{"id":82520,"date":"2019-05-22T12:31:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T12:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"\/rcntv\/?p=82520"},"modified":"2023-04-18T16:18:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T16:18:52","slug":"hs-baseball-playoff-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/hs-baseball-playoff-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"HS Baseball Playoff Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong>
\nGary Laubach, the RCN Sports crew and I will be out and about the next two weeks preparing for, and then broadcasting a number of District XI<\/a> baseball championship games.<\/p>\n

There are a number of interesting story lines for the high school baseball postseason, including:<\/p>\n

WATCH OUT FOR YOUNGER TEAMS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traditionally, the teams that have more experience are the ones that do the best this time of year.\u00a0 This season might be an exception as I\u2019ve seen a number of younger players, not only with exceptional skills, but also student-athletes with a high baseball \u201cIQ,\u201d at Notre Dam<\/a>e, Palisades<\/a> and a few other schools.<\/p>\n

KEEP AN EYE ON THE CHAMPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps more than any other scholastic sport in the Lehigh Valley, baseball is probably the toughest sport to win both league and district titles within the same season.\u00a0 I privately had a coach a few years ago admit that he did NOT want to win the leagues, because that traditionally puts the whammy on his team for districts\u2014the latter playoffs are the ones that count towards the state playoffs.<\/p>\n

The level of play in local baseball is so even that it\u2019s been extremely rare over the last few decades for a team to win titles within a two-week span.\u00a0 Northampton<\/a> (in the EPC<\/a>) and Notre Dame-Green Pond (in the Colonial League<\/a>) won championships last week and are poised for a good run, but can they fight history and a strong collection of teams to win a district gold next week?<\/p>\n

CAN LIBERTY<\/a> BOUNCE BACK?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I stated on our high school baseball playoff preview show on the last edition of \u201cSportsTalk<\/a>\u201d (which you can hear the podcast of the show right here on the RCN-TV website or watch it for free through RCN On-Demand) that Liberty\u2019s undefeated run in the EPC during the regular season was one of the most impressive feats I\u2019ve seen accomplished in some time.<\/p>\n

Given the competitiveness and parity in the league (not to mention some outstanding pitching depth), to run the table in the league with so many strong teams\u2026it would have been hard to believe the Hurricanes could accomplish a similar run throughout the playoff season.<\/p>\n

Can Liberty come back and still be competitive in Districts?<\/p>\n

Absolutely.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Canes still probably have the most depth (especially pitching) among all the 6A teams in the Lehigh Valley.\u00a0 Liberty\u2019s draw is not an easy one (they face Nazareth<\/a> first and then the winner of Parkland<\/a>\/Pleasant Valley<\/a> on Sunday) but certainly could see its way to the district championship game.<\/p>\n

On paper, they are clearly one of the best teams in the area, but I believe a real key could be how well they play in their first game of the district post-season against the Blue Eagles.<\/p>\n

It should be an exciting two weeks!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be sure to check back here to the RCN-TV website to get the latest information on our broadcasts dates and times of the teams competing for District XI gold metals!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. Gary Laubach, the RCN Sports crew and I will be out and about the next two weeks preparing for, and then broadcasting a number…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sportstalk-shop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHS Baseball Playoff Preview - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HS Baseball Playoff Preview - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 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