Baseball standings taking shape - GW flies to the top

It wasn't too long ago when the marquee match-up was between George Wythe and Patrick Henry for the top spot. Now the tables have shifted and Chilhowie, the defending district champs, reemerge into the picture. Let's talk numbers. Over the past two years - the course of HogoOnline's existence - Chilhowie and George Wythe have duked it out for the top spot several times. Boys Basketball two years ago, the teams played four times - GW won three out of the four. Girls Basketball two years ago, the teams played three times, GW won two out of the three. Last year Chilhowie took two regular season baseball wins over GW, only to fall to them in the district tournament. Last fall, GW took a thrilling 14-7 win over the Warriors on Pendleton Field. This year, the state champion GW team took three convincing victories over Chilhowie - although the Warriors only trailed the Maroons 25-21 at halftime in the Dungeon- one of the only interesting halves the Maroons had to play all season. This past winter, the Girls Basketball teams encountered each other four times, with Chilhowie taking three of those victories. If you're keeping count, when #1 is on the line in any sport, GW is winning the series 11 to 7. Quite a rivalry being brewed. Back to baseball -

Northwood: The Panthers have knotted a tie for fifth in the district with Rural Retreat by taking a hard earned 4-1 victory over the Indians last Tuesday. With seven games remaining, only three of them district games, the Panthers have an opportunity to grab fourth place should PH continue to slump, but more realistically they can solidify the fifth place slot upon entering the tournament. Northwood hosts Patrick Henry next in an attempt to erase the 14-4 beating they took two weeks ago - and now is the perfect time as the Rebels are in bad shape.

Patrick Henry: Speaking of the Rebels, they are in bad shape. After winning their first three district games and having everything in working order, the Rebels were struck out 21 times by Devin Smith of GW, one-hit by Aaron Clampitt of Chilhowie, and held to a single point by Wyatte Pickett of Rural Retreat. PH has a non-district baseball meet with Marion tomorrow night - it would be a perfect time to try to work on getting the bats going. The Rebs still have to face Holston twice - it will be interesting to see how the two rivals go after it.

Holston: Well, despite losing two of their last three, I would imagine the Cavs are pretty happy to be seated third in the district - but they should enjoy it now. They have been an up and down team, and mostly up from last season - but the schedule takes a wild twist in the coming weeks. Holston must make up the game with GW (ousted them 12-2 on April 11), face-off with Rural Retreat (convincing win over PH last night), they have Patrick Henry twice (who is probably really mad about now), and Chilhowie. Worst case scenario, they lose them all and have to enter the tourney from fifth place - maybe sixth in a more than worse case scenario. In the best case, they can win them all and go first or second - time will tell.

Rural Retreat: Wyatte Pickett and his Indian defense displayed quite a showcase with a convincing 10-1 victory over PH. It had appeared as though the Rebels would be taking the district by surprise this season, but Pickett would have none of that. The Indians may have decided to win big a bit too late - however, their remaining opposition (Holston, Northwood, and Chilhowie) were close games for the Indians the first time. Should this most recent win over PH provide the necessary spark for them, two wins out of those three games would make a huge dent in the district standings. Nowhere to go but up for Jamie Hughes' team.

Chilhowie: The Warriors seem to be back on track from last year's success. They have won six straight, dating back to the Coppinger Invitational, including five straight district wins. The defense and pitching have finally caught up for the Warriors who have allowed just seven runs in their last four games - opposed to the thirty they allowed in the four game stint prior. Chilhowie is probably used to this by now - having a good season, having a great season - and then having to defend it by facing the Maroons toward the season's end -not just baseball. Chilhowie travels to GW on Friday to defend a good season once again and try to even up the standings.

George Wythe: 21. The legal-drinking age, the atomic number of scandium, Tim Duncan's number, a street-basketball game, 1921 was the year Charles Bronson was born, and it is the total number of outs in a standard seven inning high school baseball game. Lets face it, until Devin Smith struck out 21 PH batters, the number didn't have a whole lot going for it. Now the 'Roons are in sole position of first place and have been granted the right to defend that position by allowing Chilhowie to travel up on Friday and wager it all on a game of baseball. They have won six of their last seven and have the most left on their schedule of anyone else in the district with eight games. Don't forget, May 2nd, Wytheville.