Four Things I Think ... about the 2012 Northeast Ohio high school baseball season

Tim Rogers, Plain Dealer Reporter, March 31, 2012 10:13 p.m.

1. Unlike the recently completed basketball season, I see no "marshmallow" sectional/ district tournaments at the Division I level. Each of the six Northeast Ohio tournaments contains at least three teams capable of winning.

2. The new bat rule will have a profound effect well beyond the safety issue. All the game's nuances will be magnified. Outfielders will be able to play shallower -- one-hop singles to right could become outs at first base, and runners going from first to second on well-hit singles risk being forced out at second. That trickles down to an emphasis on pitchers holding runners at first, which leads to more pickoff attempts, which leads to more errors.

3. My hat is off to any kid with guts enough to buck the trend and wear his uniform the way it was intended. The lemmings of today dress like men's softball players. Or, as one area coach said, "They look like they're wearing pajamas."

4. The 2002 Division II state semifinal, in which Tallmadge and pitcher Jason Stephens edged Defiance and pitcher Chad Billingsley, 1-0, on a two-out, top of the seventh inning home run by Pat Conley, remains the most exciting -- and well-played -- state tournament game I've ever seen.

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Key dates

April 29: Sectional/district pairings meetings.

May 5-12: Sectional tournaments, various sites.

May 14-19: District tournaments, various sites.

May 24-26: Regional tournaments, various sites.

May 31-June 2: State tournament, Huntington Park, Columbus.

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