LHAC Baseball

[BigSkyCountry]

The upper tier teams are currently Forest Hills (7-1), Somerset (7-2), Bishop McCort (6-2-1) and Chestnut Ridge (3-1). The second tier consists of Bishop Guilfoyle (6-4), Bishop Carroll (4-3-1), Richland (4-3) and Bedford (4-3). The bottom tier consists of Westmont (4-5), Johnstown (2-4), Central Cambria (2-5), Cambria Heights (1-8) and Penn Cambria (0-8). 
Currently, there are multiple players batting over .500 in the LHAC, led by Nate Semanek of Bedford at .583, Matt Whysong of C. Ridge .556, Cessna of Bedford .545, I. Whysong of Ridge .545, Gutshall of Carroll .542, Kreger of Somerset .538, Felton of Richland .526, and Yachere of Somerset at .520. 
RBI leaders are Shope of F. Hills with 15, Norris of Somerset with 13, Buettner of Westmont with 12 and Rearick of F. Hills with 11. 
Two players currently sport an ERA of under 1 with Ford of Richland with .58 and Arnold of Bedford with .88. 
Strikeout leaders are: Ertter of Carroll with 33, Shope with 31, Kreger with 31 and Renzi of Central Cambria with 30. 
I dont think what I have ear marked as the upper tier will change too much as the season progresses. A second match up between Somerset and Forest Hills would be worth the price of admission (free???). I think the conference championship will land on the laps of either of these two teams. Chestnut Ridge could sneak up on people, but only having 4 games in to date is going to make a hectic schedule in the upcoming weeks for the Lions. Do they have the pitching depth for what is about to come? McCort will hold their own and be a contender but I think that the Rangers and Golden Eagles will prove to be a bit too much. 

[Colonel Mustard]

Guilfoyle has beaten FH and McCort, with their aces on the mound. I might move them into your upper tier. Westmont 3-inning mercy ruled Richland in the Penna bowl. I'd flip them for that result alone. Where are you getting stats?

[BigSkyCountry]

These stats are all pulled from MaxPreps - doesnt consider the variables - you will see that in the rankings that I posted as well. Not enough local baseball talk going on - just trying to generate some.

[Manfred]

Guilfoyle has beaten FH and McCort, with their aces on the mound. I might move them into your upper tier.  Westmont 3-inning mercy ruled Richland in the Penna bowl. I'd flip them for that result alone. Where are you getting stats?

Where are you getting yours?  You are mistaken.  FH mercied BGU 12-2.  FH's first and only loss to date was @ Somerset this past week.

[justafan21]

Good gentleman, please DO NOT put weight into the stats that are entered in to MaxPreps. I know that “these are they only stats you have to go on”.....but they are very so often not correct - and actually, they are not correct on a game to game basis. Next time either of you all attend a game, keep your own scorebook. Then compare your box score/stats with those that both teams have entered into Game Changer ( you will see discrepancies ). Game Changer in turn is where the Coaches get the game stats to enter in to Max Preps. Pick a team/game that has already been played and scored/entered in to Game Changer. Now compare the box score with the other teams box score that they entered into Game Changer for that same game. More than likely, you will see differences in what was scored a hit, an RBI, a Sacrifice, and most importantly what was scored an Error. An error, or hit, will indeed change a whole box score ( BA, RBI’s, Earned Runs, Fielding %, etc.... ). Not sure if your all realize this, but there is no “official” scorekeeper for these games.....!!   And in fact, “most” of the teams’ scorekeepers are players who are not playing in the game, or student helpers. Check this out:  I know some ball players from a school here in the LHAC that has a family member of another player as an assistant coach for their team. These players openly joke and shake their heads because  this “family member”, who is a coach, scores hits for this kid when there is not doubt it was fielding errors that allowed him to reach base. We have played this same team, and I’ve witnessed this kid getting on base via fielding errors, and it was scored a hit in Game Changer via that teams account ( inflated stats.....)      Just don’t place too much stock in to what stats you see in Max Preps. Instead, attend a few ball games and  give these players the old fashioned “eye test”.    Game Changer has even made the local newspapers “lazy” - the sports editors just copy and paste game summaries from Game Changer. And in turn, the papers post categorical leaders from such a flawed system of scoring games.

[Colonel Mustard]

That's why I wondered where the stats were coming from. I was at a game last week where there were at least 4 obvious errors in one inning. The box score in the paper had one error for the whole game.

Big oops on the BG over FH comment. My apologies to the green and yellow fanatics, I mean faithful. Still a nice win over BM.

It should get interesting as these teams will be playing nearly every day from here on.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I think any self reported stats are always a bit questionable. I don’t think it’s dishonesty, but sometimes you have kids doing them and they just aren’t always accurate. 
Some schools are more reliable than other. 

[justafan21]

I think any self reported stats are always a bit questionable. I don’t think it’s dishonesty, but sometimes you have kids doing them and they just aren’t always accurate. 
Some schools are more reliable than other. 

Yes, good sir. That's pretty much it. I agree no intentional dishonesty ( except for the example I gave ). Most scorekeepers have no idea what something as simple as a passed ball or a wild pitch is ( or even what Defensive Indifference) is . But you will see some exceptional SB stats in MaxPreps. They don't know what a Sacrifice is. But one of the most troublesome is the fielding error/hit debate.  Per MLB rule book : "[font=Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif]A fielder is given an error if, in the judgment of the official scorer, he fails to convert an out on a play that an average fielder should have made." [/font]Two problems with MaxPreps stats : there are no official scorers for these games, and the vast majority of the scorers have no idea how to determine a play that an average fielder should of made - amongst other things/rules. Talked to a friend's son who I had gone to see a few years back after his game. Kid was pretty upset that he was charged an error by his own coach/scorekeeper during the game. Coach keeping scorer told him that he "should" have been covering second for a double play. The SS fielded the ball close to 2nd, took a few steps to 2nd as if completing the double play himself, then at the last split second flipped the ball to the bag, which rolled to towards RF. This kid playing 2nd stopped advancing to 2nd to complete the DP because the SS was "taking it himself" ( and SS even yelled "myself, myself" ). Kid playing 2nd never touched the ball. Coach/scorekeeper told him it was his error because he should of been at the bag. Now this is a trivial point I'm making, but this was actually a "Coach", who had been coaching in the LHAC for quite a long time, that didn't know what a fielding error was.   
Forget MaxPreps. Go out and enjoy the weather and see these young men play, then form your own opinions after giving these young men the "eye test".......

[Crimson's Ghost]

I kept scorebook for a team in the City Colt League for a while. My team didn’t like some of the error/hit calls I would make.

And obviously for games like that it doesn’t matter. Only thing that matters is runs.

[Manfred]

We have paid officials who don't know the rules. Why expect a kid for the home team to know? We had a game earlier, that Shope hit the left field foul pole above the fence, for a walk-off GS, yet the 2 "officials" had to confer about it for at least 5 minutes. EVERYONE knows that rule from little league and up. But not the 2 bozo's.