It's easy to get caught up in the hype around good match-ups, but in reality when it's this early in the season excitement for pitching duels should be tempered. We touched on Jake Cave vs. Deshorn Lake last week, but the latest intriguing game comes out of Washington where Redmond High went against Bellevue's Newport High Monday night.

Two of the top righthanders in the state got the ball to start, but both struggled with their control. Dylan Davis, an Oregon State signee, went just three innings as he reached 80 pitches. He struck out four and gave up three runs on one hit, but walked seven.

"His stuff looked pretty good," Redmond head coach Dan Pudwill said. "His curveball has great bite to it. We just need to make sure he can throw it for strikes." [...] Continue Reading »

For the fourth consecutive year, the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game, powered by Baseball Factory, will be held at Wrigley Field in Chicago. This year's event will be held Aug. 13 at 2 p.m. EDT and air live nationally on MLB Network.

Thirty six of the nation's best rising juniors and seniors will get a chance to showcase their talents on a big stage. The last two Under Armour games have featured 61 players that were picked in the Major League Baseball draft, 12 of which were first-round picks. The 2010 installment featured Baseball America's No. 1 high school prospect in outfielder/righthander Bubba Starling. It also added a new spin to high school all-star games with then rising juniors Lance McCullers and Addison Russell and Dominican Republic prospects Ronald Guzman and Ronniel Demorizi participating.

The rosters for the 2011 game have not been finalized, but the following players have committed to participate: [...] Continue Reading »

Scouts love a good pitching matchup because it allows them to see multiple guys in one sitting. About 30 flocked to Menchville High in Newport News, Va. Tuesday night to see righthander Deshorn Lake go against lefthander/outfielder Jake Cave of Kecoughtan High (Hampton, Va.)

However, neither player was at his best and both exited early due to pitch counts. Cave went three innings, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks. He struck out six while taking the loss. Lake took the win after going four innings and giving up two runs on three hits while walking three and striking out four. Both threw around 85 pitches. [...] Continue Reading »

High school rankings are an inexact science, so even though two highly-ranked teams match up, it doesn't always mean the game will live up to expectations. However, Miami's Gulliver Prep and Tampa's Jesuit High had an epic battle Saturday evening at Miami's Alex Rodriguez Stadium.

Jesuit came into the game ranked No. 3 with a 9-2 record while Gulliver was No. 11 at 11-2. The game had to be decided in extra innings and Gulliver prevailed 7-6 with a walk-off hit in the 10th inning. [...] Continue Reading »

Flanagan High of Pembroke Pines, Fla. has lofty expectations for its baseball program. The Falcons have three state titles since 2005 and have made it to the semi-finals four times. In addition to the 6-A title in 2010, Flanagan was named Baseball America's Team of the Year after losing just two games to perennial powers Farragut High (Knoxville) and American Heritage High (Plantation, Fla.) by a total of three runs.

It would be easy to take Flanagan lightly for 2011 after seven seniors went on to play baseball in college and 150 out of 180 innings on the mound were lost to graduation. But head coach Ray Evans has his team off to an 10-2 start after sweeping the Tournament of Champions in Jacksonville this past weekend. [...] Continue Reading »

ORLANDO — While most of the 20 or so scouts at the Montverde vs. Olympia game were there to see top shortstop Francisco Lindor, they got an extra treat with Olympia's young squad. Olympia has three very interesting underclassmen . . . 

Jesse Winker, of, 2012

Winker plays centerfield for Olympia, but profiles best as a corner outfielder. He has a strong, 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame and was noticeably stronger, especially in his legs, than he was this summer.

"I've been working out a lot, working out my legs," Winker said. "I'm not a real big upper-body guy, but I've just been working really hard. I go to Titus Sports Academy three times a week and I've been working really hard." [...] Continue Reading »

A large crowd gathered in Southern Pines, N.C. for Pinecrest High's season opener against Forsyth Country Day School (Lewisville, N.C.). While the biggest reason over 50 scouts were in attendance was to see righthander Dillon Maples start for Pinecrest, Forsyth had plenty of its own to put on display.

Not only did Forsyth have righthander Adam Griffin starting on the mound—his fastball sits in the low 90s—but the Furies started the season as the No. 47 team in the country. They have five Division I signees, three of which will see time on the mound: Griffin (North Carolina), outfielder Seth Constable (South Carolina), first baseman/lefthander George Carter (UNC), righthander Brandon Culbreth (NC State) and junior shortstop D.C. Arendas (South Carolina). [...] Continue Reading »