Tar Heel State Tournament

Bracket and Game Info

Games start on Thursday, July 21st. The tournament is a double elimination  tournament with the Championship Game on Sunday, July 24th at 2:00 p.m. The BIG Reds first game will be at 7:20 p.m. on Thursday, July 21st. With a win the BIG Reds would play on Friday at 11:00 a.m. If we lose the BIG Reds would play at 2:00 p.m.

Location
Smithfield Community Park
600 East Booker Dairy Road 
Smithfield, NC  27577

Admission
The admission price for the games is $4 for adults and $2 for kids.

Top Gun 8U All Star Tournament

Bracket and Game Info
Games start at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 11th. The tournament is a pool play tournament with bracket play on Saturday. The BIG Reds first game will be at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night. The second pool play game will be Friday at 7:45 p.m. 

Location
Bethel Fields and Park
2425 Midland Road
Midland, NC 28107

Admission
The admission price for the games is not known yet.

Tar Heel District III: Game 3 vs East Chatham #1

Game #3 would be the Championship Game, West Raleigh BIG Reds vs East Chatham #1 (again). THe BIG Reds became Tar Heel District III Champs with a 13-7 win in 5 innings.  The BIG Reds were ready to hit and had 17 hits versus 8 hits for East Chatham #1.  We pulled it out hits and solid D when it counted.  East Chatham #1 made some great plays. Every time East Chatham #1 scored, the BIG Reds came back to put even more runs on the board.  The BIG Reds played like a great team today, winning with with their defense and great base running.  Coach Andrew noted that the boys were really hustling to 1st base, they were listening to him so much better today, and he was able to do a lot more with the base running than ever before.  Great job boys!

Tar Heel District III: Game 2 vs East Chatham #2

Game 2 for the BIG Reds took place Friday evening vs. East Chatham 2. The BIG Reds won 6-0 in 4 1/2 innings. The BIG Reds had 14 hits and East Chatham #2 had only 1 hit.  We held them to "3-up 3-down" in four innings, and the other inning took only 4 batters to get 3 outs. The BIG Reds' defense was amazing tonight!

Tar Heel District III Tournament Update

Due storms in the area the district tournament was pushed back one day. The BIG Reds opened play Thursday night against East Chatham #1 before 8:00 p.m. due to approaching bad weather. The game was able to be completed and the BIG Reds were victorious. They are back in action Friday, July 8th at 8 p.m. at Tramway Park in Sanford, N.C.

Tar Heel District III: Game 1 vs East Chatham #1

Game 1 the BIG Reds faced East Chatham #1. The BIG Reds defeated East Chatham #1 13-10 in a full game, with a come from behind win in the 6th inning. The BIG Reds had 20 hits and East Chatham had 15 hits.

Tar Heel District III Tournament

The Bracket and Games
Games start at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6th. The tournament is a double elimination tournament. The BIG Reds first game will be at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. If they win the next game will be Thursday at 8 p.m. If they lose the next game will be Thursday at 6 p.m. The championship game is Saturday, July 9th at 10 a.m.

Location
Tramway Road Park
2303 Tramway Road
Sanford, NC 27331

Admission
The admission price for the games is not known yet.

Top Gun Rocky Mount: Game 5 vs Carolina Pilots

Game 5 of the World Series would be versus the Carolina Pilots. The BIG Reds won 12-11 in extra innings!  This was our first tie-breaker - and in the 7th inning, each team got to start with a kid on second base.  The Pilots scored two runs in the top of the 7th, and had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, but we SHUT THEM DOWN!  Then the BIG Reds scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to bring the win.  It was a great way to end the game and the weekend's tournament!

Top Gun Rocky Mount: Game 4 vs NC Stars

Game 4 for the BIG Reds took place in the stadium versus the NC Stars. The BIG Reds lost 1-2 in a hard played game.  The BIG Reds had 5 hits and the NC Stars had 5 hits in the game.  It was a close one!  It was a great battle, a great game.  We made some little mistakes, but it made a big difference.  Some poor base running cost us crucial runs in this game.

Top Gun Rocky Mount: Game 3 vs GBI Express

Sunday the BIG Reds opened the day off with an 11:00 a.m. game against the GBI Express. The BIG Reds lost 13-4.

Top Gun Rocky Mount: Game 1 vs Fishers

Top Gun Rocky Mt. was actually played in Wilson for the 8Us.  Game 1 had us meeting up with the RV Fishers again. The BIG Reds were ready for the rematch. The BIG Reds were victorious, 8-3. The BIG Reds had 15 hits to the Fishers 10 hits.

Top Gun Rocky Mount

Team Check In
Rocky Mount Gateway Convention Center (4401 Gateway Blvd, Rocky Mount) on Friday, July 1, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. BIG Red will be in red uniform for the team check in. All players must be present. 

Location of Games
Gillette Stadium Complex, Wilson NC
3238 Corbett Ave, Wilson NC 27893 


Competition
TOP GUN WORLD SERIES play will start at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, July 2, 2011; Pool Play will determine competition level, leading to a championship bracket. Four (4) game minimum guarantee weather permitting.

Admission Fees
Adults (Ages 13 and Up): Daily-$7.00; Tournament Pass for all days-$25.00 including Opening Ceremonies.
Students (Ages 6-12) and Seniors: Daily-$6.00; Tournament Pass for all days-$20.00 including Opening Ceremonies.
Children---5 and under---Free.

Cooler

One team cooler of drinks will be allowed. A frogg togg cooler is also allowed. There will be no drinks supplied in the dugouts. 

Game Times

Game Schedule will be available Friday afternoon. 

SJBA Game #4 vs Rolesville All Stars

The Monday evening proved adventurous for the BIG Reds. The boys battled back from a slow start, rain storm, and much more. They gave up 5 runs in the first inning. After a quick motivation from Coach Eric the boys only gave up 2 runs the rest of the game. The BIG Reds lost 5-7. 

SJBA Game #3 vs The Capital City Cardinals

Game #3 - SJBA Invitational vs. Capital City Cardinals

It was a great afternoon to meet our fellow West Raleigh friends on the baseball diamond. The BIG Reds won 13-7 in 4 1/2 innings.

SJBA Game #1 vs Clayton

The BIG Reds came ready to play in their opening game of the South Johnston Baseball Tournament. The boys won 15-4 in 3 1/2 innings.

The BIG Red Offense theme of the night was  "Everybody hit tonight!!!"  Tanner, Matt and Sam all had stand up doubles. 

Top Gun Cary Game #5: BIG Red 5, Rolesville Rampage 4

Game 5, the third game of the day for the BIG Reds, started soon after the second game ended. The BIG Reds battled to get the 5-4 win against another Tar Heel team, Rolesville Rampage.

Top Gun Cary Game #4: BIG Reds 5, Level Cross Kings 4

After over an hour and half break and refueling on the smorgasbord provided to them the BIG Reds took on the Level Cross Kings and won 5-4. The sun beating down did not stop the great plays. 

Top Gun Cary Game #3: RV Fishers 10, BIG Reds 1

Game #3 started at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. We were able to cheer on the Cardinals before our game and several of them stayed our entire game to cheer us on. 

Once again the Fishers manufactured runs using ONLY big barrel bats. 

Top Gun Cary Game #2: RV Fishers 15, BIG Reds 7

During the break between games the BIG Reds were able to cheer on the Capital City Cardinals. The BIG Reds' second game started early on a hot humid mid day game vs. RV Fishers. The BIG Reds claimed the first loss of the season in 5 1/2 innings.

Top Gun Cary Game #1: BIG Reds 15, South Wake Storm 5

Game 1 for the BIG Reds started bright an early on Saturday. After a coin flip it was determined we would be the home team. The BIG Reds won  15-5 in 5 1/2 innings South Wake Storm. 

Practice #6: What we learned?

Expectations for the BIG Reds:

• No horse playing in the dugout – this may result in sitting the remainder of a game
• No leaving the dugout during the game, unless you have checked with a coach
• No food or gum in the dugout during the game
• The dugout should be neat at all times – helmets in bags while in the field, gloves in bags while batting, no cups on the ground, and bags hung on the fence
• When sitting during an inning players should be watching the game

The BIG Reds are in action this weekend in Erwin, NC. Saturday the team will meet at the field at 8:00 a.m.  This will give us time to get together, find the field we will be playing on, get warmed up and be ready to play. We will be wearing our reds on Saturday and whites on Sunday.

Top Gun Cary or should we say Erwin

The game schedule for the Top Gun Sports – Summer State Championship Tournament was released this afternoon.

The address to the fields where we will be playing is
810 S. 16th St., Erwin, NC.

We will need to be at the fields 1 hour before game time, that means 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Sunday game times depend on where we end up after Pool Play.  Games start anywhere from 9:00a.m. to 4:00p.m., the final games as late as 5:45p.m.

Attitude

Over the past weekend, I noticed Coach Eric teaching the players about playing the right way and having the right ATTITUDE. I also had the pleasure to watch the Regional and Super Regional games over the past two weekends at Carolina. I noted ATTITUDE is a key to the Diamond Heels success. They have an ATTITUDE of:

• Do things the right way
• Do the little things great
• Enjoy the moment

Practice #5: Who's in charge?

Practice began tonight with everyone wondering where Coach Eric, the BIG Reds manager was. It was determined that he was hard at work trying to figure out when the BIG Reds would be playing this weekend.

Practice #4: Cut off

Blood was drawn at least twice tonight, a couple of bad hops in an ear and on the nose.  The players shook it off and bounced back nicely.  With only a little over an hour on the field tonight the team was pushed for time and were able to cover a few situational plays for both the base runners and fielders.

Practice #3: Wet and Wild

Everyone was inquisitive to why Coach Eric requested the players bring their swimsuit and towel. It turns out that the boys were going to work on sliding drills. But this was not any ordinary sliding drills. The team quickly found out this was slip and slide sliding drills. This was a great way to end the BIG Reds first weekend of practices.

The BIG Reds will be back in action on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at WR.

Practice #2: Hats

Great job today.  The boys worked hard and showed great teamwork.   

The boys hit the cover off the ball today.  Coach Andrew and Jim did a good job hitting the bats!!!  Thanks to all the dads we were able to running practice smoothly and get in tons of reps and work on several drills.  

Practice #1: Let the fun begin

It was great to get on the field for the BIG Reds first practice. The boys did really well. Coach Eric is looking forward to having the field for 2 hours Saturday morning and see the BIG Reds in action.  

The boys hit great during the hitting stations to start practice off. Once on the field the boys looked right at home and were ready to work. 

Attitude is a big part of Coach Eric's philosophy. It is important to have the right attitude and that is a choice you can make.  

Batting Helmets Donated

The BIG Reds have an anonymous donor that would like to provide helmets to our players.  This is awesome!!!  The helmets will be white and will contain the WR All Star logo. 

Practice Jerseys

We have a sponsor for Practice Jerseys.  A new sports training business is being started by Kevin Dale (Lookouts' Head Coach), Josh Bloom (Thunder assistant coach) and a few others.  They will be sponsoring all the WR ML All Star teams this summer with practice jerseys.

BIG Red Player Expectations

Coach Eric has some key expectations for the team this summer. 

·         Have fun and make friends
·         Attend practice – If you are unable to attend, please let me know in advance
·         Be on time for practice – Plan on arriving 10 – 15 minutes prior to practice
·         Wear proper gear – Baseball pants (whenever there is dirt on the field), hats, cups, etc.
·         Be Respectful – Coaches, Teammates, Parents, Opponents, Umpires
·         Always work hard and hustle – “Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard”
·         A positive Attitude is a must
·         You are responsible for your equipment – Pack it, Carry it and Keep it organized

First Team Meeting

The 2011 BIG Reds and parents met the the WR clubhouse to be introduced and go over some initial team items. After the meeting Coach Eric was even more excited about the team for this summer.  Coach Eric said "we have a good group of boys that I could tell are going to all get along.  Great talent, great personalities and just great boys (and parents)."


After the meeting, all the parents had to force the boys to try on the baseball pant and jersey samples. The new teammates were content to play tag together. The parents were left in the clubhouse to figure out all the uniform ordering.