I often get asked whether I believe in letting younger players play up. By “playing up” I mean allowing kids to play in an age group older than where they’re supposed to play. There really is no one answer to suit everybody. Kids develop mentally and physically at different rates, so each case must be looked at on an individual basis.

If kids possess the skill sets and are mentally capable of playing with older players, in most cases I would not have a problem with playing them up. When my son Ryan was moving up through the youth baseball ranks, he played up on several of his teams, which means he was usually the youngest on his team. He’s always been big for his age and back then his skill level fit in well with the older kids he was playing with, so the experience was a good one for him....

When no one's on base, the first baseman has the same responsibilities of any other infielder: He must be ready to field a ground ball if it's hit in his direction.

A misconception is that because a first baseman's glove is different, things are done differently at that position. Not true.

Catching a ground ball is catching a ground ball, and the same fundamentals apply to the first baseman that apply to any other infielder: have a wide base, get your butt down, keep your head up and your hands out in front.

"Is the black around home plate, part of the plate? What if a catcher has a foot on black part of home plate, and there is a force at home?" - John Fanelli

That's an excellent question John. Ultimately, for the best answer, you'd have to refer to your league's rulebook, but for most things like this, other rulebooks will refer you straight to the Major League Baseball rules.

Coach David Roehmholdt gives us a brief recap of the opening weekend for the Jamestown Red Raiders varsity baseball team.

The 2011 high school baseball season is here and has begun!  The Jamestown Red Raiders team is anxious to get the season rolling after a long and wet spring.  They have returned home from their Spring Break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where they had a tough time against some good opponents, but they are back and ready to take on teams in Section 6.

5/22 - Frontier defeated Jamestown: Jamestown fell to Frontier 4-3 in the first round of the AA playoffs. The winning run was scored in the bottom of the 7th on an RBI single by Frontier's Patronik. Cody Kane and Adam Neubauer had two hits each for Jamestown.

4/30/10 - Lancaster defeated Jamestown 3-2:  Jamestown lost to Lancaster 3-2 on a squeeze play in the bottom of the 8th inning. Matt Tobias had 12 strikeouts in 7+ innings. Jamestown's three hits came from Jaron Pollino, Ben Bootey and Levi Madden.

4/16/10 - Jamestown defeated Southwestern 16-8: Jamestown jumped out to a 14-0 lead and held off a Southwestern rally to win 16-8 and claim the championship of the Danny Isaac Division of the Mingo Bay Classic. Winning pitcher Matt Tobias hit a three run home run in the 2nd inning and Bret Heath added a grand slam in the fourth. Tanner Delahoy had a solo shot in the 6th for Southwestern. Now JHS is headed to the beach to soak up some sun!