Isaac Earl, one of the better athletes enrolled at Central; the other “Earl” (unrelated) plays baseball
Eli Earl, a ’25 guy, batted a little under .200 a year ago but he was effective on the mound, had three doubles and 4-RBIs, and even threw in a save with his 2-1 record on the mound and 3.68-ERA over his 19-innings pitched. As the baseball nears its opening, we have to wonder there are any “Earls” around the diamond who might lend a hand this coming Fall? We fervently believe there are some, if we can just nudge them in the appropriate direction.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball
Morton’s Gap, KY: We were interviewing a famous football coach. Matter of fact, the coach we are discussing has been inducted into the Dawahares, KHSAA Hall of Fame so you might say we were interviewing an all-timer.
He shared with us that many of the years he was involved in coaching football he also coached varsity baseball at the same schools. We asked him why? Wasn’t coaching football enough?
He told us, “…for the talent. I would get players to come out for football.”
The guy we are discussing is the great Dan Goble from Christian County High. We were surprised.
We conceded basketball and football share many of the same athletic traits needed to thrive. We never thought of baseball the same way.
Sure, one of the commonwealth’s very best QBs, Brady Atwell from Owensboro Catholic, signed to play baseball collegiately at WKU. Sure, there have been many, many outstanding football players who doubled in baseball, too numerous to list here. However, it isn’t a calculation we ready make, without a considerable amount of thought.
So we asked Coach Goble why? What traits translate between the two sports in his opinion.
Have you ever been hit by a pitch; hurts doesn’t it?
Dan Goble, Dawahares Hall of Fame member
“Have you ever been hit by a pitch?”
We answered, “Yessir.”
Goble continued, “Hurts, doesn’t it?”
Baseball Coach
He was right. Goble went on to relate that a high school player standing in a batter’s box while some other kid’s hurling a baseball at him, between 80-90 M.P.H., requires courage. Football also requires courage.
“There you go,” Goble concluded. “There’s your relationship.”
It made perfect sense. That is probably why Goble is a Hall of Fame coach; his ability to take issues and make them perfectly correlate, perfectly “make sense.”
Isaac Earl is not the only “Earl” who is an athlete at Hopkins County Central. The other “Earl’s” surname is “Eli” and the two “Earls” bear no relation at all.
Eli Earl is running out of eligibility this coming Spring, as he is a ’25 kid. Isaac is among the better athletes in the hallways of the entire school.
Eli Earl pitched in eight (8)-games last spring. The “other Earl” batted a shade under .200, had three (3)-doubles, four (4)-RBIs, and was among the better pitchers with a 2-1 mark with a “save,” together with his 3.68 ERA over 19-innings pitched. Eli was steady, over his junior season, and looks to up that performance when the season opens in a few days in Cadiz, Kentucky.
Isaac Earl could use, on the diamond, his physical traits which lent to his contributing 690-yards passing with six (6)-TDs and 460-yards rushing and seven (7)-additional TDs.
Baseball may well benefit from the “eye/hand” coordination which led to Isaac Earl’s catching 27-passes for 363 and seven (7)-TDs. You know, Coach Starks (Austin Starks, baseball coach), Isaac Earl scored 92-points in ’24 to go along with his 23-tackles, two (2)-TFLs, a-FR. All of that may come in handy.
Maybe we can work out a trade…Football will lend you Isaac Earl this spring and next; if you let us use some of your guys. You see, that’s how we all get to where we want to go.
We’ll be glad to harvest a few of those thick-necked dudes in your baseball team picture up above, this coming Fall. We will keep them in prime baseball playing shape for next spring. Just a thought, let us know…
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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