Ali vs. Frazier.

LeBron vs. Kobe.

USA vs. the Russians.

Snookie vs. Jwoww.

Name your favorite epic rivalry, they all pale in comparison to the showdown of unbeatens that face off for the championship of the MVP Tournament here in Decatur on Saturday.

Yes, it’s THAT big.

Chicago's Joba Farrell continued the hot pitching performances in the MVP Tournament.

Okay, enough ridiculous hyperbole. But after today’s action, it’s obvious that the Chicago All Stars and the Astros from Texas are the two best teams in this Peach State showcase tournament and will face off as unbeatens for the title tomorrow. Here’s what happened today to lead us to that showdown.

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GAME FIVE.

Chicago All Stars- 000 001 1 – 2  8  2

Atl Virgin Islands – 000 000 0 – 0  3  1

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The All Stars continued their strong play, improving to 2-0 in the tournament with today’s 2-0 skunking of the Virgin Islands team. And once again, it was buoyed by a strong mound effort, this time from the right arm of Joba Farrell (Kenwood Academy), who tossed a complete game 3-hitter. Combined with yesterday’s 3-hitter by Antwoine Brown (Simeon Academy), the Chicago All Stars have now gone 14 innings without giving up a run.

The All Stars finally broke the scoreless tie in the 6th inning with a two-out double from Corey Ray (Simeon Academy), which was followed by a slicing RBI single from catcher Blake Hickman (Simeon Academy), who finally broke out of his slump. An inning later, John Zuber started the final inning of the game with a leadoff single, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and was then knocked in by a deep fly ball to center field from Darius Day (Simeon Academy).

The Virgin Islands team was led by Khalif Gerard (St. Croix Education H.S.), who singled, got on base with a dropped third strike and flew out to left. He was about the only thing to write home about for the Virginers.

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There wasn't a lot to write home about for the Virgin Islands team, but this diving catch by Jose Martinez was a web gem.

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Chicago's Corey Ray started the game-winning rally with a two-out double in the 6th inning. Here he rounds third and heads for home plate, as if his feet never hit the ground.

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Chicago's John Zuber, here sliding under a tag at third, was 3-for-3 on the day, including a stolen base.

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Starting pitcher Joba Farrell put up a lot of zeroes on the scoreboard. (And no, this was not some sort of double no-hitter, the scoreboard operators just didn't keep up with the hit total for some reason)

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GAME SIX.

Atlanta- 010 000 0 – 1  3  0

Astros – 000 105 x – 6  7  0

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This tournament has been full of great pitching performances, and this game kept true to that form as the Astros (or Astros/Rangers as they’ve been called here) gave us another complete-game three-hitter in the form of Daryl Watkins.

The crafty righty was topping out in the upper 80s and showed great movement on his slider and curve most of the game. After giving up a three-bagger to Atlanta’s Terry McClure (Westlake H.S.) in the 2nd inning, Watkins and the Astros defense didn’t allow a baserunner to reach beyond 1st base the remainder of the game.

Offensively, the Astros broke open a nip-and-tuck game by exploding for five runs in the bottom of the 6th to take the wind out of the sails of the home team. The Astros loaded the bases and then scored the go-ahead run all without the benefit of a hit. An RBI bases on balls was issued to Khari Anderson (Carver H.S.) to break a 1-1 tie. The first actual hit of the inning came on a two-run single from Robinson Mateo, which was followed by an RBI double from Jabari Gayle (Miller Grove H.S.).

The Astros advance to the championship game against the Chicago All Stars tomorrow.

Astros pitcher Daryl Watkins was nearly un-hittable today, inducing 15 harmless pop-ups in his 21 outs.

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... Watkins (foreground) also had a solid group of fielders behind him, helping him retire 17 of the last 18 batters he faced.

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Astros leadoff hitter Rashad Brooks had a pair of hits on the day but but was tagged out on this play at the plate.

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PLAYER PROFILE:

- Catcher Blake Hickman, Chicago All Stars

This guy truly fits in the “man-child” department. Listed at 6′4″ and 210 pounds, the senior-to-be has the body of a grown man, ready to take on the rigors of a college baseball season as the block of granite behind the plate. But it’s his boyish face that catches your eye, making you wonder if he really is going into his last year of high school and getting the attention of the Major League scouts.

People at the tournament have been waiting for him to showcase his cannon right arm behind the dish, and they got their chance to see it today. Virgin Island speedster Khalif Gerard, one of the fastest base-runners in the tournament took off for second base in the 5th inning. Suddenly… whoosh! A Hickman throw made a blue streak to the bag, landing in the glove of shortstop John Zuber about two feet above the base. Problem was, Gerard was still three strides from getting there, so he became instant dead meat because of Hickman’s laser.

Scouts and recruiters are well aware of Hickman’s talent. In fact, a scout I talked with said there was a chance that he thought Hickman could get drafted in the 10-to-20 round range after his upcoming senior season, or even higher depending on the type of season he has. At the college level, Iowa is high on his list of possible schools for now. He’d fit in great with some of the recent big-time backstops that conference has pumped out lately.

The Chicago coaches rely on Blake Hickman's impact on every game.

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Whether wielding aluminum or wood, Hickman is just as intimidating at the plate.

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Pfft! Silly Deandre Stinchcomb, he thinks he can lay down a bunt in front of Blake Hickman and actually beat the throw to 1st. No way. Not even.

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Q&A:

- Alcorn State head coach Barret Rey

The Braves were one of the bigger stories of the 2011 season. Coach Rey’s charges went 19-4 in SWAC play and ended up winning the post-season tournament, meaning they were the SWAC champions for the first time ever and went to the NCAA tournament.

Keep in mind this happened in Coach Rey’s second season in Bravesland. Yep, the first time they’ve dogpiled at the end of the SWAC season. The first time they overcame conference bully Southern in the post-season. The first trip to the Big Dance. In year two. That’s wicked-good, man.

It was a big thrill to catch up with the architect of the Braves uprising here at the MVP tournament and have a quick back-n-forth. Here’s how it went.

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Me:

Let me start with the obvious, how big was winning that SWAC title for you guys?

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Coach Rey:

It was huge. It was the first time ever in the history of the school. Since I became a head coach I had that dream, ya’ know. And going to the regionals was the cherry on top, but I’ve been telling people, it really just makes me want to go for even more.

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Me:

Was it a bittersweet thing to do it against Coach Cador at Southern?

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Coach Rey:

Yeah, it was really the show of utmost respect. I wouldn’t have had the chance to win a championship without coach Cador, so it WAS bittersweet, sure. Because he taught me so much.

This is how ESPN showed Coach Barret Rey and his 7-year old son celebrating Alcorn's title-clinching win over Southern in the SWAC tournament.

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Me:

Has the administration helped out in raising the profile of the Alcorn program?

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Coach Rey:

I think so. I mean, everybody loves a winner now. We had the support before, but they had a good product in place. It seems like they really just needed to re-define it, they really just needed to get some new blood in there, energize things and get some better athletes in there.

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Me:

What does it mean for you to get that title and get better athletes?

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Coach Rey:

Before, being at Grambling and then coming over here to Alcorn, I really didn’t have anything to sell, but now we can sell our championship. Plus, last year our schedule was ranked 14th in the country and in 2012 we’re going to open at LSU for three games, then we go to Southern Miss for a three-game set, Auburn for a two-game set, Georgia Tech for a two-game set and we also have Tulane, UL-L and finish up at Oklahoma State.

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Me:

Holy cow!

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Coach Rey:

But there’s a method to my madness here. We schedule in a way that enables us to see the kids play the kind of competition they’re not used to seeing.

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Me:

Talk for a bit about the SWAC and what you see overall in the improvement of the conference, particularly in the Eastern Division.

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Coach Rey:

Now we’ve got Mervyl Melendez coming into Alabama State, which is huge for our conference. Coach Johnson over at Jackson State, he does a heck of a job. We’ve got coach McCann at Alabama A&M after he won a lot of games at Centenary, so you know he’s gonna turn that program around. Coach Cooper at Grambling has built that program up as well. There’s a lot of new blood in the league, so you know that winning championships is going to be tougher. But it’s exciting.

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Me:

What does this MVP Tournament mean to you? In other words, what does it mean to have access to some inner city kids all in one place like they are here?

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Coach Rey:

It’s really huge. It really is. I think it gives us more exposure and more access to the kids that we want to sign, And I think, in the five years I’ve been coming here the product on the field has gotten better and better.

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OTHER NOTES.

- THE REST OF THE SCHEDULE.

After two days of games, as mentioned above, the top two teams will be facing off tomorrow with the Chicago All Stars facing off against the Astros from Texas for the tournament championship. The Consolation game will be Team Atlanta vs. Virginia Upton. There will also be a home run derby contest following the title game. And yes, the boys will be hitting with wood bats. In case you’re wondering, there has been only one home run hit in the six games so far this week.

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- THE DUKE.

Duke assistant coach Evan Thompson said that Blue Devil two-way stud Marcus Stroman has finished playing for the USA Collegiate National Team and was going to take the rest of the summer off, instead of returning to the Cape Cod League for the third straight summer. He said, “Marcus hasn’t given up a single run in two summers on the Cape so there was nothing left to prove.”

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ZESTO IN THE ATL.

While driving around Atlanta this afternoon, I saw this storefront on a street near downtown…

Yep. It's Zesto. In fact, that reminds me, the sign at the Zesto location across from Rosenblatt says "nationally known, Zesto." I guess so, since Zesto has locations all over the country.

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- TECH’S NOT-SO-GOOD TURF.

Georgia Tech is an institution that is chock-full of brilliant mechanical minds. But evidently not many herbivorous minds.

I made the drive up to Georgia Tech this afternoon because I remember in a Q&A I did for ESPN earlier this spring that nationally-respected umpire A.J. Lostaglio was swooning over the pristine playing surface at Russ Chandler Stadium. So here’s what I saw when I got there…

Hmmm... the playing surface at The Russ ain't so Lostaglio-rific now is it? I'm assuming they've let things go since the end of the season. But that playing surface sure ain't ready for any summer action. (Not like there's any scheduled there anyway, right?)

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- MOTHER NATURE GIVES US A BREAK.

After Thursday’s triple digit heat index, today found the tournament awash in overcast skies, intermittent sprinkles and low-80s temperatures. Thank you weather gods. The forecast for Saturday looks like more of the same with temps not s’posed to creep much into the 80s and some intermittent sprinkles popping u.

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G’night.