Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Railroaders Win Post Season Playoffs - Final Season Remarks

Well the Railroaders finish off the 2013 season bringing the Post Season Championship home to Fulton. What better way to end it. The Boys of summer really came through! Up against the wall, down in the series 0-1, then go to Hoptown for back to back wins to take away the Playoff Championship.

To complete the season the Railroaders were 4-1 in post season, 27-17 regular season (17-5 at home and 10-12 away). The best home record since 2010 when Fulton was 21-5 at home.  We saw more homeruns this year than ever with the Railroaders hitting 41, half the total OVL homeruns for the season.

I could go on, but I'll leave that to rest of you to make your comments and observations here. In closing out the season here, I'd like to thank not only the players, coaches and owners for a great year of baseball, but also to all the parents, relatives and fans who listened and commented on Hoghead.  You certainly have added to the excitement of the season. Hope to see many of you next year.

Monday, July 29, 2013

A repeat of Last Year???

The hunt for the OVL Playoff Championship title begins tonight at the Yard.  Just like in the 2012 season the same first and second seeded team, Hoppers and Railroaders, will battle again for bragging rights in the off season. Déjà vu, anyone?

If Railroaders are to take the best of 3 series, they will have to win the final game on the road in Hopkinsville. Tonight though, game one is in the Yard and the Railroaders can help the effort winning at home.  Fulton won the first game at home last year, but dropped the next two in Hoptown.  Time for a change?  Will history repeat itself?

On paper the two teams are appear evenly matched in both season and head-to-head stats.  The only major differences are; the Hoppers steal twice as many bases and the Railroaders have 5 times the number of homeruns on the season.  The Hoppers are 5-4 over the Railroaders in the season series. Reviewing the head-to-head contests; the Hoppers tend to win the close games and the Railroaders have mostly taken games with larger leads.  We'll need all the bats tonight.  One thing is sure, you can't turn your back on the Hoppers only ahead by a couple of runs.  If you do...they'll jumped right over you at the last moment and cross the finish line first.

Both teams play well against each other and the final post season games promise to be exciting ones. The final Home game in Fulton on the year will be tonight, so everyone come on out to support and cheer on the Railroaders. I'm sure the Hoppers will bring plenty of fans with them. This time let's change the outcome and take the championship round.  Fire it UP!