LOCAL BASEBALL DISTRICT PREPARED TO START EARLIER THAN MOST

Burney loves the fact that the Royal Oak baseball district – Division 1, District # 22 (Burney's lucky number by the way and the number he wore all throughout his prep sports career) – is holding its semi-finals and finale on Friday, instead of waiting until Saturday like most of the rest of the state. This is like the Yule Tide season in June for any high school sports-obsessed fan. It's like being able to open a few of your presents on Christmas Eve as a pallet-teaser for the big sha-bang Christmas morning. Great move and kudos, to the MHSAA or the Royal Oak athletic department or whoever you are that made this particular scheduling decision. Burney applauds you!

Now let's take a little look at the two local squads that have a chance to come out of Friday's "district battle royal" victorious:

There's no doubt that defending D1 state champ Warren De La Salle is the favorite heading into the semi's on Friday morning. However, both host-Royal Oak (an upstart, energetic bunch) and a very solid Berkley squad (fundamental as fundamental can be) could wind up upending the Pilots and walking away with the title themselves.

If you've been following this blog these past few months, you would know that Burney has been very high on the Ravens and the Bears all season. Each is well-coached and laden with talented and determined players.

The Ravens  are very young – six freshman and/or sophomores in the starting line-up – yet can't be overlooked by De La Salle in their semi-final match-up due to the fact that they are playing on their home field, they finished above the .500 mark and more than held their own competing in the rigorous OAA Central. QUICK SIDE NOTE: I GOTTA BELIEVE THAT FRESHMAN PHENOM SEAN LAU OF ROUAL OAK IS SOMEHOW RELATED 2 CHARLIE LAU, THE WORLD RENOWNED HITTING-COACH. HE HITS SO WELL AND HIS SWING IS SO 'ON THE MONEY', HOW COULD HE NOT BE?

In the other semi-final showdown, OAA South-champ, Berkley (24-10) will face-off with Warren Mott. The Bears are riding a wave of momentum coming off a last-second comeback-victory over Warren Cousino in a pre-district game on Tuesday. Stacked with hungry and crafty players like DEREK LEHMAN, ADAM MCDOWELL, BEN NUSHOLTZ, KYLE HENNESSY and CONOR REID, among others, Berkley is Burney's best bet for the upset-bid.

QUICK SIDENOTE- I'M HAVING A HARD TIME DECIDING IF JUNIOR CONOR REID IS A BETTER PITCHER ON THE MOUND FOR THE BEARS IN THE SPRING OR A BETTER 3-POINT ASSASSIN IN THE FALL ON THE HARDWOOD. WHAT DO U GUYZ THINK?