Fear the beard.
It's a phrase that's become common in sports, especially at this time of the year with the NHL playoffs in full swing.
Baseball also has its fascination with the beard. From Brian Wilson and the San Francisco Giants bullpen of 2011, to Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia and the rest of the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox, beards are more prevalent than ever.
When I played high school baseball 25 years ago, players with full beards were uncommon. Today, the Schuylkill League is full of them. It seems that every game I cover, there's somebody on one of the teams sporting a full beard.
That got me thinking. Who has the best beard in the Schuylkill League?
I have several nominees - players from Pottsville, North Schuylkill, Williams Valley and Minersville immediately come to mind - but there might be some players on teams I haven't seen that should be considered.
So, let's have a contest.
From today through May 10, the last day of the regular season, I will accept nominations for "The Best Baseball Beard in the Schuylkill League" contest. The winner will be unveiled in the Monday, May 12, baseball notebook.
You can submit your nominations by emailing me at Lboyer@republicanherald.com, posting it on The Republican-Herald Sports page on Facebook or by sending me a message on Twitter @pubsportsboss. Nominations must include a photo of the player you are nominating, and their name and school. Selfies are good, too.
Let's have some fun with this.
District 11 Update
To date, five Schuylkill League teams have qualified for the District 11 playoffs: Blue Mountain (AAA), Pottsville (AAA), Pine Grove (AA), Tri-Valley (A) and Schuylkill Haven (A).
Several teams are close, as Tamaqua (9-3, 5-1), North Schuylkill (9-4) and Minersville (9-5, 7-3) need one more win and Marian (7-5, 6-5), Nativity (7-5, 6-5) and Williams Valley (7-6, 6-5) need two more league wins. Shenandoah Valley (5-8, 4-7) needs to win four of its last five league games to get in.
The Dawgs and Hurricanes are ranked 1-2 in the current District 11 Class A rating system, followed by Marian, Nativity and Williams Valley. Pine Grove is No. 2 behind Notre Dame-Green Pond (11-2), where it looks like seven teams will qualify.
In Class AAA, Tamaqua is ranked No. 1, followed by Bethlehem Catholic (7-6), Blue Mountain and Pottsville. This bracket is very competitive, with possibly nine teams qualifying.
For updated rankings, visit district11.piaa.org (no www) and click on the District 11 Fan Link to Sport Power Rankings midway down the page.
Odds and Ends
Some tidbits from recent games:
- One of my favorite dugout chants occurs when Pottsville's Mike Kuperavage steps to the plate. His teammates continuously chant "Mike, Mike, Mike" similar to the seagulls chanting "Mine, Mine, Mine" in the movie "Finding Nemo.'' It just gets stuck in your head.
- I'm absolutely impressed that all of the games scheduled for Friday were completed, with the rain moving into the area around 5 p.m. Kudos to the athletic directors and coaches that moved their games up to 3:30 p.m. starts to avoid the rain, and my sympathies to the players, coaches and fans who had to endure the wet weather like I did covering the Haven-Nativity game.
- Love the improvements made to Upper Dauphin's home field in the park in Elizabethville. They made the backstop a concrete wall last year, then this year expanded the dugouts on both sides.
- Marian's Frank Nietz will play baseball next fall for Lebanon Valley College.
This week's games
The Schuylkill League division races get intense this week, with several top teams squaring off. Here's a look at this week's big games:
Today - Pottsville at Blue Mountain, Tri-Valley at Williams Valley, Halifax at Upper Dauphin
Wednesday - Schuylkill Haven at Tri-Valley, Pine Grove at Tamaqua, Blue Mountain at North Schuylkill, Williams Valley at Minersville
Thursday - Hamburg at Tamaqua
Friday - Blue Mountain at Pine Grove (night), North Schuylkill at Tamaqua, Minersville at Schuylkill Haven
Saturday - Upper Dauphin at Line Mountain.
Player of the Week Luke Heffron, Minersville
Heffron collected six hits in a three-day span, with a double, three home runs and 13 RBIs in wins over Mahanoy Area, Marian and Panther Valley. For the season, the senior catcher is hitting .410 (16-for-39) with 23 RBIs.
A big key to Minersville's success is finding someone to hit behind Aaron Fritz and drive in runs. So far, Heffron has done a great job in that role, and is a big reason the Miners are 9-5 and have won seven of their last eight games.
Honorable mention: Nick Behm, Schuylkill Haven; Hunter Bordner, Tri-Valley; Steve Zimmerman, Pine Grove; Stephen Sedesse, Williams Valley.
(Boyer is sports editor and covers high school baseball for The Republican-Herald. Follow him on Twitter @pubsportsboss) Power Poll
(Through Saturday's games)
Team Record Pvs
1. Tamaqua 9-3 2
2. Pine Grove 12-3 6
3. Tri-Valley 13-2 3
4. Pottsville 7-7 1
5. Blue Mountain 10-5 7
6. Schuylkill Haven 11-3 5
7. North Schuylkill 9-4 8
8. Hamburg 13-2 9
9. Minersville 9-5 NR
10. Upper Dauphin 10-2 4
- Compiled by Leroy Boyer