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Post 423 was on the brink of being eliminated Monday in a five-game series during the first round of the Legion baseball playoffs by Gaston‘s Post 23. Although, it was a long Monday night, Rutherford County couldn’t stop the sweep from happening.
In game one, Post 423 Rutherford County lost 8-3. Will Odom homered for Post 423, but Gaston hit two homers of their own in the win.
In game two, Rutherford County’s biggest issue of the season came back to haunt them once again. They went up 4-0 after two innings and held that lead through five innings. Gaston scored nine unanswered runs and Rutherford County lost 9-4. Dylan Parris, Joel McDaniel, T.J. Fincher and Jordan Strickland each had two hits apiece.
Game three was at McNair Field on Monday and Gaston led 4-2 when a lightning delay hit and Gaston closed the books with a 5-3 victory to end the season. Post 423 struck first blood with a Jordan Strickland RBI single in the first frame, but Gaston picked up three in the fourth and another in the seventh. Post 423 found another run the seventh, before the weather halted play again. The two clubs resumed late again Monday before reach the 5-3 in Gaston’s sweep. The series had already seen three days of postponements due to rain last week.
It’s hard to believe, but 21 days from now, high school football teams will take the field for the their first scheduled practice for 2013. R-S Central, East Rutherford, Chase and Thomas Jefferson will be in realigned conferences and the Gryphons may be the only school that walked away feeling good about their new league. Still, they all must play whomever they are scheduled and I am looking forward to what could be a very interesting fight for a couple of the 2A playoffs in the SMAC this season.
Something else hit me to this week after watching Daytona. It may not be Jeff Gordon that is the next driver to 100 wins in a NASCAR Nextel Cup career. It looks like Jimmie Johnson (which Gordon is the car owner of the Johnson‘s Lowe‘s #48 machine) could become the third driver to ever accomplish it. While Gordon easily could have over 100 wins in his Cup career right now, he has been stuck in the 80’s since 2007. Gordon has five wins in the last five and a half seasons and 87 in his career. Johnson has amassed 64 victories now and possibly could get to 70 by the end of the year. Should he do that, Johnson has likely eight more good years to get 30 wins. That’s around four wins a year and Johnson’s career average per season is 5.3 per year.
While we on the subject of NASCAR, I prognosticate that the first seven drivers in points should make “The Chase.” They are Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jr., Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch.
That leaves 14 drivers going after five spots with eight races remaining before NASCAR’s postseason. Just 59 points separate these 14 candidates that include: Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, Paul Menard and Jeff Burton.
Kurt Busch and Stewart both find the top ten in points for the first time in awhile. And that’s not good for the field as Stewart starts to crank up the pressure and perform better in races during the summer months. Kurt has won at five of the eight upcoming tracks on the circuit in his career.