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.

After a six hour wait, the JV Longhorns were the home team at Sullivan Central, against the Tennessee High Vikings, in a JV tournament.  First pitch was delayed for almost two hours, because the previous games in the tournament went longer than expected.  Harley Reece took the ball on the mound and threw well.  He kept the Vikings off balance, as the five runs he gave up in the 8-1 loss, were not off of balls that were hit hard.  The hardest ball hit off of Reece, was a line drive single up the middle.  TN High batters were out in front off of Reece, as they hit three or four little bloopers that fell behind the infield, but in front of the outfielders, for hits that turned into runs.  Chad Hodgkiss played an excellent game against the Vikings, as he hit a two strike opposite field base hit to right field, that eventually led to the only run of the game.  He also drew a walk, and made some great defensive plays at second base were he had to get rid of the ball fast, because a couple of fast Viking runners were coming down the base path.  Hodgkiss also made a diving catch were he had to come in on a ball that was popped up in the infield, but was dying fast.  Freshman, first baseman, Daniel Helm, went 1-3, and hit a couple of hard outs to right field. Andy Stout also had a base knock for the Longhorns.  His hit moved Helm to third base, and I held him up at third base, because the TN High centerfielder was already at the ball right behind second base, but he had trouble getting the ball out of his glove, so Helm would have scored easily.  That's a tough play as a coach, because you feel like you cost your team a run, although we feel like the runner would have been thrown out at the plate if the ball was fielded cleanly, and your never anticipate the fielder will miss the ball, especially against a good team like the TN High Vikings. 

God Bless,
Coach Perkins