The NRV Tigers 18U showcase baseball team played their first two games this weekend ( July12-14) at Va. Tech baseball field. An organization called D1Draftable was in charge of running the games. I’ve been covering sports for around 16 years. I have never been treated so rudely as I was Saturday morning at Va. Tech by D1 draftable organization. I not only was told I couldn’t cover the game but later the girl at the gate admission, just flat out LIED on me. I have never seen anyone never accept a press pass/credentials in my lifetime. Then to be as rude as the girl, was horrible. The D1 draftable people should be ashamed at what occurred at Va. Tech. D1 draftable owe some people some apologies. I wonder if they treat the people in around Petersburg that way? So tell coaches and baseball summer team managers if D1 draftable is involved you best think twice before you play.

Censorship, rudeness, no manners and lying all wrapped up in one episode. WOW !!!!!!!!

Fri. July 12 – 3:15 pm @ Va. Tech vs Richmond Braves

Sat. July 13 – 10:45 am @ Va. Tech vs Va. Seminoles-Phillips

Sat. July 13 – 3:15 pm @ Wm. Byrd HS (Vinton) vs Bobcats of NOVA

Sun. July 14 – 1 pm @ Wm. Byrd HS (Vinton) vs Va. Seminoles- Secrest

Johnson City, TN… The NRV Tigers 18U summer travel baseball squad won two games, lost one and tied one this past weekend. The games were part of East Tenn. St. showcase.

The Tigers got off to slow start as they lost Friday to the Tenn. Longhorns 4-1. The Tigers got a good performance on the mound by Auburn’s Taylor Newcome but their bats didn’t perform, as they left 12 men on base and only had three hits.

Saturday the Tigers got on the winning track as they beat the Morristown Senators 7-0. Brody Luckey got the pitching win as he tossed three innings and allowed just two hits. Fort Chiswell’s Leighton Dunford then pitched three innings and he didn’t give up any hits. Newcome knocked in three, Shawn Campbell had two RBI, as Nick Funk and Carter Plunkett had RBI each.

The Tigers would face the Known New Balance team. New Balance hadn’t given a run in their first two games, as well as hadn’t allowed a hit. The Tigers found themselves up 5-3 but a couple of errors allowed New Balance to tie the game in their last at-bat as the time limit ended the game in a tie.

Newcome once again pitched extremely well, going four innings. Campbell had three runs knocked in. Plunkett had an RBI as well as Pulaski Co. Cougar Logan Burchett.

The last game the Tigers played was on Sunday as they handled Tir-Cities Titans 6-5. Nick Funk scored twice and Campbell once in the victory. Funk and Campbell both scored runs. Grayson Co.’s Campbell got the win on the mound as he tossed three innings.

NRV Tigers head coach Todd Davis remarked, “We started slowly Friday. Our bats left to many guys on base. I thought Newcome (Taylor), Campbell( Shawn), Luckey( Brody) and Dunford ( Leighton) pitched well for us this weekend.” Davis then said, ” We played some very talented teams here. The New Balance team hadn’t allowed a run or hit in their first two games. Campbell, Newcome, and Funk had some good productive at-bats for us.”

Taylor Newcome, Shawn Campbell both had four hits and Nick Funk three in leading the Tigers. Campbell had six RBI, and Newcome three. Funk scored five runs and Campbell three for the weekend.

The Tigers will be back in action July 12-14 as they play at Va.Tech. Game times haven’t been announced as of now.

POOL A

Fri. June 28– vs Launch OTK – 1:30 pm – @ King Univ.-Field 1

Sat. June 29– vs Morristown Senators- 11:15 am – @ ETSU

Sat. June 29– vs Knox New Balance- 3:45 pm – @ Milligan College-Field 1

Sun. June 30 – TBD

Radford… The NRV Tigers 18U showcase team won three games and lost two in their opening weekend of travel baseball. They did make it to the Blue Ridge Invitational Championship game that took place at Radford University.

Things went well for the first three innings as the Tigers had a 7-2 lead over the Diamond Elite team from Northern Va. before a lightning delay. The delay of 30 minutes seemed to make the two teams switch uniforms, as the Elite team then produced their own thunder and lightning scoring eight runs in the fourth, two in fifth and four more in the sixth to win the championship game, 18-10.

The Tigers committed five errors in the championship with four of those happening after the delay. Head coach Todd Davis remarked, ” The delay seemed to really hurt us and help them. Our outfield had played so well the first four games but they had their problems after the delay. We hit the ball well, got good pitching for the first-weekend playing together. There’s room for improvement.”

The Tigers were lead in hits by Carter Plunkett and Shawn Campbell, both with eight. Nick Funk had 12 RBI and Plunkett had 11. Drew Dalton had five RBI and Leighton Dunford four. Campbell scored seven runs, Dalton and Plunkett both scored five. Funk, Punky Foster, and Blake Stanley all scored four runs each. Plunkett hit three homers, as Dunford, Funk, and Daniel Cook hit one each.

The Tigers lost their Friday game 11-7 to the RBI Tri-Cities team. They would then beat the Dirtbags 12-1 and Va. Venom 12-5 Saturday. Sunday they beat the U. S. Elite squad 4-0 to advance to the championship game.

The Tigers have players from area high schools: Pulaski Co., Auburn, Fort Chiswell, Grayson Co. Carroll Co., Princeton WV. just to name a few.

The squad will now travel to East Tennessee St. University to play June 28-30.

Fri. June 14- Probably @ Wm. Byrd HS- Vinton

NRV vs RBI Tri-Cities Titans- 12:30 pm

Sat. June 15- @ Va. Tech

NRV Tigers vs Dirtbags – 9 am

NRV Tigers vs Va. Venom – 5:45 pm @ Ferrum College

Sun. June 16 – place – time – TBD- Pool plays decides where & when

June 14-16 -@ Va. Tech / Radford

June 28-30 – @ East Tenn. St. Univ.

July 12-14 – @ Va. Tech

July 19-21 – @ Sevierville, TN. ( Smokies)

July 26-28 – @ Radford / Va. Tech

The NRV Tigers walloped Short Pump Bandits 9-0 in their first scheduled game for the last weekend of the summer travel baseball. Unfortunately, the Tigers couldn’t defeat the weather as their last two games both got postponed.

In their win, they got a great effort on the mound from Daniel Cook. He allowed just four hits, struck eight and walked three. He went two for two at the plate, scoring two runs and knocking in two. He also got support from Tristan Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury had a sac fly and hit a two run-scoring single, for his three RBIs. Andrew Neighbors had two RBIs with a single in the third inning. Fort Chiswell’s Leighton Dunford knocked in a run as did Carter Plunkett. Plunkett also scored twice, with a walked and single.

The final two Tiger games both got rained out. Coach Todd Davis said, “I thought Daniel ( Cook) pitched really well for us today. He also hit the ball as did a couple other of our guys.” When asked about this being the end of the summer travel ball, Coach Davis replied,” We had a very successful summer. I’m proud of how all the players performed. We are losing some extremely talented players off of this squad and they going to further their education and playing careers. I wish them all the very best.”

The Tigers finished with a record of 10-2-2. They had four games postponed due to rain, making the weather one of their toughest opponents.

All Games At Salem- Kiwanis Field

Sunday, Aug. 5 – 9 am – vs Short Pump Bandits

Sunday, Aug. 5 – 1 pm – vs Chaos

Sunday, Aug. 5 – 5 pm – vs West Virginia Red Devils

This is a 4 team round robin – Trophy Tournament – NOT Showcase

The New River Valley Tigers playing In Radford and then at Va. Tech took three of four baseball games. They defeated the Seminoles 7-3 in the opener as Grayson Co.’s Shawn Campbell pitched three strong innings for the win, late Friday afternoon.

The Tigers then early Saturday morning played perhaps their worse game in three years as they lost to the Richmond Braves 10-4. They surrendered seven unearned runs as they committed errors, threw wild pitches and just didn’t play smart baseball. After a strong talking to, they would come back to hammer Garciaparra Group 16-3, in a game played at Radford Municipal Field Saturday afternoon. In the beatdown of Garciaparra, Campbell and Jacob Stuart of Galax both hit home runs that cleared the 375 ft. sign in left center. Stuart has four RBIs, as did Campbell. They both scored three runs each. Fort Chiswell’s Leighton Dunford went three for three with an RBI. He also picked up the mound win.

The Tigers last game of the weekend saw them shutout TBC 6-0 a squad from Grottoes, Virginia area. Campbell pitched a great game as he went five innings, struck out eight and gave up just one hit. He at one point struck out five in a row before fatigue set in. He walked two batters both in the fifth. He was relieved by Stuart for the last couple innings. Campbell once again helped himself at the plate going two for three, scored a run and knocked in one. Stuart continued his great weekend as well going two for three scoring a run and driving in one.

For the weekend Campbell was eight for 11, seven runs scored and six RBIs. He also got two of the mound wins. Stuart played his last games for the NRV Tigers as he is off to UVA-Wise to further his education and play ball for the Cavs, was seven of 10, eight RBIs and scored two runs. Logan Altizer and Chris Meredith also played their final games for the Tigers as they are heading to play for UVA-Wise and Concord, respectfully. Altizer played at Cave Spring and Meredith for Grayson Co.

Fort Chiswell junior to be Leighton Dunford went five for 10 and got a mound win. Tiger head coach Todd Davis said, ” I’m pleased how we responded after the loss. We hit the ball really well .” He then added, ” Shawn Campbell had a heck of a weekend for us, hitting and pitching. Jacob Stuart also had a great four games. We surely going to miss, Jacob, Logan, and Chris. I wish them all the very best as they head to college. ”

The Tigers with their three wins improved to 9-2-2 on the summer circuit and will play this weekend in Salem at Kiwanis Field. Their schedule will be posted as soon as it is released.