What a great conversation with this impressive young man 👨 and I will need to circle 🔵 back to write the story as we are just moments away from first pitch.

Rakes and his Bluefield Rams 🐏 are our opponents today, and it led to a brief interaction with the former Cavalier..

Baseball ⚾️ is a family thing, and it turns out that Tyler is related to a number of folks back home and we will start the list with his little brother, Chanson, who is the Varsity catcher for Head Coach Casey Burcham.

We are both HUGE fans of Coach Burcham and the things that the Burcham Bunch is getting done on The Hill !

Both equally proud of The Castle 🏰 and Tyler uses it to throw during the summer.

There is plenty more to come here, but it is time for me to start announcing the game.

When he played at Bill Worrell Field he did so under the guidance of current Athletic Director and former head coach, Kevin DeHaven.

” Tyler was a great young man and still is, said Mr DeHaven. “He was a competitor who gave you everything each time he stepped up to the plate or on the mound. I’m very proud of his continued work ethic, which has led him to be the young man he is today.”

Back on March 3rd, Rakes pitched against our Golden Bears 🐻 at the Rams 🐏 home park, an incredibly beautiful and historic place down on the State Line. The Golden Bears prevailed in a shootout that day, 10 – 8.

Looking back at his time on The Hill, Tyler was quick to point 👉 out his favorite memories are the teammates and the camaraderie, especially on the road trips.

Bluefield picked up three runs in the top of the second and now lead, 4-1. I’m really hoping 🙏 that Tyler might make a relief appearance later in the game.

Tyler’s Rams 🐏 lead our Golden Bears 🐻 6-1 in the top of the 5th inning.

Tyler spoke highly of his younger brother, Chanson. The younger Rakes was called up to Varsity during his freshman season and figures to hold down the starting catcher spot for quite the spell.

Two other family members who Tyler was quick to talk about are cousins of his. Turns out that Christy’s Girl 👧 and Tyler are close, so those two minutes of the conversation were a bonus. The opening game of the SoCon tournament came up quickly.

It turns out that the young man who sits in the press box 📦 at Bill Worrell Field is kin as well ! Deana’s Boy 👦 is an impressive young man and does a terrific job with his announcing of the Cavalier home baseball games !

Kudos to the Rakes for raising such an impressive young man ! Tyler is well-spoken, considerate, and proud of his family, which makes him yet another great ambassador for The Hill !

We have rallied here in the bottom of the sixth inning with three runs to pull within 6-4. This is only relevant to this story because I would love ❤️ to say that now pitching for the Bluefield University Rams is #25 , Tyler Rakes from Carroll County, Virginia.

The Rams just put in their fourth pitcher of the game, so there’s a chance.

We plated seven runs 🏃‍♂️ in the bottom of the sixth and now lead 8-6. I’m still hoping to see our boy 👦 pitch.

The fifth pitcher for the Rams 🐏 is in, but sadly not Mr Rakes.

Rams 🐏 retake the lead on a 3-run inside the park home run. Now 9-8, Bottom 8th.

Golden Bears 🐻 tie it at 9-9 on a suicide squeeze ! Headed to the ninth inning.

9-9, Bottom 9th, Rams put in their sixth pitcher. Noah Burtner.

Golden Bears win 10-9 on a walkoff single by Angel Leiva !

Bummed I didn’t get to say, now pitching for the Rams, #25 Tyler Rakes but getting to meet the impressive young man was awesome !!!!

Time of game – 3:02

What could be better than spending an afternoon announcing baseball ⚾️ and writing ✍️ about yet another successful former Cavalier from The Hill !

Editor Note 📝 – apologies for looking like a hobo in the picture, but there wasn’t much downtime between last night at Cavalier Park, writing stories, and driving up to Beckley.

Yesterday afternoon, our Lady Cavaliers were hosting a softball game, which meant that both Velvet Leonard and I had things to do, but Coach McGuire was hosting Grayson County in a tennis match in the same parking lot.

I had stopped by on my way in and visited and promised to do the same on the way out if we finished up first.

To quote Eddie Walls, ” We are all in this together.”

Velvet Leonard does her heavenly work with a camera while I do mine with a microphone 🎤 and writing ✍️.

The fact that Kiddo saw 👀 a group of Cavaliers playing for our school 🏫 and couldn’t just walk past them either brings joy to my heart !

   Cavs tennis 🎾 playing on a court near you !

The Hill – Laiken Burnett had herself a ball game as the Senior went three for three and drove in five runs 🏃‍♀️ to back the pitching of Addie Greene in a 14-2 victory over visiting Tazewell.

While Burnett led the hit parade ( 16 hits), she was far from alone. Fellow Seniors Madison Coleman and Brooke Webb both finished up with highlight type numbers. Coleman went 3 of 3, scored three runs, and Webb went 2 of 3 with three driven in.

” I was really pleased with the offensive production,” said Head Coach Rick Nester. ” Their pitcher couldn’t take a breath tonight because we were able to hit from all nine spots in the lineup.”

Nester received hits from all nine spots, runs scored from eight, and driven in by seven. The victory leaves the team at 2-2 on the season with the next opportunity to play coming on Wednesday at Chilhowie High.

Bayleigh Allen and Natalie Burress both joined in the multiple hit club with both scoring two runs. Burress had both a double and a triple on a night where Carroll County finished with six extra base hits.

Greene went the distance in the circle, scattering six hits and allowing just one earned run. Nester was quick to point out the key 🔑 defensive play made by Emma Harman to end the top of the fourth inning.

” Emma handled a hard hit ball there in the fourth inning when they had two runners in scoring position,” added Nester. ” If that ball gers through, it becomes a 6-4 gane at that point.”

Harman did make the play to end the threat, and Carroll County put the game out of reach in the home half of the frame. The Lady Cavaliers sent 11 batters to the plate, with 8 straight reaching base.

Tuesday, the JV team heads to Tazewell High for a doubleheader, and then on Wednesday, the teams both play Chilhowie with the JV playing at home and the Varsity on the road.

Borrowing from a great Rick Barry quote from back in the day, sometimes it’s hard to be me.

The goal was to build a site that would do three things – create a platform that it is sturdy enough for All Cavaliers to stand in and, at the same time, has an umbrella 🌂 to protect those on the platform. Third was to create an opportunity for young people to learn how to tell their own story.

The position of Gate Keeper in this World 🌎 that might be a version of CandyLand is the opposite of a paid position, but it’s one that I give everything that I have, every day.

There’s never a bad day, but there are days that challenge the soul. With all of that said, here’s the list of things that provided a reason to smile on a day that God knew it was needed.

At 5:40 this morning, something occurred that let me know that today had potential ! While I was up way ahead of schedule, I decided that I might as well prepare the Morning Brew, then go back and add the messages from Travis Osborne and Howard Mayo send me.

At 5:29 am, as I was typing Travis Osborne, his message appeared and then 5:31 am, the same with Howard Mayo. Thus triggered the following from Brother Osborne :

HE knows what HE’S doing ❤️🙏

Fast forward to 12 :21 p.m., and that’s when I received a heartfelt response from Boys Basketball coach Anthony Barnes. Coach was incredibly appreciative of the verbiage I used in a Middle of the night story about his tenure. It was an easy write ✍️ and came from the heart ❤️.

Before I knew it, it was time to head to The Hill. First stop ✋️ was at the high school to drop off the posters for both Shawn Montgomery and Dakota Walls. It happened to be that I was able to offer words of encouragement to Dakota after a tough day at the Race 🏁 Track on Saturday. Not every day goes the way you want, but the right thing to do is stand up and own it. We enjoy trying hard to work with both Dakota and his father, Eddie Walls.

Next Stop ✋️ was over at Omega Office 🏬 Supply and Printing. Both of the folks that help us sponsor our Foul Ball contest loaded me up with the goods for tonight’s game. Both Ron Cochran and Mrs Bissonnette are a huge part of our efforts, and they create a great atmosphere. The visit was brief, but both fruitful and pleasant.

At 4:02 p.m., I happened into this photo 📸

Marion’s Father and his Grandson – in – law, if that is correct language. One thing about the Harris bunch, they know how to support each other !

Coach McGuire is just weeks into his run as our Boys 👦 Tennis team coach, and this young man is focused. That shouldn’t be a shock because he managed to sweep  the rather impressive Adrienne Harris McGuire off her feet. They dropped their match against a talented team from Grayson County, but the focus is long-term.

Just two minutes later, possibly the moment of moments took place at 4:04.

Mr Chuck Thompson is the man 👨 who is responsible for the school 🏫 on The Hill and someone whom I have the utmost respect for. He took the time to create a fun moment with young Laynie-Jo Leonard !

Upstairs created some fun, plain, and simple. The highlight had to be the 15 minutes with both Big Kevin and Little Kevin. It’s not too often that the two Kevin’s that I share the press box with are up there at the same time. Great stuff to say the least.

Tazewell High head Coach, Tom Keene, was an absolute pleasure to work with. Keene and Rick Nester go way back, so we had a game being played between old friends.

6:20 – Shawn Montgomery checks in to let me know thar his Student Athletes appreciated the posters !

6:26 – we closed out the game in five innings, winning 14 – 2.

6:32 – The winning ticket 🎟 in the Foul Ball contest was the grandparents of our Brooke Webb !

6:35 – an opportunity for me to personally say thank you to the younger coach Nester for always sharing his recap of Junior Varsity Baseball ⚾️ team!

6:37 – The two young ladies are quite the pair, and I simply could not be prouder of the duo.

On the way out of the parking lot I noticed that the tennis 🎾 match was still going on.

6:44 – What could possibly happen to top the already glowing day ?

These two are beyond funny, and they get their No – Nonsense intensity from their Mother Shelia and their sense of humor from their Dad, Marion.

8:30 p.m . Coach Nester call 📞 and we spent less than five minutes discussing the game, so now we can create a game story.

Some days, you have to shake things off, things like people having no respect for everything you are trying hard to do.

Know this – today was not one of those days !

Texas 77, Michigan 41 in the opening game, and now it’s South Carolina – TCU.

Will stop ✋️ here because while the game story will only take two minutes to consume, it takes a bit more to create.

Brother Osborne, you were correct, God knows !