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.”