on his throws from the catcher position. He threw out a Patriot runner at 2B on Monday afternoon. Today, Tuesday, March 27th is a new day and another Three Rivers Conference baseball game. The Happy Valley Warriors, coming off of a 4-1 loss to Unicoi on Monday evening, come to Johnson County today. The Warriors defeated us by the score of 13-8 on Opening Day. Ryan Mahala pitched very well in defeating Sullivan North last Tuesday. We are expecting him to do the same today vs. the Warriors. First pitch has been moved up to 4:00 pm. |
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| Posted Mar 25/12 - JV Schedule | |||||||||
| The JV JCHS Longhorns will not be playing this Tuesday, March 27th vs. the Happy Valley Warriors, but they will be playing this Thursday, March 29th at the Cloudland Highlanders following the Varsity game. The majority, if not all, of Happy Valley's underclassmen pitchers pitch for their Varsity club. Because of this they are playing a limited JV schedule. The JV Longhorns will open the week vs. the Sullivan East Patriots on Monday. Right handed pitcher, Judd Hammons, will be toeing the rubber for the JV Longhorns. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 25/12 - Tough, Tough Loss For JCHS | |||||||||
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Sullivan Central High School has been a place the Johnson County Longhorns have not played good baseball at in the last several years. For six innings on Friday, that changed. After six innings Andy Woods had given up only two hits and surrendered only 1 run (unearned). Unfortunately high school baseball games are 7 inning affairs. The Cougars exploded for six hits and five runs in the bottom of the 7th to earn a walk off win. I told the players not to let the last inning take away from the good baseball they played the first six innings, but it was a tough, tough loss. Here are some highlights: |
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| Posted Mar 24/12 - Schedule Change | |||||||||
| Today's JV JCHS road game at the David Crockett Pioneers was postponed due to inclement weather. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader at home on Saturday, April 21st. The first pitch of the first game has been moved up tentatively from 3:00 pm to 1:00 pm, with the first pitch of the second game to be at 4:00 pm. Stay tuned to www.ballcharts.com/jchsbaseball, the offical home of Longhorn Baseball, for more schedule changes. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 23/12 - JCHS Get Well Earned Win At Holston | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns earned consecutive wins for the first time this season. All of our Varsity wins this seasonhave been of the come from behind variety. *Andy Stout recorded his first win of the 2012 season on Thursday at the Holston Cavaliers. Stout surrendered 4 runs (3 earned) in the bottom of the 1st, but settled down and pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball after that in his 121 pitch effort. He also collected two hits on the day and reached base a total of three times. *Harley Race, who started the game as the designated hitter, came in to record the final two outs to collect his first career save. *We are hoping Thursday proves to be the day that got Judd Hammons going, as the shortstop reached base three times, including a two run double in the left-center gap in the top of the 5th that put us up by the score of 5-4. *Ryan Mahala continued his stretch of good baseball. The junior RHP/3B/OF reached based twice, with a 1B and a BB, and scored 2 runs for the visiting Longhorns. Mahala also stole a base. *Dusty Stout, who caught and played the OF, before returning to the catcher position, had a hit on the day an scored two runs. Stout was also hit by a pitch (HBP). *Jacob Henson, back in the three hole in the batting order, hit a double in the right-center gap in the top of the 4th, which collected him an RBI. The JCHS Longhorns travel to the Sullivan Central Cougars today for our fourth Varsity baseball game this week. We have struggled at Central in recent years (run ruled in 5 innings in 2011), but look to change that today. Junior, Andy Woods, will be making his first start of the 2012 season and first career Varsity start. Woods went 5-1 as a starter on the 2011 JV Longhorn club. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 pm. |
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| Posted Mar 22/12 - JCHS Travels To Holston, VA | |||||||||
| The JCHS Longhorns are out of conference today and tomorrow, as they travel to the Holston Cavaliers today, with first pitch at 5:00, and travel to the Sullivan Central Courgars tomorrow, with first pitch also being at 5:00. Opening day starter, Andy Stout, will take the ball today for the Longhorns and Andy Woods will toe the rubber at Sullivan Central. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 21/12 - JCHS Wins First Conference Game Behind Mahala's Quality Effort | |||||||||
| If the JCHS Longhorns play quality baseball for the remainder of the 2012 season, we may look back at Tuesday, March 20th as the day that jump started that quality ball. Here are some highlights and notes: *Ryan Mahala improved to 2-0 on the season, throwing 111 pitches (69 for strikes) in a complete game effort. Mahala pounded Sullivan North Raider batters with fastballs, striking out five in the process. He also went 2-3 at the plate, with a double. *Daniel Helm continues to be the offensive force we have always believed he has the ability to be. The big 1B went 2-3 with a double and gave the Longhorns the win on sacrifice fly to left field that scored Judd Hammons. *Speaking of Hammons, he led off the bottom of the 7th with a single past the Raider shortstop, recorded a stolen baseball, and advanced to 3B on a Jacob Henson sacrifice fly, before tagging up and scoring on Helm's deep fly ball. *Dusty Stout had the first two hit game of his JCHS Varsity career while starting the game at catcher, before moving to right field after getting his throwing hand banged up behind the dish. D. Stout scored a run as well. *Jacob Henson recorded a base hit and scored after stealing 2B when the throw from the catcher went deep into the OF. *Sam Thomas had a base knock for the home team, while Andy Stout drew a walk. The JV Longhorns recorded their second win of the young 2012 season, defeating the Holston Cavaliers by the score of 12-2. Sam Thomas did not surrender a hit over his five innings of work. |
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| Posted Mar 20/12 - Tuesday, March 19th vs the Elizabethton Cyclones | |||||||||
| Tuesday, March 19th was tough day for JCHS Baseball. The Elizabethton Cyclones have a good baseball club, but there were some bright spots for the home team. *Harley Reece went 3-4 with 2 doubles (2B), a run scored (R), and a run batted in (RBI) *Daniel Helm continued his hot start to his junior season, as he went 2-3 with a 2B and 3 RBI *Jacob Henson continued his nice offensive season as well. The junior went 2-3, scoring two runs. *Seniors, Chad Hodgkiss and Andy Stout both had base hits for Johnson County. Hodgkiss put together several good at-bats on the day. Today is a new day. Sullivan North comes to town for Three Rivers Conference play. Junior, Ryan Mahala, will take the ball for Johnson County. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. The JV Longhorns will be in action following the Varsity game, against the Holston Cavaliers JV club. Sophomore, Sam Thomas will take the ball for the JCHS JV club. The JV Longhorns dropped a 7-2 decision to Elizabethton on Tuesday night. *JV pitcher, Judd Hammons, pitched 4 2/3 innings of quality relif, surrendering only 1 hit, while striking out 6 Cyclone batters. *Number three hitter, Sam Thomas hit two doubles and hit the ball on the money flying out to centerfield. *Starting pitcher, Jake Sutherland, hit a double. Courtesy runner, Hammons, scored on a Thomas 2B. *Freshman, Nate Plyler, scored his first career JCHS run, pinch running for Thomas in the bottom of the 6th. *Freshman, Harley Stout continues to show the ability to put the bat on the ball, as he squared two balls up on Tuesday night, in lining out to center and flying out to right field. |
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| Posted Mar 19/12 - JV Game Added To Schedule | |||||||||
| The JV Longhorn game vs. the Sullivan North Raiders scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, March 20th, has been cancelled, but we have scheduled the Holston Cavaliers JV club to come up for JV action tomorrow following the Varsity game vs. Sullivan North. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 19/12 - Two Tough Three Rivers Conference Games to Open the Week | |||||||||
| The Elizabethton Cyclones travel to Johnson County today to play the JCHS Longhorns. The Cyclones opened their conference season last week with a 3-1 loss to Sullivan East and a 6-1 win vs. the Happy Valley Warriors. Johnson County is coming off of a come from behind win this past Thursday against a much improved Hampton Bulldog club. The Longhorns trailed 5-1 in the 3rd inning, but eventually evened the score at 5 runs apiece in the bottom of the 5th on a Jacob Henson solo bomb over the left field wall. Senior, Andy Stout, gave the home team the lead with a single in the bottom of the 6th, scoring senior second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, who singled to get aboard. Junior, Ryan Mahala, threw five hitless innings for Johnson County. Mahala has surrendered only one hit in 6 and 2/3 innings in this early season. First pitch is scheduled for a 5:00. Jacob Henson will be taking the ball for the Longhorns. A JV Longhorn game to follow. Sophomore, Jake Sutherland, will be taking the ball for the JV JCHS Longhorns. The JV club opened their season with a 10-4 win vs. Hampton on Thursday night. Sophomore, Sam Thomas, earned the win, pitching three innings of solid baseball in the five inning game. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 15/12 - Home Opener & Schedule Change | |||||||||
| Sullivan North has postponed the JV game scheduled for this coming Tuesday, March 20th, due to the fact that their varsity softball team is traveling here on the same bus as their varsity baseball club. The JV schedule changes are frustrating, as we do try to play as many JCHS Baseball JV games as possible. Today, Thursday, March 15th, is our home opener. The Hampton Bulldogs are coming to town as we look for a much needed first win of the 2012 season. Junior, Ryan Mahala, will be taking the ball for the Longhorns. Sophomore, Sam Thomas, will be taking the mound for the JV Longhorns, following the Varsity game. |
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| Posted Mar 14/12 - A Ball Club Must Play Well To Win At Baxter Field | |||||||||
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Our 0-2 Three Rivers Conference start is not what we anticipated or wanted, but it's where we are at, and we are going to continue to work and pay attention to detail to not let a rough first two days prove to be an indication of the type of season JCHS Baseball is going to have. We appreciate all of your support. |
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| Posted Mar 13/12 - JCHS Longhorns travel to Baxter Field | |||||||||
| JCHS Baseball travels to Baxter Field tonight to do battle with Coach Baxter and his Unicoi County Blue Devils. Junior Lefty, Jacob Henson will take the ball for the Longhorns. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 13/12 - Tough Opening Day Loss | |||||||||
| Notes From Opening Day loss at Cannon-Gouge Park *Junior right handed pitcher, Andy Woods, threw 3 1/3 innings of quality relief, surrendering no earned runs. Woods struck out 2 Warrior batters. *Senior, Bobby Taylor, recorded his first career Varsity RBI with a sac. fly in the top of the 2nd inning. *Senior second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, went 2-3 with two hard line drive opposite field hits. *Junior centerfielder, Jacob Henson, hit his first career Varsity triple, scoring a run on a throwing error that got past the third baseman. Henson scored 2 runs on the afternoon. *Sophomore, Sam Thomas, recorded his first career Varsity hit an RBI, on a pinch hit single in the top of the 7th. *Junior, Jon Vannoy, scored his first career run, after pinch running in the top of the 7th. *Senior, Dusty Stout, earned his first career Varsity hit on a bunt that dropped in front of Happy Valley left hander, Justin Norris. |
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| Posted Mar 12/12 - Opening Day | |||||||||
| The JCHS JV Longhorns will not be opening up today at Happy Valley. The Warriors have cancelled the game. It is Opening Day for our Varsity club. Senior right handed pitcher, Andy Stout, will take the ball for JCHS. Stout is coming off of a strong 4 inning performance in last Thursday's scrimmage win over University High. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. |
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| Posted Mar 9/12 - JCHS Evens Scrimmage Series Vs. University High | |||||||||
| The JCHS Varsity Longhorns evened their two game preseason scrimmage series vs. the University High Juniors Bucs on Thursday, March 8th. Senior right hander, Andy Stout, who was pitching to brother, Dusty Stout, was dominant on the mound in four innings of work. Stout did not give up a hit and had total control of his fastballs (4 and 2 seam), curveball, changeup, and even a sinker. He also delivered a sacrifice fly on offense. Junior centerfielder, Jacob Henson continued his good scrimmage play, as he knocked in the other Longhorn runs with a 2 run single to give Johnson County their 3 runs in the 3-0 win. Henson also pitched two nice innings of middle relief before giving way to senior, Bobby Taylor, who earned the saved by pitching a scoreless 7th inning. JCHS opens up Monday at Cannon-Gouge Park to play the Happy Valley Warriors. *Note-The game was umpired behind the plate by JCHS alum, Michael Reid, who is now a TSSAA Umpire. Longhorn Baseball wishes Michael the best as he begins his umpiring career. |
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| Posted Mar 8/12 - Home Scrimmage Vs. University High | |||||||||
| The Varsity JCHS Longhorns host the University High Junior Bucs in a rematch from Tuesday night, today, Thursday, March 8th. The Longhorns are looking to bounce back from a 6-2 defeat. Senior right hander, Andy Stout, will be taking the ball for Johnson County. First pitch of the final 2012 scrimmage is scheduled for 4:30. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 7/12 - Scrimmage Results | |||||||||
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Scrimmage Scores at the University High Jr. Bucs on March 6th, 2012 |
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| Posted Mar 2/12 - New Scrimmage | |||||||||
| Our Monday, March 5th Varsity scrimmage vs. the Holston Cavaliers has been cancelled, but we have replaced them with a Varsity and JV scrimmage on that same date vs. the Unaka Rangers. First Varsity pitch is scheduled for 4:30. | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 28/12 - Feb 28/12 | |||||||||
| The Varsity and JV JCHS Longhorns won their opening scrimmages vs. the Hampton Bulldogs on Monday, February 27th. The Varsity club won 4-0 behind stellar pitching and good defense. Junior, Ryan Mahala, junior, Andy Woods, Senior, Bobby Taylor, junior lefty, Jacob Henson, and senior, Andy Stout did not allow the Bulldogs to cross the plate. On the JV end, sophomore lefty, Jake Sutherland, sophomore, Sam Thomas, and junior, Judd Hammons shutout the Hampton JV squad over five innings of work. | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 27/12 - First 2012 Varsity & JV Scrimmage | |||||||||
| On a earlier date than most years, today, Monday, February 27th, 2012, the JCHS Longhorns and JV Longhorns will open their scrimmage season at home vs. the Hampton Bulldogs. Look for several pitchers to toe the rubber for both Longhorn clubs, and players to be moved in and out and around with the position changes. Senior right handed pitcher, Harley Reece, will take the ball for JCHS to begin the Varsity game and sophomore left hander, Jake Sutherland, will take the ball for the JV JCHS squad. The first Varsity pitch will be around 4:00, depending on Hampton's ability to arrive quickly. We will have concessions, so grab a hotdog and drink and sit back and enjoy JCHS Baseball!! | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 15/12 - Feb 15/12 | |||||||||
| Correction: The March 5th home scrimmage vs. the Holston Cavaliers has not been cancelled, as was previously reported. We have added a regular season game at Holston on Thursday, March 22nd. | |||||||||
| Posted Jan 19/12 - Premiere Longhorn Baseball | |||||||||
| Our Premiere Longhorn Baseball clinic will be held Saturday, March 3rd, with a backup date of Saturday, March 10th, incase of inclement weather. Information and applications can be printed under the Printable button on the left. | |||||||||
| Posted Jan 10/12 - Another Scrimmage Added | |||||||||
| We have added another home Varsity and JV scrimmage on Monday, February 27th at 4:30 vs. the Hampton Bulldogs. This gives us four Varsity scrimmages and two JV scrimmages. Opening Day is only 62 days away. | |||||||||
| Posted Jan 5/12 - Schedules | |||||||||
| The 2012 Varsity and JV schedules are now uploaded. A home and home against the David Crockett Pioneers is new to the JV schedule in 2012, as well as a JV scrimmage (March 8th vs. University High). | |||||||||
| Posted Dec 27/11 - Baseball Bats | |||||||||
| As of January 1st, 2012 only BBCOR (Batted Ball Coefficient Restitution) bats are allowed across America in high school play. Below is a link to a bbcorbats.com article for you to learn more: http://www.bbcorbats.com/bbcor_blog_files/understanding_bbcor.html |
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| Posted Dec 25/11 - Merry Christmas | |||||||||
| Longhorn Baseball would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Opening day, Monday, March 12th at the Happy Valley Warriors will be here before you know it. | |||||||||
| Posted May 10/11 - Reflection | |||||||||
| The 2011 season is over for Johnson County Longhorn Baseball, as we dropped an elimination game to the Elizabethton Cyclones by the score of 9-3, on Monday, May 9th. Obviously any competitor wants to win the whole thing, but when we step back and look at the 2011 season, there are many things to feel good about. *Improved our overall win total from 9 in 2010 (9-16) to 15 in 2011 (15-15). *Improved our Three Rivers Conference win total to 7 (7-12) in 2011, from 3 (3-12) in 2010. This includes two wins in the District 1 AA Tournament. *The two District 1 AA Tournament wins were the first tournament success our program has experienced sine the 2006 season. *Our Ballpark-Thanks to Sam Icenhour and Iron Mountain Construction, our ballpark once again compares to any in Northeast Tn, especially any baseball program on the AA level. *Our JV Program-The 16 JV games played (10-6) were the most in the Pete Pavusek era. *Fan Support-We had a nice crowd at most home games during the 2011 season. Your support is appreciated. Thank you. |
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| Posted May 9/11 - Longhorns Make It Through The Weekend With A Big Win Vs. North | |||||||||
| The Johnson County Longhorns are making the most noise they have made in postseason play since the 2001 season. After losing to the Sullivan North Raiders by the score of 5-4 on Friday night, Johnson County got some revenge on Sunday night, by eliminating the Raiders from the 2011 District 1 AA Tournament. The Longhorns scored four runs in the top of the 1st on three hits. First baseman, Austin Humphrey, had a 2-run single and starting centerfielder, Sammy Hampton, plated a run with a grounder to the shortstop that scored Sawyer Ward, who was hit by a pitch. Harley Reece knocked in Humphrey with a single. Left fielder, Andy Stout who had three hits in the game, started it all by leading off the game with a single. Sawyer Ward received the start on the mound for the Longhorns and retired Sullivan North in order in the first, but the Raiders touched him up for 4 runs on 4 hits in the 2nd, to tie the game at 4. Sammy Hampton earned the win for Johnson County as the starter on Saturday, but was pulled from that game after only throwing 65 pitches, because the Longhorns had a comfortable lead, in hopes that he would be available in relief if need be on Sunday. That was indeed the case, as Hampton started the top of the 3rd inning on the hill for the Horns. Sawyer Ward went to second base and junior, Chad Hodgkiss, who started at 2B, moved to right field, with starting right fielder, Jacob Henson, shifting over to centerfield. Hampton did not allow Sullivan North to cross the plate during the 3rd, 4th, or 5th innings. Johnson County broke the 4-4 tie on a Hampton double in top of the 5th. Hampton scored Austin Humphrey, who reached with a single, because he was in motion, as Johnson County Head Coach, Pete Pavusek, had given Hampton and Humphrey the hit and run sign. The Longhorns added 3 more runs in the top of the 6th. Shortstop, Judd Hammons, led off the inning with a single. After an out, Andy Stout doubled, advancing Hammons to third base. Mark Jennings then scored Hammons, before a Sawyer Ward single to right field scored both Stout and Jennings, to make the score 8-4. Sullivan North battled back in the bottom half of the 6th with 2 runs of their own to make the score 8-6, Johnson County. The Horns gave Hampton some insurances runs in the top of the 7th, as they scored 2 runs. Catcher, Danny Herman, hit a 380 feet opposite field home run to lead off the top of the inning. It was Herman's 4th blast of the 2011 campaign. After an out, Judd Hammons singled for the second time in the game and then scored on a ball the Sullivan North first baseman could not pick, which gave Johnson County 10 runs on the scoreboard. Sammy Hampton struck out two Raider batters in the bottom of the 7th, including the last out of the game, to advance Johnson County through the weekend. Hampton accomplished the unusual feat of winning a game as a starting pitcher and then coming back the next day and winning in relief. We now play the Elizabethton Cyclones tonight, Monday, May 9th, at 6:00 in another elimination game. The winner of tonight's game is guaranteed no worse than a 3rd place finish in the 2011 District 1 AA Tournament. We hope to see you at Anglin Field. | |||||||||
| Posted May 8/11 - Longhorns Live To Play Another Day In District Tournament | |||||||||
| For the first time since the 2006 season the Johnson County Longhorns have won a District 1 AA Tournament game, as we defeated the Happy Valley Warriors by the score of 9-1 on Saturday night. Sammy Hampton improved to 3-4 on the mound and earned his first career tourney win, as he went 4 and two thirds innings, giving up only 2 hits and 1 earned run. The Longhorns received many good signs on offense. Sawyer Ward busted out of a recent funk with two doubles and an RBI. Ward also stole a bag. Designated hitter, Harley Reece, also hit two doubles and he knocked in three runs for Johnson County. Hampton also hit a two bagger for the Longhorns, to go along with a single. Leadoff hitter, Andy Stout, first baseman, Austin Humphrey, shortstop, Judd Hammons, and yesterday's centerfielder, Jacob Henson, also had base hits for Johnson County. Stout knocked in a run. Ryan Mahala pitched 1 and one third innings of great relief of Hampton. Johnson County will be in the visiting dugout again today in a rematch with the Sullivan North Raiders. North lost a wild 14-13 baseball game to the Sullivan East Patriots on Saturday. Today's loser is finished for the 2011 season and the winner advances to play the Elizabethton Cylcones, who lost a thrilling 4-2 baseball game on Saturday to the Unicoi County Blue Devils, on Monday evening. Sawyer Ward will be taking the ball for Johnson County. Sammy Hampton was pulled from the game early on Saturday night, so he is available in short relief. Nothing compares to postseason baseball. It is now win or go home!!! | |||||||||
| Posted May 6/11 - Horns Drop Tough 5-4 Decision to Raiders | |||||||||
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There is nothing in the game of baseball that compares to postseason play. You can cut the intensity with a knife. Every pitch, play, and at-bat are crucial, because they could be the determining factor in a game that goes a long way towards determining the outcome of your season. We gave our best pither, #25, Mark Jennings, the ball on Friday night and he pitched like an ace pitcher pitches. Jennings surrendered 5 runs (4 earned) in a 6 inning, 103 pitch effort. Sullivan North scored a run in the first after #2, Derek Price, who led the game off with a single, reached 3B on a Johnson County throwing error and then scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield from North Pitcher, #11, Dylan Price. The Longhorns tied the game at 1 in the top of the 2nd when catcher, Danny Herman, doubled to the centerfield fence, scoring centerfielder, Sammy Hampton, who reached on a fielder's choice. Sullivan North scored a run in the bottom of the 2nd to go up 2-1. The scored remained that way in a pitchers duel, until the Raiders scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th to go up 5-1. The Longhorns battled back in the top of the 7th, as a two out double by Mark Jennings started the Longhorn comeback. Jennings then scored on an error by the North third baseman that allowed Sawyer Ward to reach. An Austin Humphrey single gave the Longhorns runners at 1st and 2nd. Sammy Hampton then knocked in Ward and Humphrey on a double of his own, to the right-center gap, to make the score 5-4. Danny Herman, who had already doubled and singled in the game, went down swinging to end the game with Sammy Hampton, who had advanced to third base on a passed ball, stranded as the tying run. Johnson County has to rebound quickly, as we play the Happy Valley Warriors tomorrow at 6:00 in the losers bracket, because the Warriors lost on Friday to the Unicoi County Blue Devils. Sammy Hampton will be on the mound for Johnson County. We hope to see you at Anglin Field on Saturday. |
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| Posted May 6/11 - District 1 AA Tournament Information | |||||||||
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DISTRICT 1 AA TOURNAMENT @ Milligan College (Anglin Field) |
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| Posted May 3/11 - First Pitch Moved Up | |||||||||
| The first pitch of the game this afternoon, Tuesday, May 3rd, at the Elizabethton Cyclones, has been moved up to 4:00 PM. Hope to see you at Joe O'Brien Field as Sammy Hampton will be taking the ball for the Longhorns. | |||||||||
| Posted May 1/11 - Stretch Run | |||||||||
| It has been a whirlwind of a season for the Johnson County Longhorns. We have two solid wins agains the Sullivan North Raiders, a nice win at the Elizabethton Cyclones, and took the Three Rivers Conference leader, Sullivan East Patriots, to extra innings at East, but we also lost to the last place Happy Valley Warriors and were swept in a doubleheader on Friday, April 29th by the single A University High Jr. Buccanneers. University High has a solid ball club in the Watauga Valley Conference, but we do not feel they are a team that we should lose to. We beat the Holston Cavaliers on Thursday, April 7th by the score of 13-8, but only after spotting them an inexcusable 7-0 lead. Obviously all of our big wins list above came with Mark Jennings toeing the rubber for the Longhorns and the frustrating losses came with other pitchers on the mound, but if we are going to win more than one game in the 2011 District 1 AA Tournament, we are going to have to win when someone else is on the bump. Sawyer Ward has proven he can pitch winning baseball, as his three hitter proved on Friday, April 22nd vs. the Sullivan Central Cougars and Sammy Hampton pitched quality baseball in the 2009 and 2010 District 1 AA Tournaments (both vs. Happy Valley), so we have guys who can come up big for us. Our defense has been much improved from the 2010 season, but in some of our losses and especially recently, it has let us down, and our offense, which is a strength of our team, has often struggled to get the big hit with runners in scoring position. We say the season has been a whirlwind because our very mediocore 12-11 overall (5-8 Three Rivers Conference) record could so easily be much, much better. As we begin the last week of the 2011 regular season, we would like to be playing good baseball going into the tournament. We would like to be feeling good about ourselves going into the postseason, because right now, we do not really know what to think or what team to expect to show up at the ballpark. We have the ability to beat anyone on any given day, so hopefully we do finish strong. Hope to see you on the road with us on Monday and Tuesday, and see you at senior night on Thursday. God bless. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 29/11 - Unaka Cancels JV Games | |||||||||
| The Unaka Rangers have just called and cancelled the JV doubleheader here in Johnson County for tomorrow. They are having to play a Varsity game against Daniel Boone High, and like us, many of their Varsity players also play JV. We are scrambling for a last minute replacement. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 29/11 - JV Horns Play Poorly In Loss To East | |||||||||
| Thursday was a tough day for our JV baseball program. We all felt burdened by the loss and devastation of those in our community and the surrounding areas, due to the storms. We left Johnson County for the JV Tournament opener at Elizabethton High School with others on our minds and in our hearts, but knowing we are obligated to give our best every time we step between those white lines. Unfortunately we continued our streak of struggling to put back to back good baseball games together. We were under the impression that we were going to be playing the Sullivan North Raiders, so Andy Woods, who had been pitching great baseball, was going to get the ball. After arriving we realized we were playing the Sullivan East Patriots for the third time this season and second time in five days. It's tough to beat any team three times in one season, but even tougher for one pitcher to beat the same team on three different occasions. Woods would not have been our scheduled starter if we would have known we were going to be playing East. That would have been unfair to him. We did not want to change our starting pitcher at last minute, due to the fact that we like to give our starting pitcher plenty of notice going into a start and we like to stick to a game plan. Andy did not have his best stuff, but five errors that were committed behind him did not help his cause. #24 was pulled with two outs in the third inning. Ryan Mahala, who came on in relief, pitched great baseball. He fastball was strong and his developing curveball, as well as his knuckleball, were enough to keep East batters guessing. Mahala struck out seven Sullivan East Patriots in his 3 2/3 innings of work. He also knocked in a run, walked, and scored twice on offense. Freshman, Tristan Robinson, who was an emergency starter in left field, knocked in two runs on a base hit and scored another on a sacrifice fly, to give him three RBI on the day. First baseman, Daniel Helm, remained hot for Johnson County, as the big first baseman went 3-4 with a double and two runs batted in. Centerfielder, Jacob Henson, also knocked in a run with a single to right field. It was a frustrating loss, because most of our JV team will be playing on the Varsity club exclusively in 2012, and we have to learn to expect to win. We have to learn to demand more out of ourselves. We have to learn that it's not ok to play with intensity and focus one day, and then mentally no show the next. Baseball is a day in and day out grind, and good teams come to play everyday, even when they are not feeling their best or when things are not going their way. It was a tough, tough loss, to a group that were less than gracious winners. The JV Longhorns, who are now 10-6 on the season, host the Unaka Rangers in a doubleheader on Saturday. Jacob Henson will take the ball in game one and Freshman, Jake Suthlerland, will make his first career start in the second game. We hope to see you at the ballpark. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 28/11 - JV Longhorn Info. | |||||||||
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At the Three Rivers Conference varsity baseball coaches meeting in October we agreed to a JV tournament for the dates of April 27th, 28th, and 29th. It was to be a three day, single elimination tournament. The official tournament bracket had a double elimination tournament extending through Tuesday, May 3rd, so it was nothing like the orignal tournament proposal. Many of our JV players are also on the Varsity roster. We cannot compromise our Varsity schedule because of JV games, because obviously Varsity takes top priority. We say that because our Varsity club hosts the University High Jr. Bucs in a doubleheader on Friday, April 29th. Due to the JV Longhorns losing to the Sullivan East Patriots, (statistics and details coming on Friday) they are scheduled to play the Happy Valley Warriors in the tournament on Friday. It would be the fourth time we have played Happy Valley's JV club in 2011. If the JV Longhorns would beat the Warriors on Friday they would play Saturday in the tournament, but a JV Longhorn home doubleheader is already scheduled for Saturday vs. the Unaka Rangers. Our Varsity club also has Three Rivers Conference games on Monday and Tuesday and our JV players who are on the Varsity roster would not be able to leave the Varsity club to play JV if the JV Horns advanced that far in the JV tournament. We say all of that to say that we are going to respectfully bow out of the JV tourney. We entered it under a misunderstanding and we do not want to jeopardize our Varsity club on Friday by having some Varsity players leave to play JV ball, or cancel our home doubleheader on Sat., and again, we would have to exit the tournament if we did make it to play on Monday, because we need a full Varsity roster for conference play. We do apologize for the confusion. |
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| Posted Apr 27/11 - Dominated By Elizabethton & JV Tournament Schedule Change | |||||||||
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The JV Tournament opener at Elizabethton High School, scheduled for today, Wednesday, April 27th against the Sullivan North Raiders, has been postponed until tomorrow, Thursday, April 28th at 4:30. If we win tomorrow, we will play the Sullivan East Patriots on Friday. We have a Varsity doubleheader at home on Friday vs. the University High Jr. Bucs. Depending on what time we play on Friday, if we do indeed win on Thursday, our JV players who are on the Varsity roster may play and dress in the first game on Friday at home. Obviously, all of this is thinking ahead. Check back to the Insider for updates. |
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| Posted Apr 27/11 - Random Facts & Figures | |||||||||
| It is obvious to everyone in Northeast TN that the Johnson County Longhorn Baseball Program has made huge strides in 2011, but a deeper look at the numbers shows you just how far our program has come on the baseball diamond. All of the numbers below are through 20 2011 games, as compared to 25 2010 games (including the 2010 District 1 AA Tournament). PITCHING STAFF Our 2011 pitching staff has already threw 12 complete games. The 2010 staff only had a starter finish 7 games. The 2011 staff has only given up 121 hits through 20 games. The 2010 staff gave up 169 hits. The 2011 staff has gave up 81 earned runs. The 2010 staff gave up a whopping 149 earned runs! The 2011 staff has walked 69 opposing batters. The 2010 staff issued 108 base on balls (BB). The 2011 staff has given up only 7 home runs. The 2010 staff surrendered 19 long balls. The 2011 staff has hit 6 opposing batters. The 2010 staff plunked 19 batters! The 2011 staff has only given up a total of 96 runs through 20 games. The 2010 staff gave up 188 runs in 25 games. OFFENSE The 2011 team has a .425 on base percentrage (OB%) and a .336 average. The 2010 club had a .383 OB% and a .301 team batting average. The 2011 team has 127 RBI through 20 games. The 2010 team knocked in only 8 more runs, in five more baseball games. The 2011 club has stolen 36 bases up to this point. The 2010 club waited for the long ball, and stole only 19 bags. The 2011 club has already hit 35 doubles (2B). The 2010 team only hit 33 two baggers. The 2011 team has scored 161 runs in 20 games. The 2010 team only scored three more (164) in 25 games. The 2011 team has hit 12 round trippers. The 2010 team did hit an impressive 19 home runs. INDIVIDUAL IMPROVEMENTS Sawyer Ward has moved to a run producing spot in the batting order (3rd) from the 2010 leadoff spot, and he has responded by knocking in an incredible 32 runs (15 in 2010). He has 4 home runs up to this point, as compared to the 3 he hit in 2010. He has 7 doubles in 2011 and hit only 4 in 2010. Ward has hit 2 triples this year (vs. Hampton Bulldogs) and did not hit any in 2010. He had 80 total at bats in 2010 and has did his damage this year in 67 at-bats. Danny Herman, when playing the position of catcher, often has a courtesy runner run for him. In 2011, Herman or his courtesy runner, has scored 22 times in the 24 times that Herman has been on base. His courtesy runner is often Christopher Ellis. Sammy Hampton and Austin Humphrey are sharing an on base percentage of .493. They have both been on base 33 times in 20 games. This is after Humphrey and Hampton were on base at clips of .224 and .284 respectively. Hampton has also raised his batting average to .404 (.266 in 2010) and Austin Humphrey has raised his average to .379 from his disappointing .195 2010 batting average. Mark Jennings has lowered his ERA (earned run average) from 7.09 (2010) to a very nice 2.86. He has 4 wins, a save, and a staff saving 5 complete games. His run production has also improved on offense. Jennings is hitting .361, as compared to his .329 2010 average. Jennings has knocked in 19 runs, which is good for second on the club, as compared to his 13 2010 RBI. |
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| Posted Apr 26/11 - JV Tournament (Updated) | |||||||||
| The JV Longhorns will be boarding a bus on Wednesday, April 27th, following the Varsity game vs. Elizabethton, to head to the JV tournament at Elizabethton High School. The JV Longhorns will face the Sullivan North Raiders in their opening game. The red hot, Andy Woods, will be taking the ball for the JV Horns. It is a double elimination tournament. Jacob Henson will take the ball for Johnson County in our second game. If the JV Longhorns win on Wednesday we will play on Thursday, April 28th at 4:30. If Johnson County loses on Wednesday we will play on Friday at 7:30. Continue to check the Insider for tournament schedule changes. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 24/11 - WMCT | |||||||||
| The Johnson County Longhorn game at the Elizabethton Cyclones tomorrow, Monday, April 25th, will be broadcast live on WMCT-1390 AM. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 PM. If you can't make the trip to Elizabethton, check us out on the radio or at http://www.wmctradio.net/. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 24/11 - Andy Woods Leads JV Longhorns Past Sullivan East......AGAIN. | |||||||||
| The JV Longhorns have looked good on paper all season, and they have performed well on the field in the areas of pitching and defense, but it has been a struggle at times on the offensive end. On Saturday, April 23rd, the JV Longhorns played their most complete game of the 2011 season. Sophomore hurler, Andy Woods, continues to amaze, as he improved to 5-0 on the season, throwing his second straight complete game gem against the Sullivan East Patriots. Woods scattered five hits over seven innings, striking out three against only one walk. Junior outfielder, Bobby Taylor, has shown flashes in practice all season of being able to be a true offensive run producer for the JV Horns, and although he has hit for a solid average all season, Saturday was a bust out game for Taylor. He went 4-5 with three doubles and three runs batted in. All three doubles were "shots." Sophomore first baseman, Daniel Helm, is another player who we have been waiting to bust out all season. He also had a coming out party on Saturday. Helm went 3-5 with a double and a run batted in. Junior second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, is yet another player who we had counted on for offensive production, but Hodgkiss has struggled offensively for much of the JV season. He had shown signs of life recently and he came to life on Saturday vs. the Patriots. Hodgkiss went 2-3 with a double and two runs scored. He also layed down a sac. bunt, something that he can do as well as anyone in our district. Overall, we had 13 hits on the day. Jacob Henson, who has probably been our most consistent offensive threat this season, had two hits and stole a couple of bases, but the most impressive part of his Saturday afternoon was the ground he covered in the outfield, tracking down fly balls. Henson has always had amazing speed, but he is starting to get quick, good reads on fly balls, enabling him to make some great plays. Sophomore shortstop, Judd Hammons, only had one hit for the Horns, but he continues to play great defense from the shortstop position. In fact, we think Hammons compares defensively to any one shortstop of any age, in Northeast TN. Freshman, Sam Thomas, also had a bloop hit for Johnson County. Thomas has earned some playing time with a positive attitude and great work ethic. Saturday was fun, as it was Johnson County 11, Sullivan East 2. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 24/11 - Easter | |||||||||
| Longhorn Baseball would like to wish each of you a happy and blessed Easter. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 22/11 - Horns Rebound Vs. Sullivan Central | |||||||||
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If you can imagine a school boy getting beat up by a bully on Thursday and coming back on Friday looking for revenge, and getting it, that was Longhorn Baseball on Friday. A day after getting humiliated by the Sullivan Central Cougars by the score of 13-0, we hosted them on Friday, and Sawyer Ward pitched a complete game 3 hitter (Central had 17 hits on Thursday). Ward, who improved to 3-1 on the season, had his slider working from the first inning on. He struck out 2 and walked 2 and threw less than 85 pitches in the complete game gem. This was a unique situation in the schedule. It was similar to a college baseball schedule, because rarely in a high school season do you play the same team on the next day (although due to rescheduling we travel to Elizabethton on Monday and host the Cyclones on Wed.). Sullivan Central threw a left handed pitcher on Thursday who did not have a lot of velocity and we did not show patience, wait on the ball, and hit it where it was pitched. We struggled with our approach at the plate and struggled to make adjustments during the course of the game. On Friday our pregame batting practice focused on using the entire baseball field on offense and not just looking to pull the ball (hitting it to the left side for a right handed hitter). We had a positive BP (batting practice) and that seemed to carry over to the game. Sophomore shortstop, Judd Hammons, led off the game with a single to right field and our offense was sharp from there. Hammons added another hit on the day that knocked in 2 runs. He also scored a run and stole a bag. Sammy Hampton hit a double, in the two hole, Sawyer Ward added a single from the three spot in the batting order, Mark Jennings knocked in a run on a single from the cleanup spot, Austin Humphrey had two hits, including a double from the sixth spot in the batting order, Danny Herman had a much needed good offensive game with 2 hits, including a double, Andy Stout continued his good overall play with a 2 RBI single and stolen base from the eight spot, and Jacob Henson added a sacrifice bunt, walk, and a double from the ninth position in the batting order. Designated Hitter, Harley Reece was the only Longhorn offensive starter without a hit. Chad Hodgkiss, playing defense for Reece, made a nice catch on a shall pop up going to his left from his second base position. In all we had 11 hits and only committed 1 error on defense. It was a great way to finish up what had been a nightmare of a week. We hope it's a sign of things to come, as Mark Jennings, who has been resting a sore arm, will take the mound on Monday at the Elizabethton Cyclones in Three Rivers Conference action. |
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| Posted Apr 21/11 - Tough Week (Updated) | |||||||||
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A tough week for Longhorn Baseball just got tougher. After losing on Monday to Three Rivers Conference bottom feeder, Happy Valley, and leaving 13 runners stranded (including 10 in scoring position) against the Unicoi County Blue Devils on Tuesday in a 8-3 defeat, we were shutout and 2 hit by the Sullivan Central Cougars on Thursday. Jacob Henson, making his first career start had a tough stat line (1/3 of an inning pitched, 9 hits, 8 earned runs), but some plays that should have been made on defense allowed several Cougars runs to cross the plate. Offensively Judd Hammons, who returned to the line up afte resting a groin injury, and Andy Stout, had the only hits for Johnson County. A week ago today we stood at 4-4 in the Three Rivers Conference and had a 10-4 overall record, and even though we lost to the Sullivan East Patriots in extra innings, we played well and played hard, and were thinking we can compete with anyone in our conference. That loss has proved to be tough for our young men to overcome. Our Monday loss vs. Happy Valley looks just as bad as it did the day of, because the Warriors have been beaten and pounded since leaving Johnson County. Sawyer Ward pitchd well enough to win on Monday and Sammy Hampton, although his final line looked rough, pitched his best game of the season on Tuesday against Unicoi County. We have felt all season that we can score enough runs to help our pitching staff out, but it is obvious our best chance to win is when Mark Jennings takes the bump for the Longhorns, and he is battling a sore arm right now or he would have threw on Thursday at Sullivan Central. Our pitching staff is looking for a big performance out of an arm, and our offense is looking to get the big hit with runners in scoring position. Our defense, which has been really good all season, has let us down this week, mostly because we are forced to play some young players without a lot of Varsity experience. The Longhorns host Sullivan Central on Good Friday and we are very much in need of a win. This has been a tough week! Sawyer Ward is scheduled to take the ball for the Longhorns. We are now 10-8 on the season. |
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| Posted Apr 19/11 - Frustrated | |||||||||
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We were deflated after losing a heartbreaker to the first place Sullivan East Patriots on Friday evening, but we are disgusted and embarrassed after losing 9-6 to the last place Happy Valley Warriors on Monday afternoon. Sawyer Ward, making his second start of the year against a Three Rivers Conference opponent, kept us in the game, but we did not score enough runs for him, and it would be unfair of us to ask Ward to shut down an opposing team, being this is his first year as a regular pitcher. Going into the 2011 season we were afraid we would not have a lot of pitching depth, but early season results gave us hope that would not be the case, but it appears that our depth on the mound is becoming a big issue. I recently told our JV club, which has not been hitting the ball well until last night (see below), that sometimes your offense has to pick up your pitching staff or defense. Our Varsity club has swung the bats pretty well all season, but they are not going to hit well every game. Somtimes the staff has to pick the offense up, as Mark Jennings attempted to do on Friday at Sullivan East. A successful baseball club receives a nice balance of hitting, pitching, and defense, and all of these are critical in conference play, as games become tighter and each pitch, at-bat, and play become magnified. We knew going into the game against the Warriors yesterday that it would not be as easy as many may have thought. It's hard to beat any decent team three times in one season, and although Happy Valley has appeared to be less than decent this season, all teams in the Three Rivers Conference are decent baseball clubs. It was also tough, as was stated above, after that deflating loss to Sullivan East last Friday. In saying all of that, we have to get mentally tough as a baseball program. Good baseball teams come to play every day, regardless of the circumstances. We are not there yet. It's frustrating! Sawyer Ward did give us a quality start and he also went 3-3 at the plate. Sammy Hampton has been swinging a hot bat and he had two more hits on Monday. Danny Herman also had a double for the Longhorns. Chad Hodgkiss, making his first offensive Varsity start of the 2011 season had a big RBI double in the bottom of the 6th to put us up 5-4. He also lined out hard to right field to end the game. Harley Reece and Mark Jennings also had base hits for Johnson County. Mark Jennings threw 101 pitches on Friday at East. He was put in a tough spot yesterday, as we asked him to come in on two days rest and close the game down for us. Jennings had not warmed up in the pen and did not expect to be called upon, so it was a tough situation for him. Today is his scheduled start, and we expect #25 to give us a chance to win as he always does, today against the Unicoi County Blue Devils. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 PM. |
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| Posted Apr 17/11 - Longhorn Baseball Recap | |||||||||
| The Longhorns traveled to Sullivan East on Friday to play the Three Rivers Conference leading Patriots. We threw our ace, Mark Jennings, and #25 showed that when he is on the mound the Johnson County Longhorns can compete with, and beat, anyone. Jennings shut the Patriots out for 6 innings and only surrendered 5 runs (4 earned) over 7 2/3 innings pitched. Johnson County went up 2-0 in the top of the first on Sawyer Ward's 4th home run and 30 and 31st runs batted in of the season. Sullivan East scored an unearned run in the 6th to cut our lead to 2-1. That 2-1 lead did not hold up, as the pitcher for East, Boiling, hit a solo home run off the left field foul pole on the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game at 2 runs apiece. Johnson County went up 3-2 when Austin Humphrey singled to left field with 2 outs, scoring Sammy Hampton from second base. This lead did not hold up either, as East scored three in the bottom of the 8th, including a walk off 2-run shot from their centerfielder, Richardson. The frustrating part was that with the count being 2 balls and 2 strikes and the score tied at 3, Jennings threw what appeared to be strike three, but it was called a ball. The next pitch was hit over the centerfield fence for the 5-3 Sullivan East win. Now, we understand that umpires are humans and make mistakes as we all do, but it did not make the call any easier to take, especially after we were already frustrated with this particular umpire for some calls early in the game. We earned some more respect, but not the win. The Longhorns now stand at 4-5 in the Three Rivers Conference and stand at 10-5 overall. We will send #3, Sawyer Ward, to the mound as we host the Happy Valley Warriors on Monday. The JV Longhorns beat Sullivan East on Friday night by the score of 3-2, in what turned out to be a great baseball game. Andy Woods, making his fourth start of the season, threw a 9 inning complete game. The likeable sophomore threw only 99 pitches, which is amazing when you consider that many high school pitchers often throw that many pitches in 5-7 innings of mound time. Woods surrendered only 5 hits, struck out 5, and walked only 2. Woods also helped his own cause, as he singled in the top of the 9th and later scored on a throwing error, what turned out to be the winning run. Sophomores Daniel Helm and Ryan Smith scored the other two runs for the JV Longhorns. The offensive struggles continued, but we did play 9 innings of errorless baseball, which is amazing for a Varsity club, much less a JV baseball club. Johnson County improved to 8-3 on the season with this win. Saturday the JV Horns traveled to Unicoi County to play the Blue Devils, in a game that was originally scheduled to be here in Johnson County, but was relocated due to the poor field conditions here at home. Our JV team lost both games by the scores of 5-3 and 7-2. Jacob Henson did not have his best stuff in the first game, but we did not help him offensively, as we had the bases loaded on three seperate occasions and only scored two of those nine runners. Ryan Mahala also struggled in the second game, but our pitchers and defense have kept the JV Longhorns in games all season. Sometimes your offense has to back your pitching up and our offense was not able to do that on Saturday. The JV ball club has several players who are going to have very good offensive careers for Johnson County, but the 2011 JV season has been an offensive struggle when we have played competition that is similar to, or perceived to be better than us. We will continue to work to on the offensive side of the ball, as we do all aspects of the game of baseball. Bobby Taylor will be making his first career start for the JV Horns on Monday, as Andy Woods will only be on two full days rest and Henson and Mahala will only be on one full day of rest. It's a big opportunity for Taylor and we are confident the hard working junior will throw a solid game. Hope to see you at the ballpark. |
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| Posted Apr 16/11 - JV Location & Time Change | |||||||||
| The JV doubleheader scheduled to be at home today, Saturday, April 16th, has been moved to Unicoi County due to field conditions in Johnson County. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 pm. We are playing two five inning games, so a second game will follow. Jacob Henson will take the ball in game one for the JV Longhorns. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 13/11 - Longhorns Lose To Patriots | |||||||||
| The Johnson County Longhorns were trying to move to 5-3 in the Three Rivers Conference and get a huge middle of the season upset win over the Sullivan East Patriots. It was not to be, as the Horns relief pitching had a bad day, in a 14-9 defeat. Sawyer Ward, who continued his RBI tear, as he knocked in one on the day and had two hits, started on the mound for the Longhorns. Ward struck out 7 in 3/2/3 innings. His final line says he allowed 4 hits and gave up six runs, all earned, but he pitched much better than that. In hindsight we probably should have left Sawyer in, as Sammy Hampton (4th inning) and Harley Reece (5th inning) struggled in relief. Reece did hit his 3rd home run of the 2011 season, a solo shot in the bottom of the 3rd. Left fielder, Andy Stout, had two doubles on three hits and knocked in two runs. Shortstop, Judd Hammons, who was a game time decision with a groin injury, played his best offensive baseball game of the year. Hammons had two hard base hits and knocked in two runs. He also made a great diving play in the hole in the first inning. First baseman, Austin Humphrey, knocked in a run with a long double. He has been stinging the ball of late. We showed a lot of heart by scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to make the final score respectable, but we did not pitch well enough to win. We travel to Cloudland on Thursday to play two against the Highlanders. Andy Stout will take the ball in game one for the Longhorns and Austin Humphrey will make his first career start in the second game. First pitch for the first game is scheduled for 4:00. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 13/11 - JV Longhorn Game Added | |||||||||
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We owed the Sullivan East Patriots a JV game at their place, but we had not been able to come together on a date. We will play them this Friday, April 15th, with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 PM (or following the Varsity game). Andy Woods will be taking the ball for the JV Horns in that game. It will be the toughest competition that Woods has faced, so it will be a big test for him in his development. Andy will be looking to go 4-0 on the season. We are also playing a Varsity doubleheader tomorrow (not a JV game) at the Cloudland Highlanders. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 PM. |
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| Posted Apr 12/11 - Schedule Update | |||||||||
| Our home game vs. the Three Rivers Conferene leading Sullivan East Patriots scheduled for today, Tuesday, April 12th, has been postponed until tomorrow, Wednesday, April 13th. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 PM. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 12/11 - Longhorns Earn Big Win Vs. Raiders | |||||||||
| Mark Jennings earned his 3rd win of the 2011 season, as he threw a complete game two hitter on Monday afternoon. All three of Mark's victories this season have came in complete game efforts. He struck out 6 and issued only 3 walks. Jennings was locating all of his pitches and we were able to call any pitch at anytime, regardless of the count on the batter. Sawyer Ward continues his RBI tear, as he knocked in two more runs on a double, to give him 25 runs batted in, in only 11 games this season. Austin Humphrey relieved starting catcher, Danny Herman, behind the dish in the 3rd inning, as Herman had a National Honor Society engagement he had to participate in. Humphrey did a more than solid job behind the dish for the Horns. He also had a long single to the centerfield fence that was almost hit out of the park and probably should have been a double, but Coach Perkins, coaching third base, did not get a good read on the ball. Sophomore, Ryan Mahala, made several smooth plays at third base and senior centerfielder, Sammy Hampton, made some plays that would have made former Johnson County gold glove centerfielder, Eric Cullop, proud. It was a total team effort and a big win. Johnson County now stands at 4-3 in the Three Rivers Conference with an 8-3 record overall. A Johnson City Press piece on Sawyer Ward's fantastic start to the 2011 season is available here. It was not a standout day for the JV Longhorns. The developing club lacked intensity and still seemed tired from a long stretch of baseball. We are swinging too freely at the plate, not looking for a good pitch to hit or thinking as hitters in the box. Sophomore left handed pitcher, Jacob Henson, coming off of a terrific start last Thursday against Tennessee High, labored from the beginning. He was leaving pitches up in the hitting zone and was just never able to find a rhythm. Henson was not able to get out of the 5th inning. Freshman, Jake Sutherland, took the loss, but continues to pitch solid relief baseball for the JV Horns as he threw 2 1/3 innings out of the pen, only giving up one earned run. Junior second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, sophomore catcher, Ryan Smith, and Sutherland, all had bloop hits for Johnson County. It was Sutherland's first career hit. The young JV Longhorns have been on a roller coaster all season, as although we are 7-3, there have been several games that we have not played well in, and we have benefited from some soft competition on the schedule. JV is for developing however, and with almost 20 total games scheduled, JV only practices (which most programs do not conduct) and consistent repetition, the JV players should continue to learn, grow, and develop. |
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| Posted Apr 11/11 - Longhorns vs. Raiders In A Big Baseball Game | |||||||||
| The first place Sullivan North Raiders come to town today, Monday, April 11th, and we are looking to take the season series from them. We split a doubleheader at Sullivan North, as we lost 7-6 and exploded for 16 runs in a 16-4 victory in the second game of that doubleheader. Mark Jennings, who lost that 7-6 decision, has another shot at Sullivan North today. Jennings is looking to earn his 3rd win of the 2011 season (2-2). First pitch will has been moved up from the original 4:30 start time. We are expecting to begin by 4:15 or so. Hope to see you at the ballpark. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 10/11 - Weekend Recap | |||||||||
| 11-0 & 18-2 Longhorn Wins Against The Hampton Bulldogs *Sawyer Ward now has an amazing 23 RBI in our first ten games of the 2011 season (20 RBI led the team in 2010-Tyler Fenner), as he had 7 runs batted in, in our doubleheader sweep of the Hampton Bulldogs on Friday afternoon. Ward hit a home run (3rd of the year) and two triples on the day. He has also earned his second win (2-0) of the season, as he pitched a shutout in the five inning complete game. *Junior designated hitter, Harley Reece, hit his 2nd homer of the 2011 season, a 3-run shot in the bottom of the 1st. *Senior third baseman, Mark Jennings, went 7-7 (all singles) in the doubleheader sweep. *Ward, Jennings and sophomore shortstop, Judd Hammons, each scored four runs each in the two games combined. *Junior right handed pitcher, Andy Stout, earned his second career Varsity win (both against Hampton) as he struck out six Bulldogs in the game two win. *The Longhorns had an amazing eighteen hits in the 18-2 game two victory. Note-Hampton is a ball club we normally beat and no offense to them, but we often play down to their level, but on Friday, we played nice baseball in all three phases of the game, offense, defense, and pitching. JV Longhorns earn two 5-3 decisions against University High *Sophomore right handed pitcher, Ryan Mahala, struck out 8 in a complete game effort and hit his first career home run, as the JV Longhorns earned a hard fought 5-3 win in game one of the Saturday doubleheader. It was a hard fought victory, because the first pitch was thrown at 10:00 AM. This was after the JV Horns who play both Varsity and JV had played seven baseball games during the week. Sophomore, Andy Woods, improved to 3-0 on the season, as he gave up 2 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings of game two in the 5-3, five inning win.. All of the runs Woods gave up (3) came in the first inning, so he settled down nicely. Freshman left handed pitcher, Jake Sutherland, pitched 1 1/3 innings to earn his first career save in game two. The University High Junior Bucs had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 5th in game two, but Sutherland got a ground ball to shortstop, Judd Hammons, that started a 6-4-3 double play to end the game. Sophomore centerfielder, Jacob Henson went a combined 5-6 with an RBI 2B, two runs scored, and 3 stolen bases on the day. Junior, Bobby Taylor, continues to improve, as he knocked in 3 runs on the day. He had a couple of base hits, a sac. fly, and made a couple of nice catches in left field. Sophomore catcher, Ryan Smith, also continues to swing a much improved bat, as he went 2-5 on the day. Smith also scored runs in both games. We hope Saturday was an indication that big sophomore first baseman, Daniel Helm, is about to get hot with the bat, as he went a combined 3-6 on the day with a 2B and a run batted in. Helm also displayed a nice glove at first base. The JV Longhorns are now 7-2 on the season. |
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| Posted Apr 8/11 - Recap Of Thursday | |||||||||
| The Longhorns were in unexpected territory on Thursday, April 7th, as the Holston Cavaliers had a 7-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 2nd inning. Former Longhorn Assistant Baseball Coach (and current JCHS Head Volleyball Coach) Eric Crabtree, used to say that most of the time, talent comes out on top. I think that was the case yesterday. Our more talented team, battled back. Sawyer Ward hit a 3-run bases clearing double in the 2nd to bring us to life. Ward has an amazing 16 RBI in only eight baseball games. Mark Jennings also knocked in two runs on the day for the Longhorns and Austin Humphrey had three hits for the home team. Sammy Hampton earned his second straight win on the season to improve to 2-1. He labored, as the threw 110 pitches in only 4 2/3 innings, but he did enough to earn the win. Harley Reece and Mark Jennings pitched well in relief for the Longhorns. Johnson County is 5-3 overall, with a 3-3 Three Rivers Conference record. We are scheduled to host the Hampton Bulldogs, today, Friday, April 8th, in a Varsity doubleheader. Sawyer Ward and Andy Stout will be taking the ball for the Horns. The JV Longhorns traveled to Bristol last Friday and had a very poor showing against the Tennessee High Vikings. Thursday's game was not on the original schedule, but we wanted a chance to redeem ourselves from an effort and pride standpoint, and the Vikings were kind enough to fit us in their schedule and make the trip to Johnson County. Sophomore left handed pitcher, Jacob Henson, pitched into the 7th inning for the JV Horns, as the Vikings only had a 3-2 lead heading into that frame. The Vikings were able to get four runs in the 7th to make the final score of 7-2 appear to be not much different than the 8-2 score of last Friday, but everything was different! We turned two double plays on defense and almost turned another. Our middle infield of shortstop, Judd Hammons and second baseman, Chad Hodgkiss, played very well. We picked a Viking runner off of second base and Jacob Henson kept them from "squaring the ball up" all night, with a great, located curveball. We did not hit well, but we took our walks, ran the bases well and just flat out competed. We played with effort, heart, intensity and focus. I will take a 7-2 loss to a team like Tennessee High, playing like that, anyday. I believe strongly that playing good baseball teams, playing better competition is what helps you improve as a ball club. The JV Longhorns dropped their second straight game of the season, but they should feel better about their team today than they have at any point during the 2011 season. |
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| Posted Apr 7/11 - Practice Note From Wednesday | |||||||||
| On a day we were giving our hitters live cuts off of mini bullpens from our pitchers, senior, Sawyer Ward, took JV Longhorn freshman lefty, Jake Sutherland, deep. Ward hit a hanging curveball over the left field/centerfield gap. The Longhorns will be hosting the Holston Cavaliers today. Sammy Hampton will be taking the pill for Johnson County. Sophomore, Jacob Henson, will be taking the ball tonight, as the JV Longhorns take on the Tennessee High Vikings. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 6/11 - TN High Vikings Coming To Johnson County | |||||||||
| We are excited to announce a last minute addition to our JV Longhorn schedule. The Tennessee High Vikings are coming to Johnson County, tomorrow, Thursday, April 7th, to play the JV Longhorns, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 (or soon after the Varsity game). The JV Horns traveled to TN High last Friday, April 1st, and had a very poor performance. This is a great opportunity for us to once again test ourselves against good competition. Hope to see you at the ballpark. Sophomore lefty, Jacob Henson, will be taking the ball for the home team. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 5/11 - Postponement & Recap | |||||||||
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Our scheduled home game against the Elizabethton Cyclones for today, Tuesday, April 5th, has been postponed. It has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 27th at 4:00 PM. |
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| Posted Apr 2/11 - JV Schedule Change | |||||||||
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Due to field conditions the JV Longhorn/Unicoi County Blue Devil doubleheader scheduled for today, Saturday, April 2nd was postponed. It will be made up this Monday, April 4th, as a five inning doubleheader following the Longhorn/Blue Devil Varsity game. Now, we understand it will make for a late night for our JV players and coaches, but with the weather we have had, makeup dates are becoming hard to find, so with our Varsity already scheduled to go to Unicoi County on Monday, this made the most sense. We do apologize for the late night, but also want you to understand that many high school baseball programs often play late night baseball. We thank you for your support as we strive to develop not only good baseball players, but also, young men. God bless. |
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| Posted Apr 1/11 - Schedule Change | |||||||||
| The Longhorns will now travel to the Sullivan Central Cougars on Thursday, April 21st, with first pitch scheduled for 5:00. The following day, Friday, April 22nd, the Cougars will come to Johnson County. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 31/11 - Postponement | |||||||||
| The Longhorns/Sullivan Central Cougars game scheduled for today, Thursday, March 31st, has been postponed. A makeup date will be announced later. As of now the JV Longhorns are scheduled to travel to Bristol to take on the Tennessee High Vikings tomorrow, and the Unicoi County Blue Devils in a doubleheader on Saturday. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 31/11 - Hammons & Henson Add Speed & Excitement To Top Of Lineup | |||||||||
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The top of the Longhorn lineup looks very different in 2011 than it did in 2010. Sawyer Ward, who was beginning his transformation to the hitter and run producer he is today, was our leadoff hitter. 2010 team mvp, Eric Cullop, added some power from the number two hole in the batting order. While those two provided a lot of "pop" from the top of the order, neither possessed the game changing speed that sophomores Judd Hammons and Jacob Henson possess. Through the first five games of the 2011 season Johnson County is has stolen ten bases without having one runner thrown out. Judd Hammons (3) and Jacob Henson (4) are responsible for seven of those stolen bags. Hammons leads the team with seven base on balls (BB) and although he is not hitting for a high average in the early going, he still has an on-base percentage of .370 and is tied for third on the team (Mark Jennings) with seven runs scored. He has also hit the only Varsity triple of the season (at Holston). Henson is second on the team with nine runs scored and has drew three walks. He is also hitting at an impressive .318 clip. Both players have knocked in two runs apiece. Hammons and Henson are a threat to steal anytime they reach first base. Most of the time coaches are looking to send a runner on what is known as "breaking ball count" (pitcher is ahead in the count). With these two it can be a fastball count, but their speed gives them the advantage over the pitcher and catcher. Jacob Henson has even had third base stolen on two seperate occasions this season if the Longhorn batter would have taken the pitch. The 2011 season is only a precursor to what we expect out of these two in the future, but we are excited about what they can do for our baseball club now. |
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| Posted Mar 30/11 - Longhorns Crush Warriors | |||||||||
| The Johnson County Longhorns have outscored the Happy Valley Warriors 25-4 in two games this season, 10-2 on March 14th and 15-2 yesterday, March 29th. Mark Jennings has pitched two complete games against the Warriors, striking out 15 batters in the process. He has helped himself by getting 6 hits in two games, including three doubles on Opening Day and a solo home run in the top of the first inning yesterday. Sawyer Ward has been moved from the leadoff spot as a junior, to the all important number three slot in the batting order. The three hole is usually where the best and most versatile hitters hit. Ward continues to prove he is one of the best hitters in the Three Rivers Conference, as he hit a 3-run home run (2nd of the year) in the top of the 1st inning that scored Judd Hammons and Jacob Henson, on his way to a 6 RBI day. Johnson County is now 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the Three Rivers Conference. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 29/11 - #25 Off TO A Big Start To His Senior Year | |||||||||
| Mark Jennings put the preseason work in this year and continues to work hard, and it is showing in his performance. The big, strong third baseman is hitting at an even .400 clip and has knocked in eight runs in only five games this season. He will be taking the ball today for the Longhorns against the Happy Valley Warriors. Jennings dominated the Warriors on Opening Day, as he threw a complete game two hitter. He struck out six Happy Valley batters and did not give up an earned run. Although he did not have his best "stuff" against he Sullivan North Raiders, Jennings did what a staff ace is supposed to do, and that's keep his team in the game and give them a chance to win. We had more than a chance in the first game of our doubleheader against the Raiders, as we stranded the tying run on second base to end the game. We look for #25 to continue to improve as this season continues. He is making up for lost time. Hope to see you at Cannon-Gouge Park today at Happy Valley High School. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 28/11 - Sullivan East Game Rescheduled | |||||||||
| The Longhorns will now travel to the Sullivan East Patriots on Friday, April 15th. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. The Longhorns were originally scheduled to travel to East on Monday, March 28th, but were rained out. The Longhorns will travel to Happy Valley tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29th. First pitch is now scheduled for 4:00, with a JV Longhorn game to follow. Mark Jennings, who dominated the Warriors on Opening Day as both a pitcher and on the offensive end, will take the ball for Johnson County. Sophomore, Andy Woods, will make his third career start (1-1) against the Warriors in the JV game. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 28/11 - Longhorns At East Is Washed Out | |||||||||
| Our game at Three Rivers Conference leading, Sullivan East, has been postponed due to inclement weather. We are in the process of rescheduling. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 25/11 - JV Longhorns At Happy Valley | |||||||||
| I did not want our JV players to go almost two weeks between games, which is what would have happened because of the TN High washout on Thursday, March 24th. That would have put us last playing on Saturday, March 19th (vs. Mitchell County Mountaineers) and not had us playing again until Friday, April 1st (at TN High Vikings). I did not want our JV club going into TN High and then the Unicoi County Blue Devils the next day (Saturday, April 2nd), rusty. The JV Longhorns will now be playing at the Happy Valley Warriors on Tuesday, March 29th, following the Varsity game. We hope our JV players and their families have a great weekend, because this will be their last one off for the rest of the 2011 season. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 24/11 - Schedule Change | |||||||||
| The JV Longhorn game scheduled for today, Thursday, March 24th, has been postponed. It has been rescheduled for next Friday, April 1st. The first pitch at TN High will be at 4:30. We are also trying to schedule a JV game following the Varsity game on Tuesday, March 29th at the Happy Valley Warriors. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 23/11 - Longhorns Split With Sullivan North Raiders | |||||||||
| Wins are precious in the Three Rivers Conference, so one can ever complain too much, but Tuesday's doubleheader split with Sullivan North did almost feel like we lost two games, because of our frustration about our play in the first game. Johnson County made several mental mistakes throughout the first game that did not exactly show up in the boxscore and may not have been obvious to our fans, but those mistakes probably did keep us from winning the 7-6 loss to the Raiders. Mark Jennings did what an ace pitcher is supposed to do, and that's keep us in the game, even when you do not have your best "stuff." We had a chance with a rally in the top of the 7th, but it was not to be. Sawyer Ward did hit his first home run of the 2011 season and Harley Reece stayed hot for the Longhorns. Sullivan North was obviously saving a pitcher for their Friday game against the Unicoi County Blue Devils, so we took advantage of their lesser arms, by pounding their pitching staff for 16 runs on 16 hits in the second game. Sawyer Ward, Austin Humphrey, and Harley Reece all had two hits for the visiting team. Mark Jennings knocked in five runs on his three hits, including an opposite field, two run shot in the first inning. Senior, Sammy Hampton, earned his first career win on Tuesday night, as he endured for five innings. Hampton threw over 110 pitches and walked 6 Sullivan North batters in only five innings of work, but he was able to make the big pitch when he needed to. Complete boxscores of these games are available on the schedule page on the left and our overall record, conference record, and home and away record is available on the left, under, "Won loss." The JV Longhorns travel to Bristol, TN on Thursday afternoon, as they battle the TN High Vikings. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. Left hander, Jacob Henson, will be taking the ball for the JV Horns. |
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| Posted Mar 20/11 - Recap Of A Weekend Of Longhorn Baseball | |||||||||
| A busy weekend of baseball for the Longhorn Baseball Program began on Friday, with a trip to Virginia, to play the Holston Cavaliers. Sawyer Ward, at least for the time being, wrapped up the third spot in our starting pitching rotation, with a great performance against the Cavaliers. He struck out 8 Holston batters in 6 innings pitched, with a dazzling curveball and nasty slider. He threw 106 pitches on the day. We really think that Ward's working as a pitcher since November, being on our throwing program, has really helped him feel like a true pitcher, instead of a position player who can pitch if need be. Mark Jennings was due to throw a bullpen on Friday and earning a save in the 7th inning to close the Holston game down was a great way to get a pen in. Harley Reece provided all the offense the Longhorns needed in the 5-1 win, as the big designated hitter hit a 3-run bomb over the left field fence to give Johnson County a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. A full boxscore is available by clicking on the this game on the schedule page on the left. The JV Longhorns went 3-0 on the weekend, as they beat the Holston Cavs. by a score of 12-3 on Friday and beat the Mitchell County Mountaineers by scores of 9-1 and 12-0, on Saturday at home. Andy Woods earned his first career win on Friday night as he struck out five Cavaliers in 4 innings on the mound. Freshman, Jake Sutherland, made his career debut, as he pitched the last 2 innings for Johnson County. Jacob Henson and Ryan Mahala shut down the Mountaineer offense on Saturday. Mitchell County only had one hit off of them on Saturday (a 1B off Henson in game one). Mahala pitched a five inning (mercy rule) no hitter in game two on Saturday. Daniel Helm knocked in four runs for the JV Longhorns on Friday and Judd Hammons and Jacob Henson both hit triples for Johnson County on Saturday. Complete boxscores for these games are available. The Longhorns (1-1) travel to Sullivan North for a key early season doubleheader on Tuesday, and the JV Longhorns have a 4-0 record, but it's came against teams they were expected to beat. On Thursday the competition steps way up, as they travel to Bristol to play the TN High Vikings in JV action. Hope to see you at the ballpark. Thanks for supporting Longhorn Baseball!! |
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| Posted Mar 18/11 - JV Longhorn Doubleheader For Saturday | |||||||||
| The JV Longhorns have added four home games to their 2011 schedule this week and two of those games are tomorrow, Saturday, March 19th. The Mitchell County Mountaineers are coming to town, with the first pitch scheduled for 12:00 PM. Ryan Mahala will start the first game for the JV Horns and left handed pitcher, Jacob Henson, will get the ball in the second game. Looking forward to seeing you at the ballpark. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 17/11 - Longhorns Do Not Play Well Against Blue Devils | |||||||||
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It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon. It was a chance to go 2-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. It was a chance to beat the Unicoi County Blue Devils! It was not to be, because we played poorly. Sammy Hampton did not pitch into the 4th inning for Johnson County and none of our pitchers threw a curveball for a strike until the 6th inning of the game. |
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| Posted Mar 17/11 - Longhorns Vs. Blue Devils | |||||||||
| Sammy Hampton will be making his first start of his senior season, today at 5:00 PM, against Three Rivers Conference rival, Unicoi County. Hampton threw six shutout innings in the 2010 District 1 AA Tournament against the Happy Valley Warriors, before the Warriors got to him in the 7th. Sammy wants the ball in big games, and although some would argue the second game of the year is never a big one, when you are Johnson County, coming off a big Opening Day win and looking to move to 2-0 in the conference, I would say that yes, today is a big game. Unicoi County is looking to even their conference record up at 1-1, as the Blue Devils lost to the Sullivan North Raiders on Monday by the score of 7-3. Hope to see you at the ballpark. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 16/11 - Two Interesting Facts From Monday's Game | |||||||||
| Sammy Hampton drew two walks against Happy Valley Warrior pitching. He only walked one time in 79 official at bats in 2010. Mark Jennings hit three doubles. He only hit two during the entire 2010 season. Coach Pavusek coached first base instead of third, for the first time in his 16 year career as head coach at Johnson County. |
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| Posted Mar 15/11 - Yet More Schedule Changes | |||||||||
| THURSDAY, MARCH 17-Longhorns host the Blue Devils from Unicoi County at 5:00 PM FRIDAY, MARCH 18-Longhorns & JV Longhorns travel to play the Holston Cavaliers at 5:00 PM (JV After) |
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| Posted Mar 15/11 - More Schedule Changes | |||||||||
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The Longhorns/Unicoi County Blue Devils game scheduled for today, Tuesday, March 15th, has been postponed until this Thursday, March 17th. First pitch will be at 5:00 pm. The Longhorn/Holston Cavaliers game scheduled for Thursday has been moved to Friday, March 18th. First pitch will be at 4:30 and a JV game will follow. Sammy Hampton will take the ball for the Longhorns on Thursday against Unicoi. Andy Woods will take the ball for the JV Longhorns on Friday against Holston. |
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| Posted Mar 15/11 - More JV Home Games | |||||||||
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As we continue to strive to get our young players as many repetitions as possible, we have scheduled a JV doubleheader at home on Saturday, April 30th. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM. This addition to our schedule gives us a possible 20 games for the JV Longhorns. |
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| Posted Mar 15/11 - 3-15-2011 | |||||||||
| As we wait and see if the rain will hold off again today, in preparation for the Unicoi County Blue Devils coming to town, we look back at last night. We understand the Happy Valley Warriors have graduated some very talented baseball players the last two years and that they may be a little down this season, but there have been times in the past we have lost to "down" teams. Good baseball teams beat teams they are supposed to beat and that is what we did on Monday. Mark Jennings was in total command on the bump and we hope we get many efforts like that on the mound this season, but looking at our lineup, if our pitchers can just keep us is in the game we feel our offense will score runs. We feel like our pitchers do not have to be dominant everytime out for us to have a chance to win. Our lineup blends a nice mix of speed and power and experience and youth. We have some young players looking to make their mark on our program and in the Three Rivers Conference, and some veteran players who want to end their high school baseball careers with a good season. We have some veteran guys who can hit the ball a long, long way, and some younger guys who can fly on the base paths. We like the makeup of our baseball team. The Three Rivers Conference is one of the toughest baseball conferences in the state of Tennessee. We know we will have to play good baseball to have success. You cannot just show up and win in this conference. Sammy Hampton will take the ball today for the home team. Hampton's last high school start saw him pitch six shutout innings against Happy Valley in the 2010 District 1 AA Tournament, before the Warriors got to him in the 7th inning. Sammy likes the ball in big games, and although this is only the second game of the 2011 season, I would say having a chance to beat Unicoi County and move to 2-0 in the Three Rivers Conference is a big game. We hope to see you at the ballpark. |
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| Posted Mar 14/11 - Mark Jennings Dominates In Longhorn Win | |||||||||
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Mark Jennings worked hard on his skill set in the preseason and it showed on Opening Day. #25 went 4-5 at the plate with three doubles and three runs batted in. That alone made it a monster game, but his best work was done on the mound. Jennings was dominante in a complete game effort. He struck out six, walked only three, and gave up only two hits in his seven innings of work. Jennings was not the only Longhorn swinging the stick. Sawyer Ward and Harley Reece both had 2 RBI doubles and Danny Herman and Sammy Hampton both had base hits for Johnson County. Judd Hammons and Jacob Henson scored a combined five times from the first two spots in the order. A full boxscore is available on the schedule page on the left. |
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| Posted Mar 13/11 - Thanks | |||||||||
| Longhorn Baseball would like to thank everyone who made Premiere Longhorn Baseball a success again this year. We were able to teach the fundamental basics of the game to over forty five young baseball players. We would also like to thank Judd Hammon's father, Billy, and Sammy Hampton's father, Mitch, for weed-eating all around our ballpark on Saturday afternoon. Our field truly is ready for Opening Day 2011. Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Mar 11/11 - Scrimmage Cancelled | |||||||||
| Our Varsity and JV scrimmage scheduled for today, Friday, March 11th, against the Holston Cavaliers, has been cancelled due to inclement weather. Our Premiere Longhorn Baseball Clinic is still on for tomorrow. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 11/11 - Reminder | |||||||||
| Our Premiere Longhorn Baseball Clinic is still on for tomorrow, Saturday, March 12th. Premiere Longhorn Baseball begins at 11:00 AM. We also want to remind you about our work day which will follow Premiere Longhorn Baseball. Big projects have transformed our baseball field. We are looking to do some small projects that will help the entire ballpark. Thank you for your support of Longhorn Baseball and we do look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Mar 10/11 - Another Schedule Change | |||||||||
| Our scrimmage scheduled for today, March 10th, 2011, against the North Greene Huskies has been cancelled due to inclement weather. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 9/11 - Schedule Changes | |||||||||
| The Friday, March 18th game at the Hampton Bulldogs has been postponed due to the Hampton Bulldogs being in the Single A State Basketball Tournament. It has been rescheduled as the second game of what is now a doubleheader, at home, on Friday, April 8th. There were JV games scheduled following the Varsity games on March 18th and April 8th. Those games have been postponed, and we are looking to possibly play a JV doubleheader against Hampton either here or there. Continue to check www.ballcharts.com/jchsbaseball for scheduling updates and information. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 8/11 - Longhorns Win Second Scrimmage | |||||||||
| On a cold Tuesday afternoon, the Johnson County Longhorns won their second scrimmage of the 2011 preseason, by the score of 7-3. More details coming on Wednesday, March 9th. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 8/11 - Last Minute Home Scrimmage | |||||||||
| Due to our scrimmage against the Greeneville Greene Devils be cancelled yesterday and the threat of inclement weather later in the week, the Holston Cavaliers are coming to Johnson County today for a scrimmage. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. Hope to see you at the ballpark. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 7/11 - Cancellation | |||||||||
| The scrimmage scheduled for today, Monday, March 7th, against the Greeneville Greene Devils has been cancelled due to poor field conditions. We do apologize as we were looking forward to playing the defending District 2 AA Champions. We are scheduled to host the North Greene Huskies in a scrimmage on Thursday. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 5/11 - Longhorns Look Good In First 2011 Scrimmage | |||||||||
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The first scrimmage of any season is often a little sloppy. Players are often battling nerves and excitement. Young players are often trying too hard to win a spot in the lineup or ensure their spot on the Varsity roster and even coaches can be a little rusty, but the Johnson County Longhorn Baseball Program is pleased with its scrimmage against the Mitchell County Mountaineers on Friday, March 4th. We left North Carolina with a 12-0 win, but the win is not what we feel good about, although it's always nice to get those. We feel good that we did not have any glaring mistakes. The beautiful weather that we have had the last few weeks has allowed us to get a lot of field repetitions that we have not been able to get in recent years, and I think it showed on Friday. Mark Jennings and Sammy Hampton, the two horses of our pitching staff, looked sharp in two innings of work apiece. Junior, Andy Stout, pitched the fifth and final inning. Sawyer Ward only had one hit and that was on a ball that he got the least of, because his three outs in his 1-4 performance were hard hit shots. Harley Reece hit the ball hard and almost went yard. Our young sophomores, Jacob Henson, Judd Hammons, and Ryan Mahala, all showed why we are so excited about their potential. Everyone on the roster was able to get in the game and it was just a good day to be a Johnson County Longhorn. |
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| Posted Mar 4/11 - This & That | |||||||||
| We want to thank you for attending our parent meeting last night. We do want to encourage you to look over the information provided in the packet in case you misunderstood something or we did not explain something thoroughly enough. We also want to encourage you to help us with our work day on Saturday, March 12th, after our Premiere Longhorn Baseball Clinic. We are going to weed eat all around the ballpark, rake stray leaves, spray weed kill, and really just get the field ready for Opening Day, Monday, March 14th. We are excited about the 2011 baseball season and it begins today, as we travel to play the Mitchell County Mountaineers in North Carolina. Thanks for your support of your son and Longhorn Baseball. |
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| Posted Mar 1/11 - JV Captains Voted By Peers | |||||||||
| First baseman, Daniel Helm, and shortstop/right handed pitcher, Judd Hammons, were voted JV team captains by their teammates on Monday, February 28th. We look forward to seeing Helm and Hammons grow as leaders as they also grow as baseball players. | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 28/11 - Scrimmage Rescheduled | |||||||||
| Our scrimmage at the Mitchell County Mountaineers (NC) that was scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, March 1st, has been moved to this Friday, March 4th. First pitch is still scheduled for 4:00 PM. | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 25/11 - Parent Meeting | |||||||||
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Longhorn Baseball will be having our parent meeting on Thursday, March 3rd in the Johnson County High School Commons Area at 7:00 pm |
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| Posted Feb 24/11 - Longhorn Baseball Gear | |||||||||
| We are pleased to announced that for the first time Longhorn Baseball Gear is going to be made available to the public. We are starting out with a Longhorn Baseball hoodie and t-shirt. Both shirts will be maroon with white writing, with Longhorn Baseball across the front. The hoodies are $30.00 and the t-shirts are only $10.00. Please email Coach Perkins at nicholasperkins@k12tn.net if you are interested. | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 23/11 - Two Home Scrimmages Added | |||||||||
| Longhorn Baseball is excited about announcing that two home scrimmages have been added to the 2011 preseason schedule. The Greeneville Greene Devils will come to Johnson County on Monday, March 7th, with first pitch scheduled for 4:30. Greeneville plays in the Blue Ridge Athletic Conference in Class AA, District 2, Region 1. We, Johnson County, play in Region 1 also, but compete in District 1 (Three Rivers Conference) in Class AA ball. The Greene Devils won 19 games in 2010 (with 13 losses), and won the District 2 AA Tournament. They lost to the Unicoi County Blue Devils in the Regional Tournament final, but the Greene Devils did advance to Sectional play, as two teams from the region advance to Sectionals. We are excited about preparing our players for the conference season by scrimmaging a Good Greeneville ball club. On Thursday, March 10th, the North Greene Huskies will travel to Johnson County to scrimmage the Longhorns. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. Former Chuckey Doak Head Baseball Coach, Tim Lady, has taken over the reigns at North Greene. Coach Lady won over 328 games in his coaching career at Chuckey Doak. The Huskies play in the Watauga Valley Conference, which is Class A, Region 1, and District 1. They are in the conference with our regular season opponents, Hampton Bulldogs and Cloudland Highlanders. These two scrimmages are in addition to our Tuesday, March 1st trip to play the Mitchell County Mountaineers and our Friday, March 11th trip to play the Holston Cavaliers. |
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| Posted Feb 20/11 - Preseason Scrimmage Schedule | |||||||||
| Two scrimmage games have been added to the Longhorn Baseball Schedule. On Tuesday, March 1st we will travel to Mitchell County, NC to play the Mitchell County Mountaineers. This is a team that none of the current players in our program have ever played before, so for them it will be a new ballpart to visit and a new team to play. On Friday, March 11th we will travel to scrimmage the Holston Cavaliers. First pitch for both of these games is scheduled for 4:00 PM. We are looking for a home scrimmage, preferably on Monday, March 7th. We are also looking to schedule the first JV preseason scrimmage in school history as well. | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 18/11 - Intrasquad | |||||||||
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We will be having our first intrasquad scrimmage of the 2011 season today, Friday, February 18th. First pitch is scheduled for 3:45. Rosters will be posted later today. |
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| Posted Jan 18/11 - Varsity @ Sullivan Central | |||||||||
| A March 31st 5:00 game at the Sullivan Central Cougars has been added to the Varsity Schedule. We are also in negotiations to add the Holston Cavaliers to the 2011 schedule. | |||||||||
| Posted Dec 30/10 - Coach Garth McKinney to conduct hitting clinic for Longhorn Hitters | |||||||||
| Coach Garth McKinney was one of the most prolific sluggers in the history of Happy Valley High School (Elizabethton, TN) and Walters State Community College (Morristown, TN). Coach McKinney was drafted in the 29th round of the 2001 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Detroit Tigers. He was invited to big league spring training with both the Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays. In 580 career minor league baseball games, Coach McKinney hit .250 with 93 home runs and 286 RBI. Coach McKinney retired after the 2008 season at age 26. He returned to his hometown and spent the 2009 high school baseball season as hitting coach and outfield coach for the Happy Valley Warriors. He now gives hitting instruction at Diamond Sports Training Academy in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Saturday, January 1st, from 7:00-9:30 AM, Coach McKinney will be giving hitting instruction to Longhorn Hitters in our hitting tunnel. January 1st is the first day we are allowed to open our hitting tunnel for our players to work on their swings. We are excited about Coach McKinney coming up to give instruction as our players swing the sticks for the first time in preparation for the 2011 high school baseball season. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=mckinn001gar |
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| Posted Dec 19/10 - "We will run a clean program!" | |||||||||
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Many fans of college athletics are aware that NCAA has an unbelievable list of rules, because they often hear of their favorite school committing a violation by breaking some obscure rule, that seemed irrelevant, but was indeed in the rulebook. The Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA) is not as strict as the NCAA, but it does have rules that schools are supposed to follow. The rules are public knowledge, as anyone can go to www.tssaa.org (under our links page) to see them. The problem is, they are often broken, and sometimes totally ignored. Now, to be fair, I do not agree with the rules the TSSAA has set for baseball. I feel like they were made by someone who does not understand the game. However, I have been convicted of the ethical importance of running a clean program and setting an example for our players of doing things the right way. I have always been a believer that over the long haul, if someone does things the right way, they will be rewarded. The problem is, as a rebuilding baseball program, we are in competition with teams that are rumored to be violating the rules. Now, I have no proof of this, but the luster has been taken off some accomplishments of teams we compete with, if in fact these rumors are true. To avoid sounding hypocritical, I have made some mistakes in my coaching career and will probably make many more, but the Johnson County Longhorn Baseball Program will be clean. It's the right way to do things and it sets a valuable example for our players. Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Dec 10/10 - Throwing Program & Conditioning Going Strong! | |||||||||
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Longhorn Pitchers were kept on a consistent throwing program with the appropriate rest between bullpen sessions throughout the 2010 season, but the intensity and focus has been stepped up in preparations for the 2011 season. Coach Nicholas Perkins said, "I feel like we have the potential to have a strong offensive baseball club and I feel like we will play solid defense, but pitching and catching are the heart of a ball club. We must improve on the mound and behind the plate." Pitchers began throwing bullpens, with a focus on mechanics, the week of Thanksgiving. Position players (non-pitchers) are also throwing and long tossing (throwing from distance). The success our Varsity baseball team has on the mound will depend largely on Mark Jennings and Sammy Hampton, but we must find someone to fill that #3 slot. We must add some depth to our pitching staff. We really hope our intense pitching program will help us do that," Perkins said. Ryan Mahala and Jacob Henson are expected to anchor the JV pitching staff, with a lot of young arms available after them. |
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| Posted Sep 13/10 - 2011 JV Schedule Now Posted | |||||||||
| ON THE JV SCHEDULE PAGE IT SAYS 2010, ALTHOUGH THE 2011 JV SCHEDULE IS NOW POSTED. THE YEAR WILL CHANGE AFTER THE NEW YEAR. SORRY IF THERE IS ANY CONFUSION!! The improvement that has been made in the Longhorn Baseball Program can be seen in our JV program. Just two years ago (2009), the JV Longhorns played a total of three baseball games. Last year during the 2010 season, in Coach Nick Perkins first year at the helm of the JV program, the Longhorns played 12 baseball games, winning 8 of those, including a huge doubleheader sweep of the Unicoi County Blue Devils JV club at home. In 2011, the JV Longhorns will be playing at least 17 baseball games, including a trip to Bristol, TN, to take on the Tennessee High Vikings and a home and away doubleheader against the Unicoi County Blue Devils. We have also added the Elizabethton Cyclones to the 2011 JV schedule. Most JV baseball programs in our area either do not play many games, or are coached by a separate coaching staff from their Varsity squad. Coach Perkins not only runs the JV program, he is also a Varsity assistant. This allows our young players to receive Varsity level coaching before ever reaching the Varsity club. We are excited about the JV Longhorns. |
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| Posted May 26/10 - Blue Devils continue super season with an opening win the in Spring Fling (State Tournament) | |||||||||
| http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Sports/article.php?ID=77118 The Unicoi County Blue Devils continue to show guts, heart, and a determination not to let their 2010 baseball season come to a close. |
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| Posted May 22/10 - Blue Devils will represent Three Rivers Conference/Region 1 in the State Tournament | |||||||||
| The Unicoi Blue Devils will look at add another banner on the fence at Baxter Field as they are going back to the State Tournament. http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Sports/article.php?ID=77003 We will have more info. later, and keep you posted on Unicoi's run for a state title. |
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| Posted May 20/10 - Blue Devils will host Pigeon Forge in Sectional | |||||||||
| The Region 1 winner, Unicoi County, will host the Region 2 runner up, Pigeon Forge Tigers on Friday in a Sectional game. Gibbs beat Pigeon Forge by the score of 9-4. Gibbs will host the Greeneville Greene Devils. The Tigers of Pigeon Forge beat Unicoi County, 9-4, in a Regional Final game last season. Unicoi County then dropped a Sectional game to Knoxville Catolic, who is now AAA, by the score of 14-4. The winner of the Sectional contests, advance to the State Tournament. | |||||||||
| Posted May 20/10 - Blue Devils earn Region 1 AA Championship | |||||||||
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We often talk about how tough the Three Rivers Conference is with Unicoi County, Sullivan East, Happy Valley, Elizabethton, and Sullivan North, and that's not making excuses, because my goal is for the Johnson County Longhorns to eventually compete for a conference championship year in and year out, but when postseason play begins, the talent in our conference really shows. The Unicoi County Blue Devils struggled to score runs in the District 1 AA Tournament, and finished runner up to Sullivan East, but when they advanced to Regional play, everything changed. They beat a South Greene Rebels team that finished last in our conference last season (the Old Watauga Conference), by the score of 16-1. Last night in the Regional Final, they destroyed the Greenville Greene Devils, by the score of 17-2. That is a 33-3 domination in Regional play, to win the Region 1 AA Championship. They will host the Region 2 runner up (Pigeon Forge), in a Sectional Game on Friday. We cannot pick and choose which conference/district we play in, and even though our program is not where we want it to be, we would be in a running for a championship every season if we played in District 2 (Blue Ridge Athletic Conference), or in the single A conference below us (Watauga Valley). We know the conferences are based on geographical locations, and the class systems, A, AA, AAA, are based on school population, but it does make you think of what could be. In saying all that, we have work to do, because again, we think we can complete in the Three Rivers Conference/District 1. We will keep you posted on the Unicoi Blue Devil's run to the state tournament, as they represent District 1. |
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| Posted May 19/10 - Unicoi County Blue Devils representing the Three Rivers Conference/District 1 | |||||||||
| Tonight is the Region 1 Final. The Unicoi County Blue Devils will represent the Three Rivers Conference/District 1 against the Blue Ridge Athletic Conference/District 2 representative, Greenville Greene Devils. The game will be played at Pioneer Park, the home of the Tusculum College Pioneers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00. The winner will host the Region 2 runner up in a sectional game on Friday. The loser will travel to the Region 2 winner. Gibbs High School will represent District 3 against the District 4 representative, Pigeon Forge, in the Region 2 Final. Gibbs beat Alcoa 6-0 to advance to the Final, and Pigeon Forge beat Christian Academy of Knoxville (CAK) by the score of 11-3. The entire 2010 TSSAA DIVISION I CLASS AA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT Bracket is available here: http://www.tssaa.org/2009Champions/StateBaseball/ClassAA/Region.pdf |
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| Posted May 18/10 - Postseason Information | |||||||||
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Monday's Regional Semifinal games saw the Unicoi County Blue Devils travel to South Greene and beat the Rebels by the score of 16-1. District 1 Tournament champion, Sullivan East, lost to Greenville on their home field, 8-3. The Unicoi County Blue Devils will host the Greenville Greene Devils on Wednesday in the Regional Final. The winner of this game will host the Region 2 runner up in a Sectional game on Friday. Sectional play used to be known as sub-state. The loser of the Blue Devil/Greene Devil game will travel to play the Region 2 winner in a Sectional game. The Johnson County Longhorns have not had the postseason success we would like to have in the recent past, so many of you may not be familiar with the other region and districts outside of our conference. We hope you find the information below helpful. |
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| Posted May 13/10 - Sullivan East wins the District 1 AA Championship | |||||||||
| The Sullivan East Patriots did the unthinkable, they beat Unicoi County on back to back nights, with sophomore pitchers on the mound, to win the Three Rivers Conference-District 1 AA Championship. The Patriots won by the score of 2-0. On Wednesday, East threw sophomore left handed pitcher, Aaron Boling, who had only threw eight Varsity innings all season. According to Coach Breuninger's quote in today's Johnson City Press, Thursday night's starter, Kyle Harris, had threw less than that for the Patriots this season. Many of our Longhorn players and parents will remember Harris, because his dad, Curtis, coached the South Holston Red Team during the summer of 08, when we were playing Senior League Baseball. Kyle Harris pitched into the 7th inning on Thursday night before giving way to right hander, John Buchanan. The Blue Devils started a well rested Logan Rice. Rice pitched a great baseball game, but his offense did not hit many balls hard for him on Thursday. Unicoi County had runners on 1st and 3rd in the 7th with one out, when their batter bunted a ball back to Harris. Harris hesitated, looked at second base, and then threw to first. The runner was safe. The Blue Devils now had the bases loaded with one out. Coach Breuninger made the change. The bearded Buchanan was brought in to close the deal. The Blue Devils had Holden Tolley in the box. Tolley had a great season, and made the all tournament team for Coach Baxter's ball club. If he played for the Longhorns he would have been taking until he got a strike, as they were down 2 or more runs past the 5th inning, and a new pitcher was on the hill. Tolley did not take. He popped the first pitch up in foul territory to the East Third Baseman. That made two outs. Conference player of the year, Logan Rice, was up next. There was no on else Unicoi would have wanted up to bat. Rice did not come through, he grounded out to second base to end the Unicoi threat, and the game. The Sullivan East Patriots earned the 2010 Three Rivers Conference District 1 AA Championship, by beating Unicoi County on back to back nights, behind the pitching of two soft tossing, sophomore, left handed pitchers. Unicoi County will now travel to South Greene on Monday to play the Rebels in a regional semifinal game. The Patriots will host Greenville. | |||||||||
| Posted May 13/10 - Postseason Awards | |||||||||
Three Rivers Conference Regular Season Awards
ALL THREE RIVERS CONFERENCE TEAM JOHNSON COUNTY Tyler Fenner, Sawyer Ward TEAM AWARDS Most Valuable Player: Eric Cullop Co-Best Offensive Player: Tyler Fenner Co-Best Offensive Player: Sawyer Ward Gold Glove: Zack Hayworth Coaches Award: Zack Hayworth 110% Award: Danny Herman All District Team (These are tournament awards, not regular season) MVP: Dave Allison (Sullivan East Patriots) SULLIVAN EAST Kyle Harris, Tyler Richardson, Hunter Smith UNICOI COUNTY Logan Rice, D.W. Whitson, Scott Gibson, Holden Tolley HAPPY VALLEY Jake Hodge, Ethan Fleenor ELIZABETHTON Taylor Thanlorn LONGHORNS Danny Herman SULLIVAN CENTRAL Brent Jennings |
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| Posted May 13/10 - The Patriots beat the Blue Devils to force a deciding game. | |||||||||
| The Sullivan East Patriots beat the Unicoi County Blue Devils on Wednesday night, by the score of 5-2, behind the pitching of sophomore left-hander, Aaron Boling. The East win forced a deciding game tonight. Both East and Unicoi have earned regional semifinal berths, but the winner of tonight's game will host Greenville on Monday, and the losere will travel to South Greene. Logan Rice is fully rest for the Blue Devils, and will probably get the start. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 at J. Fred Johnson Stadium. I think it's not only important that we support the Longhorns, but also our district, in postseason play. | |||||||||
| Posted May 12/10 - Sullivan East Patriots earn trip to regional tournament, eliminate the Happy Valley Warriors | |||||||||
| The Sullivan East Patriots beat the Happy Valley Warriors by the score of 3-1 on Tuesday night, to earn a trip to the regional tournament. Shane Sturgill threw a four hitter for the Patriots. East will now have to beat Unicoi County on Wednesday and Thursday night to be named Distsrict 1 AA Champions. The winner of the District 1 Champsionship will host a home regional game. Last season the Unicoi County Blue Devils hosted the Pigeon Forge Tigers at Baxter Field. | |||||||||
| Posted May 11/10 - Pitching on two days rest | |||||||||
| It bothers me to see so many pitchers being asked to start, and go deep in games, on only two days of rest. In our two district tournament games we made sure Sammy Hampton was on three days rest on Friday, and Cody Greer was on four days rest on Sunday. As a baseball coach I can understand bringing a pitcher out of the bullpen on two or even one days rest to get out a big jam and allow them to throw 20-30 pitches, but much more than that is not good for their arms. There is a valid reason that major league teams have five man pitching rotations. Each arm needs proper rest before starting again. Relief pitching is different than starting. That is just my philosophy, but one I will follow throughout my career when I have the ability to influence or pick who pitches. I refuse to put winning a baseball game over the health of a player. God Bless, Coach Perkins |
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| Posted May 11/10 - For your information | |||||||||
| The Three Rivers Conference District 1 AA Tournament is still underway at J. Fred Johnson Stadium in Kingsport, TN. On Sunday evening the Happy Valley Warriors eliminated the Sullivan North Raiders by the score of 5-1, behind a complete game effort from Jake Howell, and a home run from slugger, Jake Miller. On Monday afternoon the Warriors eliminated the Elizabethton Cyclones by the score of 3-2. As Elizabethton did all through the tournament, including their game against the Longhorns, they committed costly errors. The Cyclones made four errors on Monday, spoiling a quality start from Jake Davis. Ethan Fleenor pitched 6 1/3 innings on two days rest for Happy Valley. Unicoi County defeated the Sullivan East Patriots late Monday night by the score of 5-3, behind clutch pitching of D.W. Whitson and the hitting of Logan Rice. Happy Valley plays East today in an elimination game, as both teams have one loss in the tournament. Jake Hodge will take the ball for Happy Valley, also on two days rest. The winner of tonight's Warrior/Patriot game will earn a trip to the regional tournament, and will also have to beat the Blue Devils on Wednesday and Thursday night to win the district 1 AA championship. Tonight Happy Valley will be looking to earn their third straight trip to the regional tournament. Last season they were eliminated by Pigeon Forge by the score of 5-0, at Pigeon Forge. | |||||||||
| Posted May 9/10 - Longhorns end season with loss to Cyclones in district tournament | |||||||||
| The Longhorns went to J. Fred Johnson Stadium on Sunday afternoon having to win to avoid elimination. Unfortunately, we were not able to do that. Johnson County left the bases loaded in three seperate innings (1st, 6th, 7th). It's hard to win any baseball games, on any level, when you can't get the big hit. Cody Greer started on the mound for the Longhorns, but did not have his best stuff. Greer only went 2 innings, giving up 6 hits and 6 runs, with 1 walk and no strikeouts. He did help himself at the plate, as he went 3-4, with a run scored. Zack Hayworth came on in relief of Greer, and kept us in the game, and gave us a chance to win. Hayworth went a season high 4 innings, giving up 7 hits and 3 runs. He struck out two Cyclone batters and walked one. In addition to Greer's 3 hits for Johnson County, Mark Jennings, Sawyer Ward, and Eric Cullop all had 2 hits apiece. Jennings hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 3rd. David Luceford had another nice game behind the dish for the Longhorns. He had a nice defensive, district tournament. Much like on Friday night, we had chances to win, but did not take advantage. The kids did give good effort, but a win was not meant to be. The Loghorns finished the 2010 season with a 9-16 overall record and a 3-14 record in the Three Rivers Conference. | |||||||||
| Posted May 9/10 - 2010 Review | |||||||||
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What went right for the Longhorns in 2010: |
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| Posted May 9/10 - Mother's Day | |||||||||
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Longhorn Baseball would like to wish every mother associated with our baseball program, a Happy Mother's Day!! |
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| Posted May 8/10 - Update on the Three Rivers Conference AA District 1 Tournament | |||||||||
| The Sullivan East Patriots beat the Happy Valley Warriors on Saturday by the score of 8-5. The Unicoi Couny Blue Devils beat the Elizabethton Cyclones by the score of 5-1, behind the stellar pitching of Logan Rice. This was a very competitive pitchers duel, but 5 errors killed the Cyclones chances. You cannot make that many mistakes against Unicoi County. The Longhorns will play Elizabethton on Sunday at 4:00. Johnson County will be the visiting team. Happy Valley and Sullivan North play one another after our game. All four teams playing on Sunday have one loss. The loser of these two games is done for the 2010 season. Elizabethton has been playing well recently, and they have super slugger, Jake Davis, in the middle of their lineup. Davis hit two home runs to straight away centerfield this past Wednesday at our ballpark. We do not know who the Cyclones will start on the mound, but we do know that their number one and two pitchers, Taylor Lanthorn, and McKenly Berry, have already started games in the tournament, so we should not see them, but if they need to get out of a jam, they may not hesitate to bring Langhorn in for an out or two. Cody Greer will be making his first ever postseason start for Johnson County. |
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| Posted May 7/10 - Longhorns drop distsrict tournament opener to Warriors | |||||||||
| Sammy Hampton and Happy Valley right hander, Ethan Fleenor, were locked in a 0-0 pitchers duel going into the 6th inning, but the Warriors scored 6 runs in the 6th, and Fleenor held up his end of the deal, as Happy Valley blanked the Longhorns 6-0. The score does not reflect just how good of a baseball game this was. The Longhorns came to play. We turned a 5-4-3 double play, and properly executed a pickle (rundown) late in the game. David Lunceford turned in his best defensive performance behind the plate of the season. He threw out a Warrior runner attempting to steal second base in the 1st inning, and did not have any passed balls. Sawyer Ward, Zack Hayworth, Tyler Fenner, Mark Jennings, and Danny Herman all had base hits for Johson County. Sammy Hampton's final line was 5 1/3 innings pitched, 7 hits, 4 runs, 0 K, and 7 BB. The Longhorns play the loser of Saturday's Unicoi County Blue Devil/Elizabethton Cyclone game. First pitch of that game is scheduled for 3:30 at J. Fred Johnson Stadium. Happy Valley will play the Sullivan East Patriots on Saturday at 1:00. Johnson County will play at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon. | |||||||||
| Posted May 7/10 - Reece gets hit he will never forget, on senior night | |||||||||
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A mysterious arm injury kept James Reece from having the impact that we thought he would have on our baseball program this season. We know it has been frustrating for James not to be able to contribute the way he would like, but some of that frustration was eased on Thursday night. Reece started in right field on senior night, and came up in the bottom of the 2nd with the bases loaded. He got behind in the count 0-1, but laced the next pitch, a fastball, in the left-center gap, clearing the bases for Johnson County. Reece was then removed from the game for our everyday right fielder, Austin Humphrey. It was only one at-bat, but it was one he will never forget, and hopefully one that will help him to feel better about his senior season. |
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| Posted May 7/10 - It's time for postseason baseball | |||||||||
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The 2010 regular season did not go as planned for the Johnson County Longhorns, but that phase of our schedule is over. It's now time for postseason baseball! It's a new season. Everyone is 0-0. The intensity goes up, and each pitch, defensive play, and at-bat, matters. For the second straight year the Longhorns will open the district tournament as the visiting team (because of lower seed) against the Happy Valley Warriors. We lost an 11-9 game against the Warriors at home on March 30th, won on a big Tyler Fenner home run, on April 1st at Cannon-Gouge Park, and dropped a 6-3 decision at Cannon-Gouge on April 19th. Tyler Fenner has hit .333 against Happy Valley this season (4-12) with 2 home runs and 2 doubles. Six of his twenty runs batted in this season have came against the Warriors. Sammy Hampton is our most rested starting pitcher (three days). He will take the ball for the Longhorns, with Mark Jennings and Cody Greer in relief. Hampton, who has pitched in tough luck this season, is due for a win. There would be no better time to get one than the opening game of the 2010 district tournament at J. Fred Johnson Stadium. |
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| Posted May 6/10 - Senior Night | |||||||||
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Tonight is senior night for the Johnson County Longhorn Baseball Club. As we look forward to tonight's game, and the district tournament, at Fred Johnson Stadium in Kingsport, we pause to reflect on a very special senior class. |
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| Posted May 5/10 - Longhorns blanked by Cyclones in final conference game of 2010 regular season | |||||||||
| This has been a frustrating week for Longhorn Baseball. We came in thinking of finishing in 4th place in the Three Rivers Conference, and getting the last at-bat in a game against the 5th seed. Instead we will finish in 6th place, because we have the same number of conference wins as Sullivan North, three, but they took the season series against us, to finish in 5th place. As the 6th seed, we will now play the #3 seed, Happy Valle Warriors on Friday night at Dobyns Bennett, in the district tournament opener. On Wednesday afternoon we played one of our worst games of the season. Sophomore, Harley Reece, made his first career Varsity start for Johnson County. He pitched into the 4th innning, and threw the ball well for a young guy making his first start, especially against a conference opponent. Reece was welcomed to Three Rivers Conference Baseball in a hurry, as Elizabethton Cyclone stud, Jake Davis hit towering home runs off of him in the top of the 1st, and the top of the 3rd. The Longhorns just could not get anything going as we only recorded 5 hits on the day. Shorstop, Cody Greer, continues to swing a hot stick, as he went 2-3. Sawyer Ward, Sammy Hampton, and Mark Jennings all had base knocks for the home team. We do not want to be too critical off our own team on our own website, but we want to be honest too. We have struggled this week. We have struggled fundamentally. We have stuggled mentally. We have some players playing great defense, but struggling at the plate. We have others who are swinging the bat really well, but are stuggling to field the baseball. As we look forward to senior night tomorrow, we know we have to get our minds right and play much better baseball this weekend, or even though the tournament is double elimination, we will be sent home in a hurry. We have the ability to have a nice showing in the postseason, but again, we must player better baseball. We host the Hampton Bulldogs tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00. Sophomore, Andy Stout, will be making his first career Varsity start for Johnson County. |
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| Posted May 4/10 - Longhorns split with North, need a win and a North loss to finish 5th | |||||||||
| The Longhorns split a doubleheader with the Sullivan North Raiders on Tuesday evening. We needed to sweep to ensure fifth place in the Three Rivers Conference. Game one saw the Raiders take an 12-4 lead into the 7th, but Johnson County scored 6 in their half of the 7th, but ended the game with the winning run at the plate. Johnson County took a 3-1 lead on back to back home runs by Eric Cullop, his 3rd, and Sammy Hampton, his 1st, but North scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 4th, stunning every Johnson County coach, player, and fan. You feel good about fighting back, but the close score at the finish only magnifies the plays earlier in the game that turned out to cost you the game. The Horns took the second game by the score of 12-5. Mark Jennings went the distance for Johnson County. He struck out 4, against only 1 BB. Sammy Hampton went 5-10 in the doubleheader, with 3 runs scored, a home run, and 2 RBI. Eric Cullop went 3-8, with a double, triple, and a home run. He knocked in 2 runs on the day. Zack Hayworth went 3-7, with a double, 3 runs scored, and 2 RBI. Mark Jennings went 4-6, with 4 runs scored, a double, and an RBI. Cody Greer went 4-7, with 3 runs scored, and 2 RBI. Johnson County hosts the Elizabethton Cyclones on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. |
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| Posted May 3/10 - Longhorns 4 vs. Patriots 6 Recap | |||||||||
| Sammy Hampton continues to pitch in "tough luck." He did not dominate the Sullivan East Patriots on Monday afternoon in game one of a doubleheader, but he pitched well enough to pick up his first victory of the 2010 season. Hampton gave up 8 hits over 7 innings of work, striking out 2, walking 4, and surrendering 6 runs, of which 4 were earned. It was Hampton's second consecutive complete game effort. Sawyer Ward has now hit safely in 16 of our 18 games this season, as the junior leadoff hitter went 2-3, with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 6th, and an RBI single in the bottom of the 7th. Eric Cullop, Zack Hayworth, Tyler Fenner, Sammy Hampton, and Cody Greer all had hits for the Longhorns. Fenner's was a two strike, RBI single, and Greer's was a 2B to lead off the 6th inning. Sawyer Ward took one for the team in the second game of the doubleheader. Johnson County will be playing 8 games in 6 days this week, and on Monday afternoon, Ward gave the staff a spot start. It was his second start of the 2010 season, with the other coming at Cloudland. Ward pitched into the 3rd inning before tiring. Austin Humphrey came on in relief for Ward, before he gave way to senior centerfielder, Eric Cullop, who was making the first pitching appearance of his high school career. Freshman lefty, Jacob Henson, also got some valuable time on the mound. Zack Hayworth hit a double for the Longhorns. Anytime you play this many games in such a short time span, it leaves many ideas and opinions of how one should handle their pitching staff. Some may say that we should not have thrown Sammy Hampton on Monday, because Monday's games really did not mean anything as far as the conference standings go, compared to Tuesday's games against North. Throwing Hampton did give us a chance to win, and it will allow him to be available on Friday in the district tournament opener, on three days rest. Cody Greer and Mark Jennings will start on Tuesday against North. If Sammy would have been held out until Wednesday, against Elizabethton, we would not have had anyone on our Varsity starting staff who was on proper rest going into the district tournament opener on Friday. Almost any decision made leaves one open to be second guessed, especially if the outcome does not come out in your favor, as was the case on Monday afternoon in Johnson County. The Horns need a sweep of the doubleheader on Tuesday to move ahead of Sullivan North and finish 5th in the Three Rivers Conference. |
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| Posted May 3/10 - Time Change | |||||||||
| First pitch of the Longhorn/Sullivan East Patriots doubleheader is now scheduled for 4:00. Hope to see you at the field. | |||||||||
| Posted May 2/10 - Stout earns 2nd complete game win of the season | |||||||||
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Andy Stout pitched his second complete game of the 2010 JV season on Saturday at Happy Valley. He surrendered only 5 hits in the 98 pitch effort. Freshman, Daniel Helm, broke out of a recent funk, as he went 3-4 at the plate, with a run scored. Big Harley Reece continued his great season as he went 3-4 with two doubles, and four runs batted. He also started a 5-4-3 double play late in the game, as he fielded a ground ball at third base, threw it to Chad Hodgkiss covering the bag at second base, who then threw the ball to Daniel Helm at first base, to turn the double play. The JV Longhorns played clean, fundamentally sound baseball, behind the pitching of Andy Stout, to earn their 7th victory of the 2010 season, against only three losses. |
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| Posted Apr 30/10 - JV Longhorns to stop and play at Cannon-Gouge Park against Happy Valley, while on their way to JV Tournament | |||||||||
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The 2010 JV Longhorn schedule has been a roller coaster, but we will now play at Happy Valley on Saturday morning, against the Warriors. First pitch is scheduled for 10:00 AM. Later that day the JV Longhorns will play the winner of a Tennessee High/David Crockett game, in a JV tournament at Sullivan Central High School. First pitch of that game is scheduled for 4:00 PM. |
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| Posted Apr 29/10 - JV Longhorns to play in tournament at Sullivan Central | |||||||||
| The Happy Valley Warriors were originally scheduled to come to Johnson County for a JV doubleheader, this Saturday, May 1st. Happy Valley now has a Varsity make-up game at Cannon-Gouge Park this Saturday against Sullivan East, so they cannot come up to play the Longhorns. We are now going to play in a JV Tournament at Sullivan Central High School. We play at 4:00 against the winner of a TN High/David Crockett game. This will be good competition for our JV club. We may attempt to make-up a game with Happy Valley if at all possible. It has been a struggle getting JV games in this year, but we have tried to put together a nice season for our young kids. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 27/10 - No rest for Longhorns going into District Tournament | |||||||||
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Inclement weather has forced the Longhorns to play six games in four days next week, to conclude the 2010 regular season. We host Sullivan East in a doubleheader on Monday. One game is a make-up from a Monday, March 29th washout. Although we want to win everygame, the games against East are not as important as Tuesday's doubleheader vs. Sullivan North. The North doubleheader will be played because of the rain-out on Tuesday, April 27th. After those four games, the Elizabethton Cyclones come to town on Wednesday. This is a result of the postponed game, this past Monday, April 26th. If that is not enough, the Hampton Bulldogs come to town on Thursday, for senior night. The Sullivan North doubleheader is the most important, because we are one game ahead of them in the Three Rivers Conference. We have 2 conference wins, to their 1, against us on Monday, April 12th. If we split (win one of two) with the Raiders on Tuesday, that assures us of staying out of the conference basement going into the district tournament. Wednesday's game against Elizabethton may be huge in determing seeding for the district tournament, but it also may not matter. It depends on Elizabethton's conference record going into that game. We have to be very careful with our pitching staff next week, because we do not want to have a starting pitcher unavailable next weekend, as we go into the tournament. That is why we may have to throw some inexperienced pitchers on Monday against East, and make sure we have Cody Greer, Sammy Hampton, and if needed, Mark Jennings and Zack Hayworth, to pitch against Sullivan North. Again, Wednesday's game may or may not matter as far as the conference standings go, and we have to think about our plan of attack on Thursday against Hampton, but we have to be careful, because we want to give our baseball club the best chance to succeed in the tournament, and that starts with having the pitcher we want, on the mound. |
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| Posted Apr 27/10 - POSTPONEMENT | |||||||||
| The doubleheader scheduled for today, Tuesday, April 27th against the Sullivan North Raiders, has been rescheduled as a home doubleheader, on Tuesday, May 4th. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 26/10 - POSTPONEMENT | |||||||||
| Today's game vs. the Elizabethton Cyclones has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 5th. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. We are scheduled to host Sullivan North in a doubleheader tomorrow, Tuesday, April 27th. First pitch of game 1 is scheduled for 4:00. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 24/10 - Danny Herman powers Longhorns past Highlanders | |||||||||
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Junior, Danny Herman, put in a lot of work this winter on his swing. He worked on staying through the baseball and getting good extension. Danny was rewarded for his hard work with a career day on Friday at Cloudland. He hit solo home runs in the top of the 2nd and the top of the 4th. Herman raised his season batting average to .389 (7-18). He was not the only one hitting the long ball. Tyler Fenner hit his 4th of the year, a solo shot in the 3rd. Eric Cullop hit his 2nd of the 2010 season in the top of the 5th, and after being robbed by Cloudland centerfielder, S. Miller, in the 4th, shortstop, Cody Greer, hit his first career home run in the 6th. The neat thing about Greer's home run is that we were trying to get all of our roster in the game, and we had begun to empty the bench, and pinch hit for people. We discussed allowing someone to pinch hit for Greer, but Coach Pavusek said, "Let's let him stay in and hit a home run," and Cody Greer did just that. This was our fourth game of the week, and our pitching staff was depleted, so Sawyer Ward stepped up for Johnson County. The versatile Ward, made his first start of the 2010 season on the mound. He shut out Cloudland over 5 innings of work. Sawyer struck out 6 and only walked one Highlander batter. Ward helped his own cause, by going 2-3 at the plate, knocking in a run, and scoring another. Eric Cullp added a base hit to his home run, to finish 2-3, with 2 runs scored. Tyler Fenner also added a hit to his home run as well, to finish 2-3. Cody Greer added a 2B to his home run to also finish 2-3 too. Many times Cloudland hurts themselves by making several defensive miscues, but on Friday, they played a good baseball game defensively, to keep the game somewhat competitive. The Longhorns host the Elizabethton Cyclones on Monday. The Cyclones will be looking to get a measure of revenge on Johnson County, after the Horns came back from a 5-0 deficit, to beat Elizabethton 7-6, on a Sammy Hampton walk off base hit on Tuesday, April 15th. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. |
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| Posted Apr 24/10 - Odd/Unique 2010 Longhorn Baseball Statistics | |||||||||
| **Sawyer Ward and Cody Greer are the only players on the roster who have walked more than they have struck out. Ward has 9 BB against only 6 Ks, and Greer has 7 BB against one strike out. *Austin Humphrey has not walked one time during the 2010 season. *Sammy Hampton has only walked one time (at Elizabethton). *Our pitching staff has more walks than strike outs (73 to 71). *Sawyer Ward has hit safely in 15 of our 17 games this season. He has been on base 52% of the time. *As a team we have as many homes runs (15), as stolen bases (15). The home run total is nice, but the fact that we have as many homers as stolen bags, shows we do not put runners in motion often, although Coach Pavusek has been doing that more as of late. We have stolen 15 bases in 17 attempts. *Cody Greer leads the team in doubles, although most people would assume it would be Ward, Hayworth, Humphrey, or Fenner. *9 different Longhorns have hit our 15 home runs. *We have only hit two triples as a team. Both of them came off of the bat of Eric Cullop, and both of them came in consecutive games. |
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| Posted Apr 22/10 - Apr 22/10 | |||||||||
| There are times that a pitchers won/loss record does not measure his true value to a baseball club. Sammy Hampton is an example of that for the 2010 Johnson County Longhorns. He is 0-4 on the year, but has started games at Unicoi County on opening day, vs. Happy Valley, at Elizabethton, and at Sullivan Central. That is three starts on the road, with one of them being at Unicoi County, and at Sullivan Central, which is a AAA school. Hampton leads the staff with 30 1/3 innings pitched on the season. He has the ability to go deep in games, and save our bullpen. Hampton also leads the team with 8 appearances on the season, as he has made 5 starts and 3 relief appearances. Don't let Hampton's record fool you, he is a quality Varsity pitcher. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 20/10 - Longhorns 6 Blue Devils 8 | |||||||||
| The crazy 2010 high school baseball season continues for the Johnson County Longhorns. We played what was at that time, our worst game of the season, on Monday, April 12th, in a loss at Sullivan North. We came back the very next day and played competitive baseball at Sullivan East. We earned a huge win, coming back from a 5-0 deficit, last Thursday against Elizabethton, to win 7-6, on a Sammy Hampton walkoff hit. Yesterday, we played what may have been a more disappointing game than the game at Sullivan North, playing sloppy, uninspired baseball in a 6-3 loss at Happy Valley. Then we come to today, Tuesday, April 20th. We traveled to Unicoi County to face the Blue Devils. For the third time this year we took an early lead. We had 3-0 leads on the Blue Devils in our first two games against them. On Tuesday, we jumped out to a 1-0 lead, as Sawyer Ward lead off the game with a home run, his second of the season. The Blue Devils had taken a 3-1 lead going into the 2nd inning, but a 2 RBI double by Ward, and a run scoring single by Zack Hayworth gave Johnson County a 4-3 lead. Ward scored shortstop, Cody Greer, and courtesy runner, Jacob Henson (running for David Lunceford). Hayworth plated Ward on his base knock. The Blue Devils had taken an 8-4 lead, but the Longhorns scored two runs in the top of the 7th. Greer led off the Johnson County 7th with a walk, as the Longhorns were taking until Unicoi County starting pitcher, Seth Whitson threw strikes. Unicoi Coach, Charlie Baxter, brought reigning conference pitcher of the year, Logan Rice, in for the second time this season against Johnson County, to get them out of a jam. Ward then worked a walk out of Rice, to put runners at 1st and 2nd for the visiting team. Centerfielder, Eric Cullop, who went 1-4 with an RBI on the day, struck out. Zack Hayworth, who went 2-4 on the day, then had a check-swing grounder fielded by the pitcher, Rice, and was thrown out at 1B. Rightfielder, Austin Humphrey, then struck out, but the ball got by the catcher, J, Birchfield, and Humphrey reached first base to load the bases for first baseman, Tyler Fenner. Fenner worked Logan Rice to a full count and hit a sharp grounder to second baseman, H. Tolley, but Tolley could not make a play on the grounder. Greer and Ward scored on the Unicoi error. Mark Jennings, who started on the mound, before moving to left field, came up with Humphrey on 3B and Fenner on 1B, but Jennings struck out to end the Longhorn threat, and the baseball game. Although Jennings did not keep the rally going, he did go 4 innings on the mound, giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs, with 2 Ks and 2 base on balls. Jennings record dropped to 1-2 on the 2010 season. Zack Hayworth was in relief for the second straight game. He went 2 innings, and gave up 1 run on 1 hit, struck one batter out and walked a Unicoi batter. The crazy seaon continues for the Longhorns, as we travel to Sullivan Central on Thursday, and travel to Roan Mountain to face the Cloudland Highlanders on Friday. Friday's first pitch is now schedule for 1:00, because Cloudland has their prom later on that night. The JV Longhorns will host Sullivan East on Friday afternoon at home. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 19/10 - Longhorns lose season series to Happy Valley | |||||||||
| The Longhorns lost a sloppy, 6-3 baseball game at Cannon-Gouge Park on Monday, against the Happy Valley Warriors. Cody Greer did what good pitchers do, he kept his team in the game even though he did not have his best stuff. It was just one of those days were the Longhorns could not get out of their own way. Unfortunately, there are days like that on the baseball diamond. Zack Hayworth, Sawyer Ward, Austin Humphrey, Tyler Fenner, Mark Jennings, David Lunceford, and Sammy Hampton all had hits for Johnson County. Humphrey, Fenner, Hampton, and Jennings all had doubles. Humphrey knocked in two runs on his extra base hit, and starting pitcher, Cody Greer, helped his own cause, by getting a run home on a 4-3 putout. The Longhorns travel to Unicoi County on Tuesday to battle the Blue Devils. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 17/10 - After slump, Hayworth coming up big for Longhorns | |||||||||
| Zack Hayworth may have been too putting much pressure on himself early in the season, because he wants to have a big senior season, and because he realizes as the number three hitter in the lineup, he is vital to the success of the team. For the last four games Hayworth has been the offensive force that everyone associated with Longhorn Baseball knows he can be. He is 5 for his last 11 (.450), with 3 2B, 4 RBI, 6 Runs, and 4 base on balls. If we are to dig out of this conference hole that we have played our way in, Zack Hayworth will be one of the big reasons why. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 16/10 - Notes from the Varsity and JV Longhorn wins over Cloudland | |||||||||
| Leadoff hitter, Sawyer Ward scored 5 runs on 2 base knocks, 2 walks, and an HBP Centerfielder, Eric Cullop, had 4 RBI, and hit a 3B for the second consecutive day First baseman, Tyler Fenner hit his 3rd home run of the season and knocked in 4 runs on the day. Freshman, Judd Hammons, Ryan Smith, and Jacob Henson made their Varsity debuts as position players, although Hammons and Henson often run for the Varsity pitcher and catcher positions. Hammons and Smith had base knocks, and Henson hit a 2B and knocked in a run. Hammons and Smith scored runs. Kyle Miller made his 2010 debut as a position player. He walked and scored. Harley Reece earned his 2nd win of the 2010 JV season, as he gave up only 2 runs in 4 innings of work. The JV Longhorns are now 6-2 on the season, as they defeated most of Cloudland's Varsity club by the score of 8-3. |
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| Posted Apr 16/10 - Fenner having a big senior season | |||||||||
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Senior first baseman, Tyler Fenner, has been one of the better defensive first baseman in the conference throughout his career, as he showed in making three great defensive plays at home against the Unicoi County Blue Devils, but this season he is showing some of that offensive potential that I saw when I coached him as a sophomore. Fenner is second on the team with a .368 batting average, and leads the team with 2 home runs and 10 runs batted in. Tyler won the game for Johnson County at Happy Valley with a late home run. He had a huge RBI single late in the games at Sullivan North, although the Horns could not hold on, and he led off the bottom of the 7th with a soaring double to the right-center gap to put himself in scoring position, yesterday against the Elizabethton Cyclones. He has put the time in working on his swing, and he continues to do so, in hopes of playing at the next level. |
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| Posted Apr 16/10 - Another JV postponement | |||||||||
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Our JV doubleheader vs. the Happy Valley Warriors, scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, April 17th, has been postponed. We will reschedule soon. |
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| Posted Apr 15/10 - Latest News and Notes | |||||||||
| Sammy Hampton will be taking the ball today, as the Elizabethton Cyclones travel to Johnson County. Hampton will be looking for his first win of the 2010 season, but in fairness to him, Hampton has started games at Unicoi County, at home against Happy Valley, and at Elizabethton. Sammy, like the rest of our pitchers, has been inconsistent this season, but when he is on, he is very good. We haved added another JV home game. The JV Longhorns will play the Cloudland Highlanders following the Varsity game against Cloudland tomorrow night. The JV Longhorns will host Happy Valley on Saturday. Hope to see you at the ballpark. |
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| Posted Apr 15/10 - Longhorns earn thrilling 7-6 Three Rivers Conference win | |||||||||
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As frustrating as Monday’s loss was at Sullivan North, Thursday’s win may have been even more rewarding. The Longhorns were trailing the Elizabethton Cyclones 5-0 going into the Longhorn half of the 4th, but the Horns would get on the board. First baseman, Tyler Fenner, started the inning by getting hit by a pitch, one of two times that would happen on the afternoon. Mark Jennings then reached on an error. They advanced to second and third base on a balk by Cyclone pitcher, Jake Davis. Catcher, David Lunceford then scored Fenner by hitting a fly ball to left field that allowed Fenner to tag up and score. Shortstop, Cody Greer, then hit a double, scoring Jennings from second. Johnson County went to their half of the 5th down 5-2. Centerfielder, Eric Cullop, began the inning by hitting a double that about took Cyclone shortstop, Jordan Hinshaw’s glove off as it went into the outfield. Zack Hayworth stayed hot, as he scored Cullop by hitting a 2B of his own. Austin Humphrey then flew out to right field. Tyler Fenner then walked, to put Longhorn runners at 1st and 2nd base. Mark Jennings, who was the designated hitter on Thursday, hit a single to left-center, scoring Hayworth from second. Jennings base hit put runners at 1st and 3rd for the Longhorns. Jennings then stole second base, and the Cyclone catcher, Thomas Miller, came up and tried to throw Fenner out at third base, but the ball sailed into left field, allowing Tyler to tie the game at 5 runs apiece. Danny Herman, pinch hitting for Lunceford, and Sammy Hampton, got out to end the Longhorn 5th. Johnson County went into the 6th looking to break the 5-5 tie. Cody Greer began the inning by popping out to the Cyclone first baseman, who was now starting pitcher, Jake Davis. Sawyer Ward, who played third base and second base in this game, hit a line drive shot up the middle to give Johnson County a runner. Eric Cullop followed up the double his previous at-bat, by hitting a triple over the head of Cyclone centerfielder, Zack Boles, scoring Ward from first base, to give Johnson County a 6-5 lead. Hayworth and Humphrey both popped up in the infield to strand Cullop at 3rd. Elizabethton tied the game at 6 in their half of the 7th, by running a suicide squeeze, as designated hitter, Alec Whitehead, scored Zack Boles on the squeeze, tying the game at 6 runs apiece. Johnson County went into the bottom of the 7th looking to win the game and avoid extra inning baseball. Tyler Fenner, who reached base four times on the day, began the inning by hitting a double to right-center that appeared to have a chance to leave the park. Mark Jennings was then intentionally walked to put runners at 1st and 2nd for Johnson County, and put the double play in order for the Cyclones. Freshman, Judd Hammons was inserted as a pinch runner for Fenner. David Lunceford then came up and singeld to left field, but the ball was hit too hard and got to left fielder, Jake Hubbard, too fast to score Hammons. Sammy Hampton, who started the game on the mound for the Longhorns, and also played second base and third base in this game, hit a 1-1 pitch through the drawn in Cyclone defense, to give Johnson County the thrilling 7-6 win. Hampton received a no decision, as he was responsible for the 5 Cyclone runs, but Zack Hayworth came in, got the win, and pitched what may be the best baseball of his high school career, as he gave up only 3 hits and 1 run in this 3 innings of work. Now that the losing streak is over, we look to build on this momentum and gain some ground in the Three Rivers Conference. We go out of conference tomorrow, as we host the Cloudland Highlanders. First pitch has been moved back to 5:30, because the Highlanders will be late leaving Roan Mountain. A JV Longhorn game will follow the Varsity action. We hope to see you at the ballpark. |
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| Posted Apr 13/10 - Statistics | |||||||||
| The pitching statistics from the Longhorn game at Sullivan Central will be posted soon. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 13/10 - Longhorns 5 Sullivan East 7 | |||||||||
| A loss is a loss no matter how you spin it, but some losses are easier to take than others. The Johnson County Longhorns played well on Tuesday against the Sullivan East Patriots. The defense did not committ one error. Second baseman, Zack Hayworth hit three balls well, and went 2-4 on the day, including a 2 RBI 2B. We had 9 hits as team, and that does not include a ball hit to the right-center gap off of the bat of Cody Greer, that was tracked down by the East centerfielder, D. Grear. That also does not include a line drive home run off of the bat of Sawyer Ward that was called a foul ball by the home plate umpire. Junior, Mark Jennings, started on the mound for the Longhorns and threw the ball well, although his pitching stat line will not show it. A big East 4th inning knocked Jennings from the game. Sammy Hampton came in and threw 2 2/3 innings of really good baseball, giving up 2 hits, and striking out 2, without a base on ball. This was a loss that had some posititive things that could be taken from it, but as we said, a loss is a loss. The Elizabethton Cyclones travel to Johnson County on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 12/10 - Today's Schedule | |||||||||
| The Varsity travels to Sullivan North today for conference play. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00. The JV Longhorns will play following the Varsity game. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 12/10 - Very Frustrating day for Longhorn Baseball | |||||||||
| When the 2010 season is complete, and we look back, I do not think there will be a more frustrating memory than Monday, April 12th. The Longhorns traveled to play a Sullivan North team that was winless in the Three Rivers Conference. They are winless no more. North had a 1-0 lead going into the top of the 6th inning, but Sawyer Ward led off the inning with a single to left field. Eric Cullop then sacrifice bunted him over to second base. Zack Hayworth has been struggling as of late, but we hope Monday got him going, as he knocked in Ward with a double to left field. Two batters later, first baseman, Tyler Fenner, scored Hayworth from second with a two strike hit in the 5.5 hole between third base and shortstop. The Horns went into the bottom of the 6th with a 2-1 lead, feeling good with senior ace, Cody Greer, on the hump. Greer pitched well, giving up only five hits over his six innings of work. Greer struck out five against four walks. The bottom of the 6th started off well for Johnson County, as Greer got the Sullivan North first baseman to hit a "can of corn" fly ball to left field for the fist out. Greer then gave up back to back singles, which put runners on first and second with one out. Back to back passed balls put North up 3-2. Greer also gave up another sinlge and a walk in the inning, but struck out two straight to end the 6th. David Lunceford flew out to left to begin the Longhorn 7th. Sammy Hampton was then hit in the back by a pitch, to give Johnson County a base runner with one out. Cody Greer was next up at the plate, looking to help his own cause. He lined out to right field, but Hampton, who thought he had been given the steal sign, took off for second base, and did not make it back to first base before being doubled off to end the game. Very frustrating day for Longhorn Baseball. The JV Longhorns were coming off huge back to back wins against the Unicoi County Blue Devil JV squad, but that did not matter on Monday. Freshman, Andy Woods, made the first start of his high school career, and did not pitch bad, but a win was not to be for Johnson County. He left the game facing a 6-1 deficit. Johnson County battled back to tie it at 6, but North scored two in the bottom of the 4th to take an 8-6 lead. They made that score hold up in the top of the 5th. Chad Hodgkiss went 2-2 with a double and a signle for the Longhorns. He knocked in two runs. Jacob Henson hit a double and scored a run. The JV Longhorns are now 5-2 on the season. The Elizabethton Cyclones are now coming to Johnson County, this Thursday, April 15th. This game will be played due to the washout on March 22nd. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00. We travel to Sullivan East tomorrow. Mark Jennings is scheduled to get the ball for the Longhorns. The Patriots recently defeated the Unicoi County Blue Devils by the score of 2-1. |
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| Posted Apr 10/10 - JV Longhorns sweep Blue Devils | |||||||||
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The JV Longhorns improved to 5-1 on the season after sweeping the Unicoi County Blue Devils in a doubleheader Saturday. Sophomore, Andy Stout, pitched a seven inning complete game gem in the 3-2 game one win, as he only gave up 5 hits, and struck out 5, against 0 walks. Harley Reece was the offensive hero for the Longhorns, as he went 2-3, with all three of the Longhorn RBI. Reece knocked in Judd Hammons, who singled, in the 1st, Jacob Henson, who singled, in the 3rd, and Ryan Smith, who also singeld, in the 5th on a sacrifice fly to right field. Leadoff hitter, Judd Hammons, and two hole hitter, Jacob Henson, both had two hits for Johnson County. |
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| Posted Apr 9/10 - Varsity game against Central will now be played at Central | |||||||||
| The Varsity will now play at Sullivan Central today, due to Thursday's rain. It has been a crazy season of schedule changes so far, but we do apologize for the inconvenience. | |||||||||
| Posted Apr 8/10 - INCLEMENT WEATHER | |||||||||
| Thursday's JV doubleheader against the Unicoi County Blue Devils has been postponed. It will be made up this Saturday, April 10th, with first pitch scheduled for 12:00 noon. The JV will travel to Sullivan East tomorrow, and travel to Sullivan North on Monday. If we do not lose any games of off our current schedule, we will play 11 games this JV season. Our goal is 15, so we are still looking for baseball games. The Varsity club will be hosting The Sullivan Central Cougars tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 5:00. The Longhorns, 4-4, will be looking to get back over .500 on the year. |
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| Posted Apr 7/10 - JV Longhorns to play three games in the next two days, but not on Saturday | |||||||||
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The JV Longhorns host the Unicoi County Blue Devils on Thursday night and travel to Sullivan East on Friday, but for the second straight home date, the Holston Cavaliers have cancelled. Saturday's home double header has been cancelled. That may help our pitching staff though, because we travel to Sullivan North on Monday, so now our arms will have a little rest. It's been a struggle trying to get JV games in with the weather and schedule changes. |
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| Posted Apr 6/10 - Cyclones 5 Longhorns 1 | |||||||||
| It has been a frustrating two days for everyone associated with the Johnson County Longhorn Baseball Program. We had our worst showing of the young season, on Tuesday, at Elizabethton. Sammy Hampton kept us in the game, as he went 5 innings and gave up 4 earned runs, struck out 6, against 3 walks, but we did not help him offensively. Cody Greer, Austin Humphrey, and Sawyer Ward had the lone Longhorn hits. Humphrey's was a 2B in the top of the 5th that scored Zack Hayworth, who reached on a BB. James Reece worked the 6th, striking out the side. Hopefully that is something Reece can build on. The JV Longhorns will host the Unicoi County Blue Devils on Thursday evening, with first pitch being thrown at 5:00. The Varsity club is back in action Friday, as we host Sullivan Central, with first pitch also being at 5:00. Some of the air has been let out of our baloon the last two days, but all we can do is keep on working, striving to improve. God Bless, Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Apr 5/10 - Blue Devils 12 Longhorns 3 | |||||||||
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For the second game this season the Johnson County Longhorns had a 3-0 lead on the Unicoi County Blue Devils in the bottom of the first inning, but for the second time this season, that lead did not hold up. On Monday evening, it was not even close. Cody Greer took the ball on the mound for the Longhorns, but he battled shoulder soreness, which lead to unusual wildness for Greer. Greer walked 5 in his 2 innings of work. Mark Jennings came in and pitched his best baseball of the young season. He gave up 3 earned runs in his 5 IP. He was also responsible for the Johnson County runs, as he hit a bases clearing 2B that was responsible for those runs in the 1st inning. Sawyer Ward and Eric Cullop both had base knocks and scored runs. Tyler Fenner scored a run on a BB, and made three very nice defensive plays at 1B. Austin Humphrey, Sammy Hampton, and Greer also had base hits for the home team. It was just a frustrating game, because we realize we did not play well, but we do not think Unicoi County played really good baseball either, but the final score was not close to being in our favor. We have to rebound quickly, because we travel to Elizabethton to play the Cyclones on Tuesday. The Cyclones will be looking to recover from a Monday loss at the hands of the Happy Valley Warriors. |
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| Posted Apr 4/10 - Greer to take the mound on Monday against the Blue Devils | |||||||||
| We do not want to be guilty of over hyping a April 5th regular season baseball game, but this may be the biggest start of Cody Greer's high school baseball career. We are coming off of a huge conference win at Happy Valley. If we could upset the Unicoi County Blue Devils on Monday, it would make all of upper East TN stand up and take notice. A win tomorrow would even our conference record up at 2-2, and give us a 5-2 overall slate. Hope to see you at the ballpark. Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Apr 2/10 - Easter | |||||||||
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EVERYONE ASSOCIATED WITH LONGHORN BASEBALL WOULD LIKE TO WISH EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU A HAPPY & BLESSED EASTER WEEKEND! |
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| Posted Apr 1/10 - And The Beat Goes On | |||||||||
| For whatever reason, the Holston Cavaliers did not have us on their schedule for today, so that game has been cancelled. However, because we are really trying to have a legitimate JV Program and JV season, the Cloudland Highlanders will be coming to Johnson County today to face the JV Longhorns. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30. Andy Stout will be taking the ball first for Johnson County, but several pitchers will throw, because we have not had a JV game in over a week and do not have another one for that same length of time. Hope to see you at the ballpark. The Varsity club will travel to Cannon-Gouge Park at Happy Valley High School looking to get revenge against the Warriors after Tuesday's 11-9 defeat. James Reece will be taking the ball for the Longhorns. We will be looking to get our first conference win of the 2010 season. |
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| Posted Apr 1/10 - Big Thursday for Longhorn Baseball | |||||||||
| Tyler Fenner went deep for the second straight game, both against the Happy Valley Warriors. This home run, a three run shot, gave the Longhorns a 7-5 lead in the top of the 7th. Cody Greer earned the win in relief, as he went 4 2/3 innings giving up 6 hits, but only allowing 2 earned runs (3 total). Greer struck out 4, walked 2, and hit 1. Greer helped his cause at the plate, as he went 2-3 with 3 RBI. Catcher, David Lunceford, also had 2 hits for Johnson County. Zack Hayworth, Austin Humphrey, Sammy Hampton, and Mark Jennings also collected base hits for Johnson County. This was the Longhorns first conference win of the 2010 season. Hopefully it's also a win that shows other teams in the Three Rivers Conferenve that the Johnson County Longhorns are not just a bottom feeding team that does not have the ability to win a lot of baseball games. We look forward to hosting the Unicoi County Blue Devils on Monday afternoon. The JV Longhorns beat the Cloudland Highlanders 27-0. Yes, you read that right, 27-0. The score could have been much worse if runners would not have been held at third on wild pitches and passed balls. It's always good to play games, and not to knock Cloudland, but the pregame work may have benefited the team more than the actual game. The JV Longhorns are now 3-0 on the season, but they will be tested next Thursday, as the JV Unicoi County Blue Devils come to town. |
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| Posted Mar 30/10 - Warriors 11 Longhorns 9 | |||||||||
| Wow!!! That is the only word to describe Tuesday's game against the Happy Valley Warriors. We were down 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth, and battled back to make it 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth. We were down 11-4 after the Warriors scored 5 runs in the top of the seventh, and scored 5 of our own in the bottom of the seventh, to make the final score 11-9. We had twelve hits against the Warriors and are averaging ten runs per game on the season. Eric Cullop, who is hitting .529 on the season, went 3-4 with a 2B, and a 2-run home run in the bottom of the seventh. Tyler Fenner raised his batting average to .471, as he went 2-4, including his first career home run, a two run shot over the left field wall, in the bottom of the fifth. Sawyer Ward matched Cullop's three hits, and also is matching Cullop with a team leading .529 batting average. Ward also scored twice. Outfielder, Austin Humphrey, also had a couple of base hits, knocked in a run, and scored another. Mark Jennings and starting pitcher, Sammy Hampton, also collected hits for the Longhorns. Johnson County has hit more home runs already during the 2010 baseball season than it did during the entire 2009 season. Offensively, we feel we match up with anyone in the Three Rivers Conference. We always try to be balanced here in the "insider." I say that to say that this, we must improve on the mound if we are going to win in our conference. We have a team ERA of 5.42, and that looks better than it really is thanks to Cody Greer's shutout of the Hampton Bulldogs. Defensively we have played well, but we struggled against the Warriors, committing five errors on Tuesday afternoon. We have the potential to have a really good ball club, but we must play well in all facets of the game. The Longhorns have a chance to quickly get revenge against Happy Valley, as they travel to Cannon-Gouge Park to face the Warriors on Thursday afternoon. We have said that this week will tell us a lot about our baseball club. So far we know we can hit the baseball. So far we know we can score runs. We think we are a good defensive club, and we expect our pitchers to get in a rhythm as the weather improves. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 29/10 - Doubleheader | |||||||||
| Today's home game against the Sullivan East Patriots has been postponed. It will be made up as the second game of a doubleheader on May 3rd. These postponements may just seem like an inconvenience now, but they could really hurt our ball club later in the season. If we have to play four or five games a week later on, due to all of these postponements, it will put a huge strain on our pitching staff. A pitcher who normally starts a game and throws around 60+ pitches, usually does not get back on the mound until they have had at least three days rest. I say that to say, if a pitcher on our team struggles, and we have several games that week, our relief options may be limited, due to the amount of games played and pitchers used. You have to hope your starters go deep in the game, to ensure your staff does not get depleted. God Bless, Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Mar 28/10 - Inclement Weather | |||||||||
| The JV Longhorns had two road games cancelled this past week. We traded those two road postponements for three more home games. The JV Unicoi County Blue Devils were on the schedule for an April 8th home game. That April 8 date is now a doubleheader against the Blue Devils due to the March 26th wash out. Rain postponed the JV Longhorns trip to Holston on Thursday, the 25th. The Cavaliers will now come to Johnson County on Saturday, April 10th, for a doubleheader, with first pitch scheduled for 12:00 pm. We are still attempting to add more game for the JV Longhorns, and although we have not had much success as of yet, we are excited about these three new home dates. | |||||||||
| Posted Mar 25/10 - Longhorns 12 Holston Cavaliers 2 | |||||||||
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Senior right handed pitcher, James Reece, never really settled into a rhythm, but he was effective in shutting out the Cavaliers. Reece only surrendered two base hits, but did struggle with command, as he walked five Holston batters and had three HBP. When James throws strikes and gets ahead in the count, he can be very solid on the mound. The Longhorns continued their nice offensive start to the 2010 season, as they pounded out 11 hits. Senior centerfielder, Eric Cullop, went 2-3 with a 2B, while driving in three Longhorn runs. Cullop's double was a screamer that got past the centerfielder in a hurry. Senior first baseman, Tyler Fenner, continues to settle in offensively, as he went 2-3 on the day. Third baseman, Sawyer Ward, swung the bat great on Thursday afternoon, but only had one base hit to show for it. Ward flew out twice, but put two very good swings on the baseball. He also walked and scored twice on the day. Mark Jennings only had one hit in three trips to the dish, but his one hit was a three-run line drive bomb, over the left field fence in the bottom of the 3rd. Zack Hayworth, designated hitter, Danny Herman, and Sammy Hampton, who made a great defensive play after entering the game in right field for Austin Humphrey, also had base knocks. Humphrey had a 1B before leaving the game with a sore hamstring. We are currently averaging over 10 runs per game on the season. |
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| Posted Mar 24/10 - More JV Schedule Changes | |||||||||
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We know schedule changes can be an inconvenience, but we hope you are excited that we are attempting to schedule more baseball games. The JV Longhorns will now return to Holston, tomorrow, March 25th, to play the Cavaliers. The JV club beat the Cavaliers last Friday by a score of 10-2. Harley Reece, who won the JV opener at Hampton, will be on the hill for Johnson County. The JV Horns travel to Unicoi County to face the Blue Devils on Friday. Andy Stout will have the ball on the mound for Johnson County in that game. We are attempting to schedule two JV doubleheaders for Saturday, April 17th and Saturday, April 24th. We have contacted several schools and are waiting for a reply. Many teams in our area do not put much of an emphasis on JV baseball, as two high schools in our area told us they do not have JV teams. Please bear with us as we attempt to have the largest JV schedule in the Pete Pavusek era at JCHS. |
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| Posted Mar 23/10 - Holston Cavaliers travel to Johnson County on Thursday | |||||||||
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Although the schedule said otherwise, the Holston Cavaliers will now travel to Johnson County on Thursday, to play the Longhorns. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. |
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| Posted Mar 22/10 - Longhorns Host Cyclones | |||||||||
| A makeup date has not been announced for today's postponed Longhorns/Elizabethton Cyclones game. Check back on the "insider" and "schedule" pages to see the most recent schedule changes. God Bless, Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Mar 20/10 - Premiere Longhorn Baseball | |||||||||
| Saturday, March 20th was a very special day for Longhorn Baseball. We ran Premiere Longhorn Baseball, which was a clinic for young children in Johnson County. We worked with sixty kids!! Our players and coaches did a great job interacting with, and instructing the kids. Many people were at our ballpark today, who did not even know how to get to our field, much less been to it. Our players were dressed in uniform and looked and acted in a professional manner. It was a great representation for our baseball program. We want to thank everyone who contributed in making it a success. We hope to do it bigger, and better, in 2011. God Bless, Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Mar 18/10 - Varsity and JV Have Their Way With The Bulldogs From Hampton | |||||||||
| Cody Greer earned his first victory of the 2010 high school baseball season on Thursday afternoon at the Hampton Bulldogs. The senior right hander pitched a complete game (five innings due to the mercy rule), while striking out six against only one walk, and allowing only four hits. We hope this is the beginning of a big season from Greer. Austin Humphrey led the way offensively. The slugging corner outfielder went 3-4 with a 2B that plated two runs. Danny Herman, getting his second straight start at designated hitter, went 2-3. Herman scored twice and had an RBI. Centerfielder Eric Cullop went 2-4, with an RBI, run, and a stolen base. First baseman, Tyler Fenner, had a hit, knocked in a run, and scored a run. He put some better swings on the ball against Hampton. We hope it's a sign of things to come from Tyler. Sawyer Ward continued his blazing start to the season by picking up 2 RBI, scoring 2 runs, and leading off the game with a 2B. Catcher, David Lunceford, hit a deep double, and Sammy Hampton, playing the shortstop position, recorded a hit, and knocked in a run. Cody Greer helped his own cause by scoring twice, reaching base with a base hit and a walk. We did what an up and coming team is supposed to do, and that's easily handle a team that we are physically superior to. We did not have much of an intensity letdown coming into Hampton after traveling to Unicioi County on Tuesday. That's a sign of a mature, veteran ball club. The Longhorns travel to Holston, VA on Friday, to battle the Cavaliers. A JV game will follow the Varsity game. Our JV Club opened the season with a 16-9 victory over Hampton. Harley Reece settled down on the mound after a rough first inning to earn the win. We do not have official numbers from the game, but Judd Hammons and Jacob Henson showed why the sky is the limit as far as their high school baseball careers are concerned. Chad Hodgkiss showed that he truly is one of the most improved players, Varsity or JV, in upper East TN. Hodgkiss played a very good second base. Freshman Ryan Mahala, Daniel Helm, and Ryan Smith, all played solid in their first extended high school baseball action. Zack Storz, Kyle Miller, and Caleb Boudle, also contributed for the Longhorns. Andy Woods pitched the final inning to finish the game. We are very excited about our JV Program. |
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| Posted Mar 16/10 - Longhorns 7 at Blue Devils 12 Recap | |||||||||
| No one would dare take anything away from the Unicoi County Blue Devils Baseball Program, but any game recap concerning a game played at Baxter Field has to include the small dimensions of that ballpark. The Blue Devils hit six home runs off of Longhorn Pitching on Tuesday afternoon. Four or five of those homers would have stayed inside our park here in Johnson County. It's very tough on a pitching staff when you know that anything hit in the air has a chance to go out. In saying that, the Longhorns hopefully earned a little bit of respect and gained some confidence as the 2010 season gets underway. Johnson County had a 7-2 lead on the defending conference champions going into the bottom of the 3rd. Senior Second Baseman, Zack Hayworth, hit a three-run bomb in the bottom of the 1st scoring Sawyer Ward and Eric Cullop, who reached on base hits. Austin Humphrey hit a towering solo home run in the top of the 3rd to create the 7-2 score. The Longhorns actually had runners at 1st and 3rd base, when Coach Charlie Baxter brought in defending conference pitcher of the year, Logan Rice, to put out the flames. Johnson County did not cross the plate again on the afternoon, and the Blue Devils continued to take advantage of the dimensions of their ballpark, because they are a very good baseball club. The 7-2 lead turned into a 12-7 defeat, but not without making many who visted Baxter Field, think twice about our baseball club. Starting pitcher, Sammy Hampton helped his own cause, going 2-3 with a 2B and 2 runs batted in. Junior, Sawyer Ward, had two hits for Johnson County, and Tyler Fenner, and David Lunceford also contributed base hits. See the "Schedule" page for a box score of this game. The Longhorns travel to play the Hampton Bulldogs in non-conference action on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30, with a JV game to follow. | |||||||||
| Posted Feb 26/10 - Longhorn Baseball getting work in, in spite of the unfavorable weather conditions | |||||||||
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The weather has wrecked havoc on high school baseball programs all through upper East TN, but Longhorn Baseball has got some quality work in, in spite of the weather conditions. We are blessed to have the indoor facility that allows us to get quality cuts in, and allows our pitchers the opportunity to get their work in. I am sure the kids take it for granted sometimes, but after coaching at a program last year where I had to run practices in the school cafeteria and hallway, I very much realize what a blessing the indoor facility is. We are also very fortunate to have the tennis courts as an option to work on specific skills, and we recently took our team down on the field in the middle of the track to get some fly balls and ground balls. Obviously there is no substitute for being on the baseball diamond, but in saying that, we feel good about the work we have been able to get in. Now it's just a matter of getting quality repetitions on the field. |
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| Posted Feb 19/10 - Longhorn Baseball getting great leadership from Hayworth, Fenner, & Reece in the preseason | |||||||||
| We have a veteran baseball club with eight senior players on the roster, but the leadership of three in the early going has been huge. Second Baseman and Right Handed Pitcher, Zack Hayworth, First Baseman, Tyler Fenner, and Outfielder and Right Handed Pitcher, James Reece have stepped up day in and day out and showed leadership and a committment to the program. Hayworth may not be as well known outside of Johnson County, but he is one of the best Second Baseman in the new Three Rivers Conference. Fenner is entering his third year as starting First Baseman for Coach Pavusek's ball club and has always been very good defensively, but he is looking to take his game to another level offensively and looking to reach his full potential. Reece may be one of the most improved players in the conference. He has the ability to be a shut down number one pitcher if he can throw all of his pitches for strikes and stay ahead in the count. As a successful season approaches, that will feature contributions from other seniors such as Eric Cullop, Cody Greer, and David Lunceford, not to mention players such as Austin Humphrey, Sammy Hampton, Sawyer Ward, and Danny Herman, we can look back on the leadership of three in the early going that really set the tone for the 2010 Longhorn Baseball season. God bless, Coach Perkins |
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| Posted Feb 7/10 - PREMIERE LONGHORN BASEBALL | |||||||||
| The Johnson County Longhorn Baseball Program will be hosting Premiere Longhorn Baseball on Saturday, March 20th. We will be working with two different age groups teaching them the fundamental skills of the game and having a good time as we do it. 7-10 Year Olds 9:00-12:00 $15.00 Per Player Applications Must Be Turned In By March 10th To Ensure Your Child Receives A Premiere Longhorn Baseball T-Shirt. Applications Can Be Downloaded On The Printable Page On The Left. They Can Also Be Picked Up At Little League Tryouts On March 6th at Cunningham Park (Roan Creek Elementary If The Weather Will Not Allow For The Tryout To Be Outside). 11-12 Year Olds 1:00-4:00 |
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