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Community Sports
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008, 12:02 PM
Baseball: The cure for the dog days By Brad Howell | Daily Times Staff Writer The month of June has spoiled us with all that is good in sports. Tiger Woods proved that he is the best golfer ever with his historic U.S. Open performance, the Boston Celtics ended a 22-year title drought and the Fresno State Bulldogs came out of nowhere to win the College World Series. So let's give a resounding 'Thank You' to June, because the dog days of summer are officially here. True, Wimbledon is still going on and the Olympic games return this August in Beijing, but that's really about it. From now until football season gets underway, baseball, baseball and more baseball will dominate the sporting scene. And although Major League Baseball reigns nationally this time of year, the sport is also the main focus at the local level. With that in mind, let's examine the seasons thus far for our three area teams. carolina mudcats The Double-A Southern League team located just up Highway 264 in Zebulon is the closest thing to the big leagues Wilsonians can see. The Mudcats have plenty of talent stockpiled here for the parent club (Florida Marlins) thanks to recent blockbuster trades and high draft selections the past few years. The center fielder is striking out a ton (93 Ks in 290 at-bats) but he leads the team in runs scored (54), homers (12) and triples (6) and will still likely be called up when rosters expand in September. Volstad (4-3, 3.28 earned run average) also could get the call at some point and current big leaguers Josh Johnson and Josh Willingham have already spent time in Zebulon on rehab assignments. The Mudcats finished third in the North Division for the first half and are just 6-6 in the second half. But hey, it's about developing players in Double-A, not wins and losses. Wilson tobs The Tobs are a summertime favorite in Wilson. The Coastal Plain League team provides some of the best college players in the country a chance to play in a wood-bat league for the summer. The Tobs won Monday night to end the first half at 12-15. Stringing together wins has been an issue, but things could be on the upswing for the second half as manager Jeff Steele finally has the majority of his team together after the MLB draft and injuries claimed some players and the College World Series delayed the arrival of a few others. Through Sunday, the Tobs were hitting just .254 as a team and our own Michael Lindsay is out to ruin their best hitter. Outfielder Justin Parks leads the team in hitting, but has since went into a 1-for-13 funk after Mr. Lindsay decided to do a feature on him -- shame on you, Michael. The Tobs do have some solid arms however and if execution and timely hitting continue, a return to the Petitt Cup tournament is surely in order. American Legion Post 13 Post 13 has won 16 of 19 games this summer and the playoffs are just around the bend. Once there, the club has the potential to make some noise behind the 1-2 mound punch of Bentley Massey and Justin Nygard, along with the emergence of William Prince as a reliable No. 3. Massey has been sharp all summer and Nygard is throwing better than he ever has. The fireballer has taken a little heat off his fastball in exchange for better location and has ontinued to work on his changeup. The results have been a 4-0 record thus far. The lineup is flat-out stacked. Speedsters Jerome Richardson and David Gibbons have been setting the table for sluggers Jacob Davis, Chris "Petey" Lamm, Mitchell Wheeler and others. Head coach Rusty Dail has his guys stealing bases, dropping sacrifice bunts, moving runners over and doing all the little things that equate to winning baseball. So if you're waiting for football to crank back up or are just plain fed up with your favorite pro team, enjoy watching our local baseball teams -- summer will be over before you know it. bhowell@wilsontimes.com | 265-7879
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