Baseball Blog
Middleton
Even though we have 5 inches of snow on the ground, I can tell you I am looking forward to this season as much as any in my years of coaching! The Bears are looking to build off a 15 win season from last year and hopefully make a run at a league and district championship! I can honestly say that this team collectively from seniors down through freshmen have been the hardest working group we have had. They listen, pay ayyention to the little things, and correct their mistakes very quickly without too much nagging! I know our coaching staff is excited for warmer weather and more time seeing our guys outside in game like situations. This should be an exciting year for the Bears!
Middleton
The Golden Bears received a #13 seed and received a 1st round bye. The Bears play the winner of Dublin Coffman / Central Crossing on Wednesday May 5th at UAHS. If the Bears advance, they will play Tuesday May 15th at Hilliard Darby HS vs the winner of #2 seed Olentangy Orange and #39 seed Westerville South.
Middleton
The 2012 Seniors will be recognized along with their parents on Wednesday May 2nd at 4:30pm, before the home game vs Dublin Coffman.
2012 Seniors: Michael Armstrong, Jordan Arkin, Pat Crowley, Austin Gibson, Michael Koltak, Eddie Miller and Manager Nick Bradley
Middleton
The Bears captured game 1 with a 12-2 win in 6 innings. Austin Gibson started on the mound for the Bears and gave way to Eddie Miller in the 4th inning. The Bears used great defensive plays and timely hitting to run away with game 1.
In game 2, the Bears could only manage 1 hit and were defeated 4-2. Sam Thompson started on the mound for the Bears and threw well. Going 5 2/3 innings allowing 3 runs, 2 earned on 6 hits. The Bears did have a costly error in the 4th when Canton scored 3 of their runs.
The Bears are back in action against Jonathan Alder on Monday at Home and travel to New Albany on Tuesday. Both contests are at 5pm.
Middleton
Both Thomas Worthington and Upper Arlington had 2 hits apiece but it came down to making plays and timely hits. Unfortunately for the Bears it would not be their day. Michael Koltak started for the Bears on the mound and kept the Bears in the game but unfortunately came out with the defeat with allowing only 1 earned run.
Middleton
The Golden Bears Varsity Baseball team fell to 1-1 with a 6-5 defeat at Delaware Hayes. The Bears were down early 5-1 and fought back to tie the score in the top of the 6th inning only to lose it in the bottom of the 7th inning. The Bears walked 9 and hit 3 Delaware Hayes batters as well as committed 5 errors; however to still remain in the game until the end.
Middleton
The Golden Bears opened the 2012 campaign with a 2-1 victory over Pickerington Central. Senior Michael Koltak, Ohio State Bound next Fall, earned the victory with a stellar performance on the mound. Koltak's line was 6 innings, 1 earned run, 2 hits. Michael did a great job of keeping Pickerington Central's offense off balance all day. The Bears were also very good defensively with no errors and making plays to prevent big innings all day long!
The Varsity Bears travel to Delaware Hayes tomorrow (Tuesday) 5pm. The JV Bears play at Home vs Hayes at 5pm. The Freshmen Bears play at Home vs Westerville Central at 5pm
The JV Bears defeated Pickerington Central 13-12. The Freshmen crushed Pickerington Central 17-2.
Middleton
Yesterday, the Golden Bears had their first pre-season scrimmage at Home vs Watkins Memorial. The players and coaches alike, were excited to get out and play on a beautiful day in central Ohio! We knew going in we would struggle with our timing at the plate and be a little rusty on the mound. We were both but that was to be expected. Even though we struggled at the plate, we saw our kids compete and for the most part be very aggressive. The timing will come once we get into the flow of seeing live pitching on a regular basis. On the mound, we got behind in the count on too many hitters. Throwing strikes will be essential for us moving forward. Not having that guy who throws 90+ mph is not a big deal if you have pitchers who attack the zone, work fast, and compete like crazy. I think we have that and will improve as we face hitters more often.
Defensively I thought we played extremely well, although that was to be expected. We work extremely hard on this aspect of the game and it showed in the scrimmage. I thought we could have taken better angles on a few fly balls/line drives in the outfield as well as on ground balls on the infield but overall a very good sign. If we are going to stay in games and ultimately win those games, we must play flawless defensively.
With all this being said, we are very happy thus far with the competition amongst our players at different positions. In some places we are 3 deep as far as who we could plug in at anytime and feel comfortable with that particular move. Right now at the Varsity level we have 6 players competing for 3 outfield positions. We have 2 players competing for each infield position including 3 players competing for catching time. As a coach, we love the fact we have depth and players pushing other players in practice and in games.
Everyone is looking for a great year and we will continue to work hard and not settle for complacency!
Middleton
The Upper Arlington Golden Bears Varsity Baseball team is proud to announce they will play at OSU on March 31st vs Canton South. The game times will be 5:00 and 7:00pm. We invite everyone out to watch the Bears in action under the lights. This will be a very enjoyable evening for everyone.
Ohio State installed a new artificial surface this past summer.
Along with this, we want to invite all the future Baseball Bears to join our players out on the field before the game for the National Anthem. We will conduct our Bear Cub, UAJBA, and Middle School days all on one date this year. We hope everyone comes out and fills up Bill Davis Stadium at Nick Swisher Field.
GO BEARS!!!
Middleton
Come out and support the Upper Arlington High School Baseball program at Carsonie's on Lane Avenue. Carsonie's will donate 20% of all proceeds for the sales on February 7th, 8th, and 9th. This is good for Lunch or Dinner / Dine-In or Carry Out.
For IPhone and Droid owners, download the FREE Carsonie's Application to make ordering more convenient and faster. Carsonie's prides itself on making their World Famous Stromboli fresh to order. It takes 40 minutes to fully prepare a single stromboli. When you order from your application, you decide when you want to pick it up! We will also receive an extra 5% for all sales ordered through the Carsonie's App!
Make sure to say you are ordering in support of UA Baseball!!
Middleton
We will conduct our annual pre-season parent/player meeting for prospective high school players. The meeting will be heldon Wednesda September 14th @UAHS East Cafeteria 7:00pm. This meeting will also consist of sign-ups for our Booster Club. We have many things going on in the off season and season that we need help for. Mike Reed will talk about these opportunites at the meeting.
I will go over some important items for the off season as well as meet our new coaches. Please plan on attending with at least 1 parent. We will release the upper classmen after a short period and just speak with incoming Freshmen parents and players.
If you have any qestions, please feel free to contact me by email mmiddleton@uaschools.org or phone 614-202-2010.
Middleto
The 3rd Annual Bat-A-Around Golf Outing has come and gone and it was another success! Our first year we had around 60 golfers, up to around 72 last year. This year we had 100 golfers participate! The outing is growing and we hope to even add more next year. The golf outing helps off-set costs for our high school baseball program for the year.
Thanks to all of those that worked tirelessly preparing for the outing! It takes a TEAM EFFORT to make something like this happen and a TEAM EFFORT it was!
Thanks to all of those who attended this great event and hope to see you around the baseball field this upcoming spring as well as on the golf course next August!!
Middleton
Please check in to my blog for an update on the camp status before attending your session. Please plan on attending rain or shine unless you read otherwise from this blog.
We will take it session by session tomorrow and Tuesday with the weather. If we do happen to cancel your sons session, we will have make-up days on the following dates:
Monday July 11th and Tuesday July 12th. Same times and same location.
Middleton
So, last night I was watching the College World Series. Virginia and South Carolina wer tied 2-2 it seemed like forever. Both teams had plenty of opportunities to score in the later innings including extra innings. A few things I noticed: with home runs down this season because of the new bat specifications, the thought of a big inning would not have crossed my mind. There were 2 innings I can remember that the lead off batter got on but was not sacrificed over to second base with less that 2 outs. Virginia did try a hit a run and when the first 2 guys were on, they sacrificed them to second and third. However, they stranded the bases loaded 2 innings in a row after SC turned 2 inning ending double plays.
The biggest thing I saw was the inability to field bunts. People at times think we are wasting our time practicing bunt coverages and the proper way for our pitchers to field bunts. We work extremely hard on the proper footwork approaching the ball and then anticipating where to go with the ball, then getting our feet and shoulders square to the base. Not being able to lay down a sacrifice bunt nor being able to defense the bunt, will LOSE you games!
So, have it be a lesson for all the young coaches and players out there, have your players learn this at an early age. Make this a part of your practice plan, even if it is for 5-10 minutes. As the the players get older, the game gets faster and these type of things will win and lose you games throughout a season. Make sure your pitcher knows the importance of throwing strikes #1 but also once the pitch is thrown, they must be able to field their position and become an athlete!
Middleton
Reminder that our Golden Bear Youth Baseball Camp will be held next week June 27th-30th. We are still accepting registrations for all sessions! If you will be mailing the registration past Thursday, hold on to it and register at the concession stand on the first day of camp.
Session 1 - Grades Entering 2-4
9:00-11:00am
Session 2 - Grades Entering 5-7
11:00-1:00pm
Session 3 - Grades Entering 8-9
1:30-3:30pm
Middleton
The Summer Baseball Season has officially begun. This year we have combined with Watterson and Thomas Worthington for an 18U team called Team Columbus 18U. We decided to do this in order to challenge our players with a more competetive schedule. We have combined with just Watterson for Team Columbus 16U. We have kept our Freshmen players together for at least 1 more season and they too are playing a more competetive schedule as well as playing in more tournaments.
The Team Columbus 18U home field will be UAHS. The home field for Team Columbus 16U is Watterson HS and the home facility for the U15 Team Arlington is at UAHS. The teams will compete just past the middle of July when they will end their season. Each team will play approximately 40-45 games against good competition.
We look forward to our players getting better and coming back next year with a purpose and looking forward to a great year in 2012!