2021 GHSA Baseball Guide - Coolray Field

GHSA 2021 STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | COOLRAY FIELD

2021 GHSA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

WORD FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GREETINGS, GHSA BASEBALL FANS elcome to the 2021 GHSA BaseW ball championships! The games are sure to be exciting as all of the

schools represented are looking forward to their team achieving the title of “Champion”. However we all know that all of our teams are outstanding and are definitely winners.

This has been an outstanding season and this year’s championship games will include familiar faces as well as teams that have worked hard and peaked at just the right time. Our congratulations are in order for all of the teams, coaches, administrators, students and parents who have supported the athletes through this year’s journey to the final games. I know you will enjoy and appreciate the games and all of the work leading up to this exciting event.

I would also like to thank you for your support of high school baseball throughout the season. Your attendance and support is integral to the success of high school athletics and for the team you are here to cheer on. Good sportsmanship is expected from our athletes and I urge you to be positive in your support of all of our teams. Let’s work together to make today’s games a great experience for all involved.

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To put on an event of this magnitude takes many volunteers who have worked tirelessly to provide a “first class” event. Many hours of work from this group will enhance the experience of our players, students and fans. The GHSA staff has been working for weeks as well to ensure a special event for all involved.

Finally I would like to thank our corporate sponsors who make it possible to put on these championships. Their advertisements can be seen throughout this venue and I encourage you to support them whenever possible. The GHSA wants to thank these exemplary companies for their involvement, we appreciate their support.

Thank you for your attendance and I know you are going to enjoy the best high school baseball anywhere!

Sincerely,

James R. Hines, Jr. Executive Director

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MAY 21 - 5:00 PM

1A Private - Wesleyan vs Mt. Paran (H) (DH)

MAY 22 - 2:00 PM

1A Private - Wesleyan vs Mt. Paran (If Game)

MAY 22 - 6:00 PM

3A - Franklin County vs North Hall (H) (DH)

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MAY 21 - 12:00 PM

4A - Benedictine vs Marist (If Game)

3A - Franklin County vs North Hall (If Game)

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MAY 20 - 5:00 PM

4A - Benedictine vs Marist (H) (DH)

MAY 24 - 12:00 PM

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MAY 20-22, 24

GHSA BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

POWERHOUSES ASCEND ON COOLRAY FOR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

BY BRETT GREENBERG

T

he 2021 GHSA baseball state game while outscoring opponents 87-16 in reached the playoffs in the 2018-19 season, championships for Class 4A, 3A four series wins. The Cadets swept each however, North Hall has reached the final and A-Private feature two power- of the four rounds in two games and run- four 19 times in school history.

house programs in Marist and Wesleyan, ruled their opponent in six of eight playoff

as well as two high schools looking for games. Looking to spoil the Cadets run will their first

ever finals victory. All three be the Marist Eagles who are 31-9 on the

games will be held at Coolray Field, home season and are outscoring opponents 62-11 of the Atlanta Braves Triple-A affiliate the in four rounds of playoffs. Marist reached Gwinnett Stripers. The Class 4A series will the second round in the 2018-19 playoffs kick things off starting Thursday, May 20 while Benedictine fell in the second round with the Class A-Private finals beginning of the 3A playoffs two years ago.

Friday, May 21. The competition at Coolray Field will end with the Class 3A finals on Saturday, May 22.

FAMILIAR FACES TAKE THE FIELD

WIN STREAKS CARRY TO FINALS The Class 3A championship will be a matchup between the Franklin County Lions (35-3) and the North Hall Trojans (31-

The Class 4A championship is the only 5) who both enter the final round with five

The Class A-Private finals features the Wesleyan Wolves and the Mount Paran Christian Eagles, both of whom have only four losses on the season and went undefeated in their respective regions. The Wesleyan Wolves have won 25 straight games after losing three straight in the first week of March. Wesleyan has not been challenged seemingly in the last month in its journey through the playoffs as the Wolves outscored opponents 7027 in four rounds. This Wesleyan team

matchup between two high schools to or less losses on the year. Franklin Coun- features top-five ranked outfielder for the have won a state championship with the ty has outscored opponents 55-14 in four class of 2022 and Vanderbilt commit Druw Benedictine Cadets, a three-time champi- playoff rounds and looks to improve their Jones, who carries the all-time batting avon, most recently in 2018, and the Marist 16-game win streak to 18 games in pursuit erage record in school history (.471) and

War Eagles who have won 13 state cham- of the school’s first ever state champion- is son of Atlanta Braves legend Andruw pionships and are looking for their fifth in ship. The North Hall Trojans completed Jones. Looking to put a stop to the streak Class 4A. Both teams went undefeated in region play 17-1 with the lone loss com- will be Mount Paran who has swept their their respective regions and were given ing from White County on March 22. The opponents in all but one round (Elite 8, the one seed on either side of the bracket. Trojans have outscored opponents 58-21 Tattnall Square Academy). Both teams The Benedictine Cadets carry a 33-4 re- in the hunt for the school’s second state were eliminated by eventual runner-up cord and 16-game win streak into the title championship since 2017. Neither school Savannah Christian in the 2019 playoffs.

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GHSA 2021 STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | COOLRAY FIELD

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MAY 20-22, 24

CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL ROSTERS & SCHEDULE

May 20 May 21 May 21 May 22 May 22 May 24

4A - Benedictine vs Marist 4A - Benedictine vs Marist

1A Priv - Wesleyan vs Mt. Paran 1A Priv - Wesleyan vs Mt. Paran 3A - Franklin County vs North Hall 3A - Franklin County vs North Hall

CLASS 4A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 23 24 25 26 27 31 32 33 34

CLASS 3A

BENEDICTINE CADETS

MARIST WAR EAGLES

FRANKLIN COUNTY LIONS

Head Coach: Kevin Farmer

Head Coach: Mike Strickland

Head Coach: David Skelly

Noah Roberts Kam Edge Clay Dean Justin Thomas Brooks Glover Miles Clemmons Tristian Littlefield John Leonard Charles Pulaski Trent Markiton Grayson Spence George Mullen Robert Carver Jackson Barger Harrison Barger Dalton Dotson Carter Holton Parker McCoy Cody Cowan Trent Warren Ben Hollerbach Kaden Tuten Jack Saul Grayson Britt Carter Welch Will Walker

IF/OF/P IF/P OF OF/P IF IF/OF OF/P P/OF OF/IF P/OF IF/OF IF/P C C OF P/OF P/OF IF/P OF/C C/IF OF/P P P P IF/P IF

12 11 11 11 12 10 11 12 11 12 11 12 10 12 12 12 12 9 12 12 11 10 10 9 11 12

(H)(DH) 5:00 PM (If Game) 12:00 PM (H)(DH) 5:00 PM (If Game) 2:00 PM (H)(DH) 6:00 PM (If Game) 12:00 PM

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 27 28

Andrew Buschmann Ryan McTighe Preston Larmore Thomas Rollauer Will Gerrick Reed Edwards Champ Davis Isaac Coronado Will Blair Ripp Perez Greg Taylor Drew Avitabile Hayden Hightower Griffin McDonald Tyler Hare Davis Strickland Ty Cosse Andrew Williams Ty Siksta Andrew Mannelly Michael Schoenberg Pierce Juhan Casey Comerford

OF P/IF P/IF IF/P IF OF/P IF/P P/IF C P/IF C OF IF IF IF C OF/P P/OF P OF OF C OF

10 11 11 12 11 9 11 11 12 10 12 10 10 11 12 9 11 12 10 11 10 10 9

32

Sam Hawkins

P

10

NORTH HALL TROJANS Head Coach: Trevor Flow

1

CJ Blackwell OF 12

2

Garrett Garner

3

Evan Herring OF 12

6

Bryson Halbrook 2B/C 11

7

Dee Oliver

OF/RHP 10

SS/RHP 10

9 JD Ginn

1B/RHP 12

10

Lawson Gailey

RHP/3B 11

11

Miles Dodd

LHP/1B 11

13

Chandler Coulter 1B/RHP 11

14

Kayne Jinks

15

Landon Bruce OF 11

16

Ryder Emmons

UTIL/RHP 11

2B/RHP 10

18 AJ Peeples C 11

1 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 27 28 29

Ajay Jones Jaret Bales Will Jackson Hudson Brown Nathan Vermeer Britton Glover Landon Lee Tate Brooks Cooper Helton Grayson Kirby Eli Reece Landon Davis Hudson Barrett Bradford Puryear Jay Johnson Jon Jon Read Brady Stephens Luke Erickson Baker Byer Hunter Brooks Korbyn Sosebee Andrew Hlavacek McKay Kemp Jace Bowen

OF OF/P/IF OF P C OF/P P C IF/OF/P OF IF/P P IF OF OF/P IF IF/P IF IF/P IF/P IF IF/P OF IF

9 11 10 12 9 10 10 11 11 12 11 11 11 11 12 9 10 11 11 11 9 10 11 11

CLASS 1A-PRIVATE WESLEYAN WOLVES

MT. PARAN CHRISTIAN EAGLES

Head Coach: Brian Krehmeyer

Head Coach: Kyle Reese

1

Jalen Fulwood P/OF 12

1

Tate McKee

RHP/IF

10

2

Luca Salmieri IF 11

2

Alex Adams

SS

11

4

Harrison Gracey IF/OF 12

5

Will Tucker

3

Josh Fitzpatrick

2B

11

6

Lucas Schelhammer P

11

4

Kyle Crisp

C/3B

7

Cooper Blauser IF

11

6

Colton Mazur

RHP/IF

11

8

Luke Carroll

C/OF 12

7

Tyler Minnick

C/IF

10

10

Drew Wren

P/IF 11

8

Luke Dotson

LHP/OF

11

11

Reed Purcell P/OF 10

10

Reid Jones

RHP

12

12

Dominick Scalese P/IF

13

James McCoy

11

Will Stephens

C/UTL

12

14

Carson Ballard P/OF 11

14

Pierce Crane

IF/UTL

11

16

Hunter Nasrallah

OF

12 10

C/OF 10

10

P/IF/OF 12

15

Jimmy Cox

16

Hampton Bingham P/IF

11

17

Paul Farley

RHP/OF

17

Quinn Moore P 12

18

Garrett Droege

OF

9

19

Schley Gordy P/IF 10

22

Nate Kerpics

21

Ryan Dupuis

OF

11

23

Bryce Hubbard C/IF 11

29

Nick German

OF

10

24

Joe Chatham C/1B 12

44

Cam Collier

RHP/3B

10

47

Jake Tucker

LHP/1B

10

25

Druw Jones

P/OF 12

9

P/IF/OF 11

P/OF 11

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GHSA 2021 STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | COOLRAY FIELD

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MAY 20-22, 24

GHSA BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

ATLANTA BRAVES, TRUIST PARK PARTNER TO HOST A TRIO OF CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

T

he Atlanta Braves’ commitment steps of one of Major League Baseball’s historic events over the last few years. and ongoing partnership with the most successful franchises.

Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State faGHSA is bringing three state chammously played the first-ever football game HOME SWEET HOME pionship series to Truist Park this week— at the venue in 2018 and the Owls scored the latest joint initiative aimed to promote

Located in Cobb County, Truist Park a 60-52 victory in a five-overtime thriller.

the growth of youth baseball in the state. has quickly become a beloved home field Additionally, Truist Park has hosted top This partnership goes back decades and to the Atlanta Braves since its opening in music acts like Billy Joel, Metallica, Def the Braves willingly opened the doors of 2017. The ballpark features an intimate Leppard, Journey and the Zac Brown Band. their new stadium to Georgia High School configuration—despite its 41,084-seat cabaseball in 2019. That year saw Parkview pacity—and has the highest percentage of

PROUD PARTNERS

sweep Hillgrove for the Class 7A champi- seats closer to the field than any other ball Keeping this partnership going is a onship in what was the only series played park in Major League Baseball. Woody Stu- win-win for Georgia High School baseat the stadium. denmund of “The Hardball Times” called ball and the Atlanta Braves are mainthe park a “gem” and praised the “com- taining a cherished tradition of the Last year’s cancellation prevented pact beauty of the stadium and its exciting state’s professional teams partnering the opportunity from taking place, but the approach to combining baseball, business with high school sports. The AtlanBraves are rolling out the red carpet in a big and social activities.”

ta Falcons hosted the Georgia High

way—this time hosting Georgia’s top three

School football state championships

classifications (Class 5A, 6A and 7A) for

This year’s championship games are for years at the Georgia Dome, but

the second annual GHSA championships conveniently scheduled as the Braves hit have not been able to host the games at Truist Park. Additionally, the Braves are the road for series against the Boston Red at Mercedes-Benz Stadium the last few opening up the Red Deck for free parking Sox and New York Mets and they will be years due to logistical concerns. Deup to three hours and tickets will be just back at Truist Park on Sunday to close out spite this, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is $15.

a busy May schedule.

welcoming back the Corky Kell Classic this upcoming football season for

Partnering with the Braves is giving

Truist Park and the surrounding mix- its 30th anniversary and the state’s

these six finalists an opportunity to play in used development known as “The Battery” professional franchises are continuing one of the premier baseball venues in the that provides a back drop to the state-of- to shine a spotlight on Georgia high world and they will be walking in the foot- the-art stadium has been the site of many school athletics.

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GHSA 2021 STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | COOLRAY FIELD

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MAY 20-22, 24

GHSA PAST CHAMPIONS Year AAAA 1985 Forest Park 1986 Brookwood 1987 McEachern 1988 Evans 1989 Evans 1990 Evans 1991 Newnan 1992 Walton 1993 Evans 1994 Evans 1995 Sprayberry 1996 Parkview 1997 Colquilt Co. 1998 Harrison 1999 Lassiter 2000 Lowndes

AAA Marist Roswell Westside Westside Jones Co. Marist Columbus Columbus Columbus Marist Columbus Columbus Columbus Greenbrier Greenbrier Columbus

AA Hancock Central Harlem Shiloh Berrien Washington-Wilkes Lovett Perry Cook Lovett Lovett Vidalia Gainesville Gainesville Gainesville Thomasville Cook

A Calhoun Co. Clinch Co. Clinch Co. Towns Co. Clinch Co. Bremen Clinch Co. Clinch Co. Pace Acad.

Pace Acad.

Pace Acad.

Toombs Co. Irwin Co. North Forsyth Lovett Calhoun

Year AAAAA 2001 Parkview 2002 Parkview 2003 Colquitt Co. 2004 Milton 2005 Chattahoochee 2006 Lassiter 2007 Walton 2008 Brookwood 2009 Pope 2010 Harrison 2011 Parkview 2012 Parkview

AAAA Shaw Marist Marist Columbus Henry Co. Greenbrier Greenbrier Loganville Northgate Marist Marist Loganville

AAA Gainesville Gainesville Cartersville LaGrange Columbus Blessed Trinity Dunwoody Cartersville Cartersville Columbus Columbus Columbus

AA Cartersville Cartersville Vidalia Bacon Co. Calhoun Lovett Holy Innocents’ Wesleyan Lovett Calhoun Buford Appling County

Year AAAAAA AAAAA 2013 Milton Pope 2014 Lambert Houston Co. 2015 Parkview Greenbrier 2016 Walton Houston Co. Year 2017 2018 2019

AAAA Redan Carrollton Buford Locust Grove

AAAAAAA AAAAAA AAAAA Etowah Pope Loganville Parkview Pope Loganville Parkview Heritage Loganville

AAA Cartersville Blessed Trinity Blessed Trinity Westminster

AAAA AAA Marist North Hall Jefferson Lovett NS Columbus Pike Co

AA Lovett Benedictine Wesleyan Lovett AA Jeff Davis Benedictine Jeff Davis

A Walker Walker Clinch Co. Lakeview Acad.

Calvary Day ELCA Calvary Day Pacelli Wesleyan Wesleyan Hebron Chr. Providence Chr.

A-Private A-Public ELCA Charlton Co. King’s Ridge Charlton Co. King’s Ridge Schley Co. Tattnall Square Treutlen

A-Private Savannah Chr. Tattnall Square Tattnall Square

A-Public Schley Co. Gordon Lee Gordon Lee

Previous years available on www.ghsa.net 9 | W W W. G H S A . N E T

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