While Oxford skipper Chris Palmer has some scouting information on his team’s state regional playoff opponent, Sherburne-Earlville coach, Brian Hicks, has precise information on that very team, Cooperstown.
Hicks’ Marauders played the Redskins twice in the regular season losing at Doubleday Field, 6-5, and dropping a 10-inning contest later in the season. “They are a team that was 0-10 in our division three years ago, but they’ve had the same team two years in a row, and are senior-dominated,” Hicks said. “They are solid up the middle on defense, and they’re just fundamentally sound.”
Leading that experienced team, however, is junior catcher Phillip Pohl, the Center State Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore, and according to Hicks, will likely repeat that honor this season. “That kid is just a monster,” Hicks said. “Behind the plate, nothing gets by him and you just can’t run on him. He has unbelievable quickness, and he throws peas down to second.
“As a hitter, if the situation is right, you want to walk him. He is a dead pull hitter and he hits the ball hard. Their team as a whole loves that first-pitch fastball. You seldom want to throw that.”
Pohl will likely receive for unbeaten senior pitcher Luke Banner, who went 7-0 on the season, but was knocked out of the game in the seventh inning by the Marauders in the second contest. Not a hard thrower, Hicks said, Banner does hit his spots consistently, and he has a strong defense behind him led by Dale Petroskey. Petroskey, another senior for the Redskins, batted over .500 during the regular season and is a NCAA Division One signee. He will attend the University of Vermont in the fall.
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