JOHNSON COUNTY LONGHORN BASEBALL NEWS ITEM

Sunday
Jun 2/24
11:45 am
EST

JOHNSON COUNTY LONGHORN BASEBALL

NEWS ITEM

BallCharts.com/jchsbaseball

Admin

Attendance:

Mountain City
TN
USA

<< back to news

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.

Lineup Cards, Dugout Charts, Pitching Charts, Free Team Pages, Free League Pages