Is there really that little baseball news in Pa that American Idol is at the top of the forum? Always looking to see how its progressing here in the state. Look at the other state forums, tons of information.
Originally posted by blm: Is there really that little baseball news in Pa that American Idol is at the top of the forum? Always looking to see how its progressing here in the state. Look at the other state forums, tons of information.
This is a fair criticism imho. When I began in 2004, this was the lowest performing forum on the site and had a total of 164 posts. It was called the Oh/Ky forum back then. As time went by, we started to get some activity from Pa and Wv so we added these states. Many of our members from these states, their kids have moved on.
My suggestion: start posting Pa-centric topics on a regular basis and hopefully we'll start to get some Pa baseball news from more of our members.
The AI thread is mostly a distraction from the winter time when there is no news to report. It has succeeded here while not distracting from baseball talks in the General Forum. You are welcome to post in that thread as well as creating topics that might bring more of our Pa members out of the woodwork
BLM, I thought the same thing, especially after the HS season started. No activity on this forum is a little discouraging since in western PA alone, approx 60 2008s committed to play college baseball with 30 committing to D-1 programs and receiving scholarship $. One HS in western PA has 10 players (2008s) going on to play college ball and 2 others on the team were recruited but decided to not play in college. This website has provided me/son with lots of very helpful info. He's one of the 30 going to play D-1. Recently, I gave several college recruiting presentations to approx 35 parents and none knew/heard of hsbaseballweb.com. I strongly encouraged all to visit on a regular basis. Hopefully, posts will pick up.
Posts: 8 | Location: Western PA | Registered: November 24, 2007
Originally posted by PABBfan: BLM, I thought the same thing, especially after the HS season started. No activity on this forum is a little discouraging since in western PA alone, approx 60 2008s committed to play college baseball with 30 committing to D-1 programs and receiving scholarship $. One HS in western PA has 10 players (2008s) going on to play college ball and 2 others on the team were recruited but decided to not play in college. This website has provided me/son with lots of very helpful info. He's one of the 30 going to play D-1. Recently, I gave several college recruiting presentations to approx 35 parents and none knew/heard of hsbaseballweb.com. I strongly encouraged all to visit on a regular basis. Hopefully, posts will pick up.
Welcome to the hsbbweb
The Pa activity will pick up as soon as Pa people start posting here - it is that simple. I encourage both blm and PABBfan to start posting here regularly and I assure you things will change in a heartbeat. Start posting and they will come.
BTW - we have a high school experiences thread just below this one for 08's and it would be nice if you would update us on your son's hs progress this spring and where they might be headed to college. Again welcome.
Two new folks from Penn! We'd love to have you participate in the forums. As CD said, there's a college experience thread that is quite popular with parents sharing about their sons who play in OH/KY/PA/WV as well as the folks that are from there. We really don't care about the geographic lines as we all love discussing baseball as well as other topics in this forum. We enjoy hearing about the HS stories too as CD said and would love for you to join in that thread. Tell us aobut your sons or just join in the banter.
Posts: 5356 | Location: Kentucky | Registered: December 30, 2004
I think it has to do with the lack of knowledge with most people that this web site is unknown to many. Western Pa is very big into football and wrestling and is now starting to get pretty big into baseball. Where we are 15 min west of the Burgh we are starting to see an influx of little league teams just in our area. S***er is still huge but you tend to see allot of teams popping up everywhere. I would bet that in a year or two allot of Pa parents will be here on the board. It's also different when you can post allot with teams that you play and tie together the poster and team. I think that most posters are kind of spread out from different areas. I'm still not sure where PIAA ump work out of. But PABBfan is right that we have allot of players going not only D1 but going on to the next level to play. I for one love reading about any player from western Pa going to college. After 5 or 6 years of doing nothing but travel ball one would think that I would have met more than one other poster on these boards. I grew up in Ohio and I'm a transplanted fan still. I will admit it I'm a Bengals and Reds fan along with my Buckeyes and take a beating usally every year with the Cincy teams. I really would like a winning season with either of the two but the bucks kill any depressed thoughts. Will keep checking as I do for some western Pa baseball folks.......
Posts: 74 | Location: pittsburgh | Registered: February 28, 2006
I live in eastern PA....and my son is a senior in college. I am often amazed at how the whole college recruiting experience has changed in only the past 4 years. When my son was younger, the whole baseball experience revolved around school ball and American Legion during the summer. We never even KNEW about travel teams, showcases, recruiting services, etc. And it wasn't like we were living in a cave, it just didn't exist for us. NOW, it is a whole new ball game.
I have often said that I didn't even KNOW what a showcase or recruiting service were until I stumbled on the HSBB site about 6 years ago. Sometimes I am actually thankful for that. But I guess what I am trying to say is that PA baseball and the opportunities for playing ball beyond high school have really developed over the last 6 years. And that also includes the opportunities to be "seen" outside the northeast.
By the way BLM, my husband is from north central PA....where there are more deer than people!
Posts: 2634 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: December 30, 2002
Most current rankings from all 3 major news sources for western PA are below. I have never seen rankings for entire state and I'm not sure they exist. A website for PA HS baseball coaches exists at www.phsbca.org, but has no more helpful baseball info than the American Idol website. Incidently, Seneca Valley is ranked 4th in East Region by USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/baseball/regionalrankings.htm
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE CLASS AAAA RANKINGS as of 4/24/08
PL TEAM RECORD 1. Seneca Valley 11-1 2. Central Catholic 10-1 3. Canon-McMillan 12-2 4. Franklin Regional 10-1 5. Bethel Park 8-4
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW CLASS AAAA RANKINGS as of 4/20/08
PL TEAM RECORD 1. Seneca Valley 9-1 2. Franklin Regional 9-1 3. Central Catholic 8-1 4. Canon McMillan 11-2 5. Bethel Park 7-3
MSA SPORTS NETWORK CLASS AAAA RANKINGS as of 4/21/08
PL TEAM RECORD 1. Seneca Valley 10-1 2. Central Catholic 9-1 3. Franklin Regional 9-1 4. Shaler 7-5 5. Plum 10-3 6. Canon-McMillan 11-2 7. Bethel Park 7-3 8. Butler 8-3 9. NORTH ALLEGHENY 8-4 10. Latrobe 8-3
Posts: 8 | Location: Western PA | Registered: November 24, 2007
Perfectgame has Malvern Prep of southeast PA ranked #25 in the country. Malvern is 25-1 and has beaten some good out of state teams like Calvert Hall(MD).
Posts: 8 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: September 08, 2007
I just noticed this forum. It is stuck down at the bottom. I usually read a few forums that are located near the top. My son is a 2008 committed to play at an NAIA school in Iowa this fall (Dordt College). He plays "A" ball in a small, rural school (Cochranton) in NW PA. We are having a nice season (11-4) with one game to go and a chance at a playoff spot in District 10 (which covers the NW part of the state). There are six "A" schools with similar records and all play in mixed "A", "AA" regions within the district. We normally have a four-team playoff, but this year many of the "A" teams are better than the "AA" teams and the District manager may set up a six-team bracket. Otherwise, a couple of good "A" teams will be excluded with not much to distinguish between them.
A good link for information here is the on-line version of one of the Erie, PA newspaper's Wednesday local high school sports section called the "Varsity" section. They reproduce many of the articles on-line, including leaders in the district and standings. Here is a link:
Another interesting link is the "Pennsylvania" section of the MaxPreps website. Many of the teams (including ours) post results and stats. Here is a link to a "leaders" page:
He plays "A" ball in a small, rural school (Cochranton)
rwulf - please post here as often as you like!!
As it states in my bio, I grew up in PA. I believe my town (Conneautville) was smaller than yours but I know they were in the same athletic district.
Congrats to your son btw!! I know how hard it is to get recruited out of state when you play ball in the North. BTW, there is a kid from Conneautville named Zach Scott who plays for High Point and is in my son's conference in the Big South. High Point is in Myrtle Beach this evening to take on Coastal. Again welcome and thanks for posting the links
PS - the other small town mention I like to make from our area is Saegertown - the home of Sharon Stone
ClevelandDad - Yes, we play Conneautville's team (as you know it is "Conneaut Valley"). We beat them twice this year. Their program is a little down, right now. Many of their best athletes are playing volleyball, I believe. My wife's mom's family are long time residents of the Conneautville area (last name "Brown").
In the small schools in this area, it is difficult to have a good baseball and volleyball team at the same time. It seems one is up and the other is down depending on which way the collection of athletes is going for the four-year span. The good side is that we never (or rarely) have to make cuts.
We have a pitcher from our school at a D1 program down south right now that was a senior when my son was a sophomore (Mercer). He was our best player when we won our region two years ago. Our most famous baseball alumni is Jay Tessmer.
As for Sharon Stone, she graduated from the high school in Saegertown the year before I did from Cochranton, but I never met her.
Posts: 60 | Location: PA | Registered: January 07, 2008
One more small town, small world update - my daughter graduated in 2004 from Cochranton the same year as Zach Scott's graduation from Conneaut Valley. She was a first team all-state setter for our state championship volleyball team that year. She happens to be home from college, so I asked her if she knew him and she said that she did. Her and one of her friends nearly had a "double date" with Zach and one of his friends back in the day - lol.
Posts: 60 | Location: PA | Registered: January 07, 2008
Originally posted by rwulf: One more small town, small world update - my daughter graduated in 2004 from Cochranton the same year as Zach Scott's graduation from Conneaut Valley. She was a first team all-state setter for our state championship volleyball team that year. She happens to be home from college, so I asked her if she knew him and she said that she did. Her and one of her friends nearly had a "double date" with Zach and one of his friends back in the day - lol.
A small world indeed
One thing that has bugged me about Ohio schools is that none that I am aware of have men's volleyball. It is a great team sport and one in which I enjoyed playing when in school. CV has a pretty decent tradition in that sport and none that I am aware of in baseball.
rwulf, First let me say congrats to your son and best of luck to you both. Its good to see that others understand the battles faced being in a rural A" school. We are very small as well and I do mean small. His travel team thought at first when I told them the size that it was a private school.
Its a hard place to get noticed for all who are in the small areas. You have to wonder how much talent is over looked? Lets face it alot gets over looked in large areas as well.
