[MHS Parent4Life]

Final from last night. Nick Capps pitched all 6 innings for the Jackets while Cox pitched for Bell County. Middlesboro got 10 hits on the night including 3 doubles, a triple, and a HR.

Middlesboro will have either Epperson or Wilson in the mound tonight with will not be good at all for Bell County.

[Shelby1]

Middlesboro did not play well early. Way to many base running errors. Ran ourselves out of at least 4 runs early. Bats came around and they hit the ball well late. John Hilton didn't play, anyone have reason why? The Cox kid will be an outstanding baseball player if they don't pitch him to death. Good fast ball, but as of now, no other pitches. Bell has nothing coming up to play with him. Middlesboro JV won 22-0 and could have been much worse.

While this is a big rivilary, may not be much after this year.

[rudedogky]

Middlesboro did not play well early. Way to many base running errors. Ran ourselves out of at least 4 runs early. Bats came around and they hit the ball well late. John Hilton didn't play, anyone have reason why? The Cox kid will be an outstanding baseball player if they don't pitch him to death. Good fast ball, but as of now, no other pitches. Bell has nothing coming up to play with him. Middlesboro JV won 22-0 and could have been much worse.

While this is a big rivilary, may not be much after this year.

I "heard" he had to sit because of a game that he was ejected from last season. If that's the case, it would have to be the ejection in the District Tournament last year. Also, why would he just now be having to sit? This was their 5th district game..............

[Blue2You]

[quote=Shelby1]Middlesboro did not play well early. Way to many base running errors. Ran ourselves out of at least 4 runs early. Bats came around and they hit the ball well late. John Hilton didn't play, anyone have reason why? The Cox kid will be an outstanding baseball player if they don't pitch him to death. Good fast ball, but as of now, no other pitches. Bell has nothing coming up to play with him. Middlesboro JV won 22-0 and could have been much worse.

While this is a big rivilary, may not be much after this year.[/



Cox is an outstanding young player.... Will be fun watching him the next few years...

Hard to say that they don't have much coming up with him though... Maybe their other young kids can play, just not quite ready for varsity baseball just yet???

Furthermore, it's unfair to judge young talent based on one JV game... No scouting reports, etc... Just go play...

[Stardust]

Middlesboro did not play well early. Way to many base running errors. Ran ourselves out of at least 4 runs early. Bats came around and they hit the ball well late. John Hilton didn't play, anyone have reason why? The Cox kid will be an outstanding baseball player if they don't pitch him to death. Good fast ball, but as of now, no other pitches. Bell has nothing coming up to play with him. Middlesboro JV won 22-0 and could have been much worse.

While this is a big rivilary, may not be much after this year.

I hear that kind of statement all the time and am not sure how accurate it is sometimes. To say that BC has nothing coming up, are you saying they are Senior laden today with no underclassmen on Varsity? Maybe their future is already playing Varsity and the score in the JV game was not indicative of equal players. Did Middlesboro have older guys on their JV squad than BC?

Not arguing, but sometimes we put too much credence on how the JV or Freshman teams play without understanding how many younger guys are playing up already.

[Shelby1]

Last year? I thought you had to sit the next KHSAA sanctioned game which would have been football. If not why not sit the first BB game, unless you weren't going to and try to skirt the rules.

"What if ", it was supposed to be FB and they play an inelgible player and had to forfeit a game and Hilton didn't tie the record. One short. Just a what if.

Anyway....Cox will have a bright future in BB. Maybe D1, he is that good....Lex. or Koxville is where he should be playing at a bigtime baseball school. IMO

[Shelby1]

I hear that kind of statement all the time and am not sure how accurate it is sometimes. To say that BC has nothing coming up, are you saying they are Senior laden today with no underclassmen on Varsity? Maybe their future is already playing Varsity and the score in the JV game was not indicative of equal players. Did Middlesboro have older guys on their JV squad than BC?

Not arguing, but sometimes we put too much credence on how the JV or Freshman teams play without understanding how many younger guys are playing up already.

Have seen the middle school, JV and varsity play several times and have seen very little BB talent coming up. Simple. They have maybe 4-5 seniors on this team and they are the only players (except for Cox). can several develop into players....sure. As of now Bell Baseball is in bad shape. They may beat us tonight ...they have beat several good teams. After this year things do not look good.

[redstorm]

Bell baseball is like Middlesboro football right now (BAD). Sounds like middlesboro reported the John Dudley situation, middlesboro is good for those things. Didn't Middlesboro do the same thing
to Bell in football in the early 90"

[Shelby1]

We can use your help Red....come on down. A man that knows everything.

[MHS Parent4Life]

Bell baseball is like Middlesboro football right now (BAD). Sounds like middlesboro reported the John Dudley situation, middlesboro is good for those things. Didn't Middlesboro do the same thing
to Bell in football in the early 90"

Middlesboro Football 6-6 this season
Bell County Baseball 6-12 so far this season

Only one of those two programs is what I would call bad.

[MHS Parent4Life]

Plus, shouldn't John Dudley have already served his suspension anyway? Were they just hoping no one would remember?

Seems like they're just mad they got caught in the middle of a lie. Question, should this suspension have already been served in football or basketball? Is this something Bell County people really want to gripe about publically? That's what I thought.

[Black Bear Cuz]

I believe the suspension will motivate Hilton and the entire Bobcat team!! Should be a very interesting game tonight??

[Johnny Bench]

The Cox kid will be an outstanding baseball player if they don't pitch him to death. Good fast ball, but as of now, no other pitches. Bell has nothing coming up to play with him.

You certainly did not watch the game to be making statements like this. His curveball may have been his best pitch in the Middlesboro game. I saw him throw it at least two times on a full count to strike out the hitter. To do that means that he can not only throw a curveball, but he has enough confidence to strike you out with it on any pitch. Also looked like he threw a changeup a few times. I know that the ball changed speeds and dropped on occasion. Looked like a change anyway. Plus, I read in the paper where they took him out because he had reached his pitch limit.

Fact is, the final score was not indicative of this game. I believe it was 2-2 in the 5th when Bell's centerfielder missed 2 fly balls (which with the fog and lighting could have made it hard to judge). It could have been a different game if they make those plays - maybe even a loss.

[MHS Parent4Life]

The two balls that the CF missed were deep in the gap and not easy plays by any means. Fact of the matter is, Middlesboro ended up imposing its will on Bell County and that is all there is to it. Blowout! As indicated by the mercy rule. And, I was at the game, and they took the Cox kid out because he was getting very wild and ineffective.

[dochurt]

The first catch by the CF shoulda been a easy catch, but the 2nd one woulda been a circus catch to say the least. On the suspension, no, a player doesn't sit the next KHSAA sanctioned game he plays in, it must be same sport. And because it was at the end of the season and Bell has a new coach, don't you think it would have been easy to forget about instead of accusing someone of lieing??? Which, Bell's former coach is now an assistant at M'boro..... And 6-6 in that football district is a horrible year, now 6-6 in their new district would be a different story

[CatBlue]

Talk all you want about Baseball that is the only thing you can beat Bell in and until this year Baseball was not a ginen.

[MHS Parent4Life]

Talk all you want about Baseball that is the only thing you can beat Bell in and until this year Baseball was not a ginen.

Since 1998, Middlesboro is 23-6 against Bell County in baseball.

Now, take out the years that Bill Powell wasn't coach and they are 18-1. The man owns them. I would call that a given.

[redstorm]

That looks like your football record vs Bell... I said the programs were alike. Bell Baseball and Middlesboro football

[Xerxes]

Again, Whitley chimes in. Look at the records, M'boro is in the top 10 in the state in wins and I can assure you that the record is not what you may think. Know your facts.

[bch8]

they took cox out bc he had reached his limit...hes only 14 they give him 110 pitches no matter what the situation is...it just so happened he was struggling but good lord the kids in 8th grade and i dont see m-boro putting an 8th grader on the hill an u cant agrue that bc coach powell said it himself that hes only done that very few times an john smith was the best one he had...an if bells centerfeilder catches those two balls that 8 run inning would have never happened so the way i see it m-boro got lucky on that!

[MHS Parent4Life]

That looks like your football record vs Bell... I said the programs were alike. Bell Baseball and Middlesboro football

No you actually said that Bell football and Middlesboro baseball were alike. You did not say that Bell baseball and Middlesboro football were alike, which they are not.

[MHS Parent4Life]

I find it hilarious that Middlesboro beats Bell County by a combined score of 23-8 and you all are still arguing about even being close. haha

It is such a tough pill to swallow for Bell County because not only do they know that Middlesboro has a cakewalk to region by only having to beat Harlan Independent to get there, but that Bell County has very little chance of even making it out of the first round of district.

It should be easy for Tom Greer and Dudley Hilton to grasp though, since they were both baseball coaches at Bell County through their worst years imaginable. Only a matter of time before Johnson comes to grips with the truth as well: this district belongs to Middlesboro Baseball.

[LWC]

Baseball thread. Why don't we stick to baseball please?

[SeKyCatFan]

When did Middlesboro split away from Cumberland's district back in the day? I know Middlesboro was with Cumberland in 1984 because Middlesboro won the district that year, but when did Middlesboro move to the 51st before coming back to the 52nd in 2006?

[Black Bear Cuz]

Slow down a little bit there MHS Parent!! Middlesboro may have owned their District for a long time when the District consisted of Bell, Pinevlle and Red Bird, but there has not been any ownership of a District since the new alignment!! And there wil be no ownership of the District by Middlesboro or Bell as long as Harlan County is in the same District. As for baseball domination in the 13th Region goes, do you remember when a team from up on the northern end of Harlan County (Cumberland) owned the Region!!! Ky High School Hall of Fame coach (Roger Morris) and Company I believe won 9 out of 10 straight Regional titles and either 10 out of 12 or 11 out of 13 back in the late 80's and 90's and this year's version of Harlan County has several kids from up there that have that same desire and determination to be winners. These kids and a really strong (young) group from other area's of the county along with a former Cumberland standout who played 4 or 5 years for Morris (John Lewis) coaching the Bears will make things very interesting for the next 4 or 5 years.