Who takes the pill in the first round.

A giant mistake some coaches make in this tournament is looking past their first round opponent. Can't play the second game unless you win the first. I go with my stud pitcher to start game one. BG's coach is an interesting spot. These are his choices.

CODY GILCREST- I believe he should be mentioned in the same conversation as Poore and Turner. Shutouts against South, West, and Dover. Three saves. Our right fielder doesn't fall down he shuts out Merrimack {he lost 4-3}. His only bad game was Concord where he was tagged for 8 runs in 3 innings. That was the game he hurt his back. He will be ready for the playoffs. I don't start him, been out for 5 games might be a little rusty. I would not hesitate to bring him in relief in the first game.

CHRISTIAN FERLAN- The most underrated pitcher in the state. Held Trinity to 1 run over 7 innings, held Salem to one hit and scoreless with 2 outs in the seventh until a kid gets a hit and scores 2 runs. North scored 4 runs off him, 3 of them because his infield was playing their version of hot potato with the baseball. He is a cool customer, make an error behind him he doesn't get flustered, he thinks about the next out. This is who I would give the ball to in game 1.


JOE McCARTHY- Big Joe is already being looked at by college scouts. He has 4 wins and 1 loss {at Keene]. He is usually lights out for 5 innings then begins to tire a litttle. I give him the rock in game 2 if they advance and bring Gilcrest out of the pen.

PAT CLAPP- Remember the name. He is also going to have a HUGE say in this thing. He has been a lights out closer all year, he brings the CHEDDAR. He started against Central last game of the year, he gave up one run, and was getting faster in the sixth inning. Would not surpise me if he starts or closes any games. He has been stellar all season long.

Heard today at the BG/North JV game that turner is not going to go in game 1 unless it gets necessary. Could be interesting. I don't see how you could not use your #1 in game 1. All games are must win, and I vote with Christian in game 1, and use Cody if necessary. smarter baseball guys than me will be making the decision, which, of course, is why they are signed up and also why we play the games.

Heard today at the BG/North JV game that turner is not going to go in game 1 unless it gets necessary. Could be interesting. I don't see how you could not use your #1 in game 1. All games are must win, and I vote with Christian in game 1, and use Cody if necessary. Smarter baseball guys than me will be making the decision, which, of course, is why they signed up as Coaches, and also why we play the games.

Doesn't make sense to me to pitch anyone other than Turner in game 1, it's win or go home.

When I saw Mellin pitch this year he looked really good, great change of speed on his pitches, good fastball, kept the hitters off balance, but you go with the # 1 for game # 1.

My memory from 2 years ago (and a lot of beers ago) is that South used their # 2 against Alvirne in game one and gave up a couple of quick runs then brought in the #1, but never got the lead.


What would the logic be in not using your #1 in game #1? To save his innings for the championship game?

People always tend to make more of this than it really needs to be.

IF you are a serious contender for the title, you usually set things up for your #1 to pitch the 2nd round & title game. The simple truth is if you are a real contender, someone else has to win you two games to win it all anyway. In general, you are facing the weakest team in the first round. If you do not think your #2 can win the first one, what makes you think he can win as the rounds proceed foreword. Now, I have seen some teams go against this logic when they face an extremely good pitcher on an average team in round 1 this usually happens when they may have faced him earlier in the year and struggled against him or he may be a kid with collegiate ability.

Otherwise, you throw the best guy you have in game #1, then who ever is best that you have left in game #2, …etc if you keep winning.

North gets Trinity - Beaudet could be tough on them, but let's face it Trinity has struggled this year... The North coach has a lot of confidence in his players to be able to produce and he is one of those creatures of habit. I have full confidence he'll go with Mellin or Root in Game #1. As much as his tactics cause issues with some - they do win and they do play for him. Although they may have some small circle moments, I think they have what it takes to win that first round. Having Turner for R2 is a luxury most wish they could have. The one team that I think has to really be concerned - Salem. They drew the short straw and will face Sullivan.

JAF, Beadet is no picnic. I think Mellin is great, it's just as easy to bring him in for relief once North gets a sizeable lead. If there is one thing I have learned THIS season is that any team can lose on any given day. For that reason alone I start Turner. Better to be safe then sorry. {my cliche of the day}.

How does Timberlane Leapfrog Keene, even though Keene has more wins? This system blows.

This what I think the pairings will be, still not 100 per cent.

1 NORTH 16 TRINITY not as easy as people think
2 SALEM 15 MEMORIAL finish 2nd and get to face Sully, ouch
3 MERRIMACK 14 KEENE heard the Keene followers were none to happy the game the other night was not finished in Merrimack
4 BG 13 TIMBERLANE not a bad draw for a 4th place finish
5 PINKERTON 12 WINNIE flip a coin game, a couple of weeks ago Winnie was 5 and Pinky was 12
6 CONCORD 11 EXETER Concord scares me, but Exeter has a junior horse that they will be riding.

Not sure of the rest of the matchups. I am not even sure of these matchups. We will have plenty of time to figure it out, and dissect and analyze each game, and make predictions. Well it's predictions for you people, for me it's future events that have not yet transpired.

I just went back to check when BG faced Timberlane first time this season. Big Joe pitched shutout ball for 5 innings, gave up one or 2 hits. The Bg coach emptied the bench, some errors coupled with some walks gave Timby their runs. Gilcrest came in and shut the door.

NYK, I see North beat Trinity 5-0 opening night. Was that Turner against Beaudet?

GNG wrote:I just went back to check when BG faced Timberlane first time this season. Big Joe pitched shutout ball for 5 innings, gave up one or 2 hits. The Bg coach emptied the bench, some errors coupled with some walks gave Timby their runs. Gilcrest came in and shut the door.

NYK, I see North beat Trinity 5-0 opening night. Was that Turner against Beaudet?

I believe Turner did start that game. Mellin started out 2nd game against Merrimack. I really haven't heard who's starting for us. I'm guessing we saw Trinity's best on opening day, I imagine all teams start their best pitcher opening day.

Our pitching stuff will get sorted out this week. I'm also curious as to who the coach will put on the playoff roster. We have a couple of underclassman speedsters that usually come along for the ride.

Looks like Londonderry lost to Goffstown yesterday (11-10). A win there would have bumped Londonderry to 7th place.

As for predictions, I stay away from them, too superstitious! All I can hope for is that our team plays to their capability and that they minimize the mistakes.

Now I'm headed outside. Has anyone seen the sun? Looks like it's been misplaced again!

We should do a thread on superstitions. No sport has more superstitious people then baseball. Players and fans alike. I don't wear my yellow BG hat anymore because everytime I wore it they lost.

GNG wrote:
NYK, I see North beat Trinity 5-0 opening night. Was that Turner against Beaudet?

Yes, it was Turner v Beaudet 1st game of the year. Off the top of my head, Beaudet came out around the 5th down 3-0... Turner went all the way. [I arrived at Holman right about when Beaudet came out - errors & miscues with catcher were results of the 3 I heard]

Turner then Mellin, or Mellin then Turner, either way it's a nice way to start your first 2 games of the playoffs.

I think you go with the #1 because it's a must win and the opponent will be going all out to win.

If Turner goes in game 1 then you have Mellin against the # 2 starter for the second game. Nice.

bb603 wrote:Turner then Mellin, or Mellin then Turner, either way it's a nice way to start your first 2 games of the playoffs.

I think you go with the #1 because it's a must win and the opponent will be going all out to win.

If Turner goes in game 1 then you have Mellin against the # 2 starter for the second game. Nice.

I feel good with either pitcher. I also like Connor Root coming in relief. Runners on base doesn't seem to bother him. He consistently throws strikes which is huge in those types of situations.

The rotation should be sorted out by Tuesday. Lineup should be the same as it has been the last few weeks. I'm looking forward to our first game. The only thing I don't know (beyond who's pitching) is what time we're playing. The upside to the 4 p.m game is that it's better for picture taking!

Any manager that decides to throw their #2 in the prelim game is taking a big risk. I've seen teams in the past get burnt using this philosophy. There is no bigger game at the moment than the one staring you in the face.

Tuesday and Friday wrote:Any manager that decides to throw their #2 in the prelim game is taking a big risk. I've seen teams in the past get burnt using this philosophy. There is no bigger game at the moment than the one staring you in the face.

Any Manager?

So if you are the #1 team, you toss your #1 in the opener & your #2 in the 2nd round? At some point someone other your #1 MUST start. If you do not think he can win in the opening round, what logic is there to think he can win any game in the post season?

Like I said before, if you are facing a superstar pitcher from a bad team, you can argue there is a reason to throw your #1 in the opening round. Other than that, this logic is foolish(again I am talkng about teams that are at the top & expected to challenge from the title - Not a team like a #12 seed).

Example - Portsmouth went with #2 Keegan Taylor in the opening round last year, then #1 Nate Jones in round 2, then Taylor again followed by Jones in title game.

Again, if you are going to win it all, your #2 is going to have to beat another good team along the way. He had better be capable of winning the opening round.

JT: In the tournament any team can win, regardless of the talent. If the most talented teams always win then why bother to play the game? This year there are no teams that are just heads and shoulders above the rest of the field. There is very little separation between the #1 seed and the #11-12 seed this season. Didn't the 12 seed win it all in 2007? Playing against an even lower seed??
My point is this, while I see what you are saying I would say why send the message to your team saying you are under estimating the opposition? Beaudette from Trinity is no slouch by the way (to go back to the original team of this post- North).

Trinity and Memorial both have excellant starters in Beaudette and Sullivan. Two of the tougher 1st round matchups could very well be North vs Trinity, and Salem vs Memorial. One bad inning could determine if you advance or not. Turner doesn't have bad innings. Survive and advance is the name of the game in a single elimination tournament.

JT, I see your point, but these 15 and 16 seeds got some kids that can throw. Trinity is young and can throw the ball around, but they also got some talent. Mellin is very,very good, but Turner is lights out who we playing game 2 great. I start Turner see what happens, North gets a cushion, bring in relief. Trinity offense is limited if you get up 4 runs it's over.

Another thing to consider is the psychological impact starting Turner has on a team. Turner shut them out already. Trinity would be thinking "we have to play a perfect game and pray we scratch a run across". Whereas if Mellin starts it would give them confidence that at least they don't have to face Turner.

I don't want this to come across as ripping Mellin. Kid is a solid B plus pitcher whose stock is rising. He would have been the ace on many teams this year. Turner is a game changer.

THE ONLY GUARANTEE IN THIS YEARS TOURNAMENT IS THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES.

NHBALL9, hey we agree on something. We both posted at about the same time with the same message. Beaudette's dad was a helluva pitcher back in the day, good guy to. He was Trinity, I was Memorial. He was Sweeney, I was Post 79.

GNG: Miracles do happen! You know this means the Bruins will win it all now don't you!!
The all-state meeting is today. I am curious to see who makes the teams. Like I said, there is very little separation from 1-12 IMO.

Does anyone know is Poore done for the season? Fullcount I thought you would have something by now. That is the major pretourny story I would think.

"Example - Portsmouth went with #2 Keegan Taylor in the opening round last year, then #1 Nate Jones in round 2, then Taylor again followed by Jones in title game." JT-NH

With all due respect, comparing who to throw when dealing with a prelim game in D2 is a heck of a lot different than who to throw in a D1 prelim game, especially when you are Portsmouth in a 1-16 game in D2. My logic is not that you have to pitch your #2 some times in the playoffs. My logic is that it's a big risk going with your #2 in the prelim and falling behind in the game then coming in with #1 in the 4th to 7th innings. The risk/reward is too great unless you are a Portsmouth and have full confidence in your #2 in a 1-16 game. I don't think the very top seeds in D1 have the luxury Portsmouth has in D2 because of the parity top to bottom in D1 this season. I'm not saying a D1 manager won't do it, but if he does it'll be like Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken in the movie Deerhunter.