Camp LT, pictures

2007 Camp LT

CAMP LT

We've had a busy week. Camp LT was this week @ TCU. The Blue Devils had 6 boys attend & NTYFA had around 50 current & former players at the camp. I had a special treat getting to work at the camp as a coach along the side of numerous Pro, College, High School, & Middle school coaches. Of the 6 boys from Arlington in attendance 3 won awards. Both Curtis Hollis & Nick Slater won a daily coaches award. Brik Hogue won an award presented by LaDainian Tomlinson, NFL's 2006 MVP, for Most Improved at the camp. I'm very proud of all the North Texas boys.

2007 NTYFA, TCU Football Camp

The marking of the beginning of football is the North Texas Football Camp @ TCU. Even though the weather was rainy the turn out was great. June 2nd. Thanks to all the North Texas Coaches & an extra special thanks to the TCU players who helped with the camp.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!

Party @ the Baldwin's

Swimming in the Rain.

River Cats / White Sox, part 3, 5/23.

As good of a team the White Sox are every time we play them we play tough. I moved from coaching 1st base to 3rd base. We ran the bases very aggressively keeping the game close. The game ball went to Nick Llorente for a great effort on the base path & working 2 walks. I put a lot of pressure on him at times but I believe in him even more.

White Sox 13 - River Cats 8

The Boys are looking a lot better, 5/22.

The boys continue to improve. We started slow at the plate again but got rolling in the second. We went into the last inning with a 1 run lead & thanks to good pitching & a great stop & put out by Bryce Blackman we worked a tie out of the game. Because of this great play Bryce earned the game ball.

Mariners 8 - River Cats 8

River Cats Go to the Ft. Worth Cats Game.

Comming together, 5/16

Well we've been able to play on a more regular bases & the boys have shown improvement because of it. I kept going home after games wondering what I needed to do to help put more wins on the table. The boys stepped up & played a tough 1-1 ball game for 3 innings then turned on the gas maxing out the 4th inning then shutting down the Thunder to give us a good win. Several of the boys showed good performances but Ben Fagan worked his way around the base path in a daring fashion earning him the game ball.


Thunder 1 - River Cats 6

Happy Mother's Day, 5/13

Any game that rains-out from 5/13 till the end of the season will not be made up.

19 minutes into the game, WEATHER DELAY. About 45 minutes of delay till the game got called. The boys were looking good with put outs on the first two batters. We'll have to see if we get to finish this one.

Double header, 5/12

We had 2 on Saturday & it was HOT. It's been rainy & not really to warm then boom it's in the 90's. In that second game the boy s looked like they were melting out there. I was proud they didn't stop trying. A few players got hit by pitches none more scary then Aaron Baldwin's. He took a hard one to the face that I was happy to see looked OK on Sunday. The game ball went to Jonathan Moffett & Neville Kuilan. Both showed heart when they worked their way onto the bases then taking advantage of the situation stealing their way home. Good work guys.

White Sox 13 - River Cats 6

Mainers 11 - River Cats 7

A busy week 5/8.

The first of 5 games scheduled for this week started out rocky. Ben & Brik were having a rough time pitching/catching. Aaron Hammer broke out with the big hit I knew he was due to have. Bryce had the hardest hit bunt I've seen, do what ever it takes to get on base. The game ball went to Holden Payne for a great relief effort on the mound. 4 more to go this week, if we don't rain-out.
Thunder 11 - River Cats 7

After a week of rain-outs. 4/28

It's hard to get in a grove when there's no concisely in when we play because of all the rain-outs. We started out the game slow, got caught sleeping in the field a couple times & found ourselves fighting from behind. After we crawled through the first inning we started waking up. I got real aggressive on the base path trying to make something happen. The team was stealing base after base. Ben worked the fake steal perfect causing the over through. Aaron Baldwin & Mathew Pena received game balls for great play. Aaron got his first hit & Mathew has been great at the plate 2 games in a row. All the aggressiveness helped get us back into it but it also caused us to come up 1 run short. I took a coach's gamble on one of my best players & made the wrong call. It happens some times. I believe in my heart if I took the same gamble again I would still have faith the player would pull through. I'm proud of him of trying what he was asked to do by me because I've always told the boys, let it be my fault making the coaches decision not yours. If we can string a few game together I believe we'll find our grove.
Rangers 10 - River Cats 9

Player Award Logo

A Day @ The Ballpark.

We had a fun time at the Rangers game. Check out some pictures.

This One Made Me Scratch My Head. 4/21/07

I don't know what happened at this game but I do know it drove me crazier then most. It probably had something to do with the fact we beat ourselves. Swinging a pitches over our heads sent me into a bad nightmare. Pitching was OK. The 2nd inning Nick mowed the batters down. In the third no two pitches seemed to be called the same. I know Coach John was upset about that. I was still trying to figure out why we wanted to swing at pitches we couldn't reach. There were little bright spots in the game but one player had a very good game throwout the day. Matthew Pena was great at the plate & I had him stealing bases. Good job Matthew. All in all it's hard for the boys to get a rhythm with all the rain outs we've had hopefully that's behind us. Shake it off & move on. By the time we're done we'll be on top more then on bottom. Work hard guys.

Thunder 10 - River Cats 6

Game 3, This One We Just Came Up Short. 4/11/07

In this game we finally got to make some real baseball plays. Fly balls caught, balls fielded, Hit & Run, attempted steals put out, & so on. We stranded to many guys on the bases early but when we had to have a defencive stop we stepped up & did it in the fourth inning to give us a chance to hit our way to a win. We looked like we were heading toward doing it with some good base running by Holden but just came up a little short in the end. Ben had some rocky times but pitched his way out of trouble with the help of his team when he needed to. Hammer came in relief to pitch 2 1/3 great innings earning him the game ball for the game. We've got this team again Saturday. We'll get'em next time.

Cardinals 7 - River Cats 4

Game 2, Curtis & Brik Playing Catch. 4/10/07

Game #2 was totally different then game #1. Defensively this was a game of catch. Curtis pitched a great game & Brik kept getting better at catcher as the game went on. A very different story with the weather also. It was a perfect evening not hot or cold just right. And with the warmer weather came the bats. The boys were swinging the bats & putting the ball in play. The game ball got split between the defence of the night, Curtis & Brik. Boys keep swinging those bats because it's more fun to hit the ball then walk.

River Cats 13 - Rangers 2