At Wednesday afternoon’s meeting, the TSSAA Board of Control plans to select a contingency plan for the 2020 football season.  The state office staff has prepared a video explaining the proposed options, as well as describing a recently-developed “hybrid” option that draws on elements from all the plans previously presented to the Board, while incorporating the feedback received from administrators and coaches in the past few weeks.

While the early plans assume that contact practice will be able to start on Aug. 30, the “hybrid” proposal makes no such assumption and accounts for the possibility of a different start date, regardless of whether it comes before or after Aug. 30.

The video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/LrNIPZvW4ck

Information about the Board meeting can be found here: https://tssaa.org/article/board-of-control-to-meet-on-wednesday-july-22

The meeting will be held in the Lecture Hall at Siegel High School with all physical distancing requirements being enforced and masks required of all attendees. There will be limited seating, but best efforts will be made to accommodate those individuals in attendance.  The meeting will be live streamed via YouTube. The link for the live video is included in the article above.

The Manchester Youth Baseball Association postseason tournament opens up on Tuesday at Fred Deadman Park.  The league’s postseason tournament’s championship games scheduled for Monday, July 27^th.  

In the 8U division, Interstate Auto is set to take on Lions Club at 6 PM on the Fastpitch Field.  In the 10U division, Chico’s Bail Bonds will open up against Coffee County Bank at 6:30 PM on the National League Field.  In the 12U division on Aaron Miller Field, First Vision Bank squares off against Bush Insurance at 5 PM and Shelter Insurance matches up with Peoples Bank at 7:30 PM.  And in the 18U division, The Expos take on the Christiana Braves at 6 PM on Looney Riddle Field. 

The pictures, material and information contained in this story may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or redistributed, for commercial gain, without the express written consent of Coffee County Broadcasting.

The Tennessee Youth Baseball Association hosted state tournaments for 7 different age divisions were held this weekend.  Playing at Barfield Crescent Park in Murfreesboro, 3 Manchester teams made the finals with 2 teams grabbing state titles. 

In the 18U division, the Manchester Yankees blazed through pool play unbeaten to earn the number 1 seed going into Sunday’s single elimination bracket.  In the tournament finals, the Yankees defeated the Christiana Braves to claim the title. 

In the 15U division, the Manchester All-Stars went 2 and 1 in pool play losing only to Nitro.  Seeded 2^nd in the tournament bracket, the All-Stars matched up against Nitro in the finals.  The All-Stars won the rematch to earn the state title. 

In the 5 and 6 year old division, the Coffee County Raiders went 2 and 1 in pool play losing only to Tidal Wave.  The Raiders advanced to the finals with a win in a tournament semifinal win over Donelson to get a rematch with Tidal Wave.  The Raiders were unable to gain the revenge win over Tidal Wave and settled for a runner-up finish. 

The pictures, material and information contained in this story may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or redistributed, for commercial gain, without the express written consent of Coffee County Broadcasting.

By: Mark Bowman – MLB.com

Though the Braves’ rotation currently lacks an established ace, the quality depth of this rather young but mature group could still make it one of the game’s better starting staffs.

“After the layoff we had, it seemed like everybody came in and hit the ground running,” Braves veteran Josh Tomlin said. “That bodes well for the club and for the start of the season because this isn’t a marathon anymore, it’s a sprint from the very get-go. If you have a hiccup the first 10 games, it can cost you. This group, even though it’s young, held itself accountable and actually worked during this quarantine.”

It’s no doubt disappointing that Cole Hamels has been unable to throw off a mound despite having a couple extra months to recover from the shoulder ailment that sidelined him during Spring Training. But the Braves have reason to be excited to see how much Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb will benefit from the dedication they showed during the quarantine.

Soroka, Foltynewicz and Newcomb pushed and supported each other while working out at suburban Atlanta’s Campbell High School. Fried was back home in California training with his high school buddy Jack Flaherty, who stands with Soroka as a preseason National League Cy Young Award candidate.

“Overall, I like where everybody is at,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

Here’s a look at how the Braves rotation will look to begin the season:

1. Mike Soroka

Season debut: Friday at Mets, 4:10 p.m. ET

Soroka will become the youngest Opening Day starter in Braves modern era history, and he’ll be MLB’s youngest pitcher to start a season opener since José Fernández in 2014. The 22-year-old hurler left one last great impression last year, when he limited the Cardinals to two hits and one run over seven innings in Game 3 of the NL Division Series.

Experiencing this first Opening Day assignment on the road shouldn’t faze Soroka, who posted a 1.55 ERA outside of Atlanta last year. In the divisional era (since 1969), Greg Maddux (1.12 in 1995) and Roger Clemens (1.32 in 2005) are the only pitchers (minimum 15 starts) to produce a better road ERA.

Soroka appears to be where he needs to be entering the short season, throwing 60 pitches to complete five innings in an intrasquad game on Saturday night. The Braves had him continue pitching to get his pitch count closer to 75 while making his last tune-up. The young hurler ended up retiring seven of the eight hitters faced in the inning.

“You look at that outing and say it looks like he’s ready to go,” Snitker said.

2. Max Fried

Season debut: Saturday at Mets, 4:10 p.m. ET

Fried notched 17 wins (second most in the NL) last year and proved himself as a big league starter. The lefty produced a 2.96 ERA through his first 10 starts, and then overcame some midseason struggles before being a strong asset down the stretch. The NL East race all but ended on Sept. 5, when Fried limited the Nationals to one hit over seven scoreless innings.

3. Mike Foltynewicz

Season debut: TBD

Snitker has not determined whether Foltynewicz or Newcomb will fit in the third spot, but both are targeted to begin the season in the rotation.

Foltynewicz will be looking to distance himself from a rough, injury-plagued season that included both promise and frustration. After spending some time in the Minors, he posted a 1.73 ERA over his final seven starts, and then limited the Cardinals to three hits over seven scoreless innings in Game 2 of the NLDS. Unfortunately, his year ended with him recording just one out during the 10-run first inning St. Louis put together in Game 5.

“He’s very good at putting the past in the past and approaching this year with a completely different mindset,” Tomlin said. “He knows he’s not the reason we didn’t win that game or the reason we that we didn’t win that series. A large reason we got to that point was Foltynewicz.”

4. Sean Newcomb

Season debut: TBD

Had Hamels been ready and had Félix Hernández elected to play this year, Newcomb might have returned to the bullpen, where he finally provided some consistent value last year. Now, the lefty will get his wish to return to a starting role.

Newcomb believes if he’s as aggressive as he was as a reliever last year, he will find better success as a starter. But until he finds simultaneous consistency with his changeup and curveball, he will likely continue to struggle as a two-pitch starter.

Fifth spot

Hamels missed Spring Training with left shoulder inflammation, and he’s currently behind schedule because of the left triceps tendinitis that slowed him last week. The Braves are still hopeful to get some value from the 36-year-old lefty. But for now, they’ll fill this spot with Kyle Wright, Tomlin or rising prospect Tucker Davidson, who still may be a long shot to land on the Opening Day roster.

This fifth spot of the rotation will almost certainly be one in which the Braves use the piggyback system. If Wright begins the season in this spot, he might be targeted for three to four innings in his first start. Tomlin, Bryse Wilson and Chris Rusin are among those who could be tabbed to throw the two to three innings behind one of the starters that is piggybacked within the season’s first couple weeks.

Mark Bowman has covered the Braves for MLB.com since 2001.