Once the bats get going
Nearpass knows success of Jackson baseball will be determined when offense gets going By Mike Moore Staff Writer Jackson — Pitching often has the early season advantage in terms of baseball. When the spring season begins, sometimes with snow flurries still swirling, getting legit swings off live pitching is a luxury few teams have. As David Nearpass looked back on the first four games of the 2016 season, the Jackson skipper sees plenty of potential with his group, “once the bats wake up,” he said with a laugh. “We’ve played four games and allowed 10 total runs. We should be 4-0,” Nearpass said. “We’ve pitched well enough to win. The defense has been pretty strong for being early in the season. We just need to get the bats going.” The Vikings were just 1-2-1 through those games, and as Nearpass said, a pitching staff that’s allowed 10 runs deserves a better record. Asked what the main issue has been so far, Nearpass said pitch selection. “We’re letting too many good pitches go by,” he added. “We’re taking that first strike, then getting behind in the count. If it’s there, smack it. We have…
Jonesville vs. Columbia Central Girls Soccer – Photo Gallery 4-13-16
Jonesville vs. Columbia Central Girls Soccer Photo Gallery, shot by JTV Sports 4-13-16
Column: Enjoy the streak
Hockey fans need to embrace Red Wings streak of 25-consecutive playoff appearances By Mike Moore Staff Writer It begins tonight, a tradition bordering on ridiculous, yet one any hockey fan needs to embrace. For the 25th consecutive season, the Detroit Red Wings are a part of the NHL’s postseason tournament. Try and put that into context, or find a similarly staggering streak of consistency. Good luck. Some will say the Red Wings backed in this year, playing slightly less worse than the Boston Bruins in the season’s final week, but to that I ask, so what? If the NHL has proven anything since the most-recent lockout, it’s that any team that makes the Stanley Cup playoffs has a shot at ending up on top. Sure, that’s a long shot for this group of Winged Wheelers, who spent the better part of the season searching for a consistency that never truly arrived. The team’s leading goal scorer is a 19-year-old, and some of the key pieces still remaining to the last championship in 2008 are approaching the end of their careers. According to just about every national expert, the Wings begin…
Reed’s grand slam powers Spring Arbor Baseball to split at IWU
MARION, Ind. – Junior Tyler Reed blasted a first inning grand slam and the Spring Arbor University baseball team cruised to an 11-1 victory in the opening game of a doubleheader against Indiana Wesleyan University on Tuesday. However, the Wildcats took the second game 8-3 to avoid the sweep. The first two batters of the game reached base on Indiana Wesleyan (27-12, 10-4 CL) errors, and three batters later, Reed made it hurt crushing the first offering he saw over the left field fence to stake Spring Arbor to a 4-0 lead. That was how the score stayed until the bottom of the fourth when IWU’s Caleb Eder led off the frame with a solo home run, but the Cougars responded immediately with five runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach. With the bases loaded and only one out, Reed singled to left to drive in Chris Triplett and Conner Lengerich. Nate Sitkiewicz and Jack Driscoll would also record RBI hits in the inning. Reed finished the game going 2-for-3 with six RBI and three runs scored. Sitkiewicz also picked up two hits, including a triple, while driving in three. Lengerich crossed the…
Boys Basketball: JTV Sports Coach of the Year
With revamped roster, Mortimer took Hanover-Horton to quarterfinals again By Mike Moore Staff Writer Horton – From one year to the next, names and faces change, but the results have remained stubbornly the same. And that’s a good thing. Over the past 15 years, the Hanover-Horton boys basketball program has been to the regional round 15 times. Somewhere in that equation there has to be a constant, something that continues to push and propel. Well, not some thing, but some one. Chad Mortimer did it again with the Comets, taking a revamped roster through the districts, regionals and one win shy of the Breslin Center. And the final award for Mortimer is earning the 2015-16 JTV Sports Basketball Coach of the Year. “This was a group I was very proud of,” Mortimer said of his team. “We pushed them hard and they responded.” After reaching the state semifinals last winter, Mortimer began the 2015-16 with only one returning veteran in Preston Laketa. A team that went 26-2 in 2014-15 began this past season with a loss in just the second game. “To start the season, we didn’t have…
Boys Basketball: JTV Sports Player of the Year
Suddeth was do-everything leader for Jackson High in 2015-16 By Mike Moore Staff Writer Jackson – The score sheet suggested his importance to the Jackson boys basketball team on a nightly basis. But those closest to the Vikings’ program know the impact Shonte Suddeth had on the day-to-day success went well beyond points and rebounds. He was Jackson’s quiet leader, the guy who could play all positions and guard all types of offenders. If the Vikings needed him to score, he could. Rebound? Sure. Lead? Without a doubt. “His drive to be good is what set him apart,” coach Dan Crowley said. “He worked harder than anyone we have. I’d get calls from him on the weekend to work out. Over Christmas time he wanted to get in and work on shooting. That’s just the kind of player he was.” The kind of player that earned the 2015-16 JTV Sports Boys Basketball Player of the Year award. “People have told me he’s as good a point guard as Jackson has ever had,” Crowley said. “I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but since I’ve been a freshman in…