2019 Baseball Championship Guide - Rome

GHSA 2019 STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | ROME, STADIUM MUTUAL STADIUM - CLASS 4A & 6A

GHSA PAST CHAMPIONS

WORD FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GREETINGS, GHSA BASEBALL FANS

W

elcome to the 2019 GHSA Baseball 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.

To put on an event of this magnitude takes many volunteers who have worked tirelessly to pro-

vide 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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T

he 2019 Georgia High School Association Baseball State Championship Guide is published by Score Atlanta, in conjunction with the GHSA. The guide was designed by

Rhonda Rawls, edited by Craig Sager II, Seth Ellerbee and Graham David, and information was provided by the GHSA. Photos on the cover are courtesy of the GHSA, Grayson HS, Savannah Christian Preparatory School, and Parkview High School. For more information

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.

AAAA Redan Carrollton Buford Locust Grove

AAA Cartersville Blessed Trinity Blessed Trinity Westminster

AA Lovett Benedictine Wesleyan Lovett

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

Year AAAAAAA AAAAAA AAAAA AAAA AAA AA A-Private A-Public 2017 Etowah Pope Loganville Marist North Hall Jeff Davis Savannah Chr. Schley Co. 2018 Parkview Pope Loganville Jefferson Lovett Benedictine Gordon Lee Tattnall Square

on Score Atlanta, go to ScoreAtl.com or call 404-256-1572.

Previous years available on www.ghsa.net

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MAY 21-23

GHSA BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

DENMARK, NORTHSIDE MAKE CHAMPIONSHIP DEBUTS

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

R

ome’s State Mutual Stadium will stage the first of two outstanding GHSA state championship best of 3 series on Tuesday, May 21. Taking the diamond first will be the pair of Cinderella finalists from Class AAAA that have toppled some of Georgia’s most highly-ranked teams to reach the championship stage.

Third-seeded Northside-Columbus produced a (3-1, 4-2) sweep against Cartersville in the quarterfinals to reach the semis for the first time in school history. The Patriots showcased their pitching depth in the win over the Canes. They used a two-run 10th inning to score their 3-1 victory Game 1. Connor Sizemore took the mound for Game 2 and pitched a complete game to lead Northside to a 4-2 victory. The Patriots were paired up with Region 8 champion North Oconee in the semis and scored a (5-6, 6-5, 3-1) win to keep its historic playoff run alive. Northside-Columbus carries a 30-8 overall record into the finals and has now outscored its playoff opponents 6520 in the nine total games that they have played. More impressively, Northside has played the entire postseason on the road.

Challenging Northside-Columbus will be

Region 7 No. 4 seed Denmark, whose playoff run appears even more improbable than the Patriots. The Danes are fresh off their (3-6, 4-3, 8-4) upset over Blessed Trinity in the semis and will be the first team since 1997 that is making an appearance in the baseball state championships as a first-year school.

Not only that, as a brand new school, Denmark’s roster consists entirely of freshmen, sophomores and juniors this season. Despite that youth, the Danes have handled the postseason pressure with exceptional poise.

After dropping Game 1 to Blessed Trinity 6-3 last Tuesday, Logan DeLong drew a walk with bases loaded to give the Danes a 4-3 win that forced the decisive Game 3. In the series clincher, Denmark jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead. Carson Russell led the way with two doubles and three RBI’s and Matthew Cassandra earned the win on the mound while also adding a two-run homer. Denmark also closed out a three game series with West Laurens in the quarterfinals. The Danes took Game 1 8-1 and then answered a 10-6 loss in Game 2 with a series clinching 7-2 win. Prior to the quarterfinals, Denmark defeated St. Pius (7-1, 8-3) in two games and scored a (8-5, 11-2) sweep against Region 6 champion

Northwest Whitfield in the opening round.

On Wednesday, two-time defending Class AAAAAAA state champion Pope takes on Heritage-Conyers in the main event. Pope has gone to three games in all four rounds this postseason and comes off a (12-0, 3-5, 4-0) victory against Harrison in the semis. Max Pralgo pitched a shutout in the Greyhound’s 12-0 Game 1 win over the Hoyas and then Reid Robertson closed out the series with a three-hit shutout in Game 3’s 4-0 win last Wednesday. Pope’s other playoff victories have come against Lee County in the quarterfinals as well as Dacula and Creekview.

Heritage-Conyers has appeared in the state championships on three occasions in its history, but is still in search of the program’s first state title. The Generals are fresh off a dominant semifinal performance against Effingham County. After splitting the first two games, Heritage racked up 12 quick runs and defeated Effingham County 12-1 in just five innings. Prior to the semis, Heritage swept Glynn Academy, Coffee and last year’s state runner-up Allatoona in the quarterfinals.

Photos courtesy of the Georgia High School Sports Association and Jen Manley.

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GHSA 2019 STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | ROME, STADIUM MUTUAL STADIUM - CLASS 4A & 6A

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MAY 21-23

CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL ROSTERS & SCHEDULE

4A

Northside, Col. vs Denmark

6A

Heritage, Conyers vs. Pope

CLASS 4A HERITAGE-CONYERS PATRIOTS Head Coach: Shane Ramsey

2 5 6 7 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 23 26 28

Nolan Woodward Jan’i Belcher Chase Owens Zekiah Gibbs Nick Watson-Garcia Griffin Holcombe Christian Davis Henry Clay Josh Smith Braden Allen Cole Smith Jason Allwood Jace Morris Darryl Buggs Bryce Canty Christian Calloway Ray Joseph Calabria Atkins

LHP/LF/1B OF 2B/SS/OF CF/RHP SS/RHP RHP/LF LHP/LF/RF 1B/RHP/C P/1B/OF LF/RF/3B 2B/SS/RHP C/P/OF LF/RF/P RF/RHP/3B 3B/2B SS/2B/C 1B/C/3B C/1B/P

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

5/22 (DH) 5:00pm, 7:30pm; *Game 3 5/23 TBD

CLASS 6A POPE GREYHOUNDS

1 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

5/21 (DH) 5:00pm, 7:30pm; *Game 3 5/23 TBD

Head Coach: Jeff Rowland

Buddy Floyd Max Pralgo James Tibbs Will Lantis Tommy Hutchins Gage Viales Nate Shipley Caden Smith Reid Robertson Cullen Orr Jackson Brown Jacob Lantis Blake Redman Cal Graves Jackson Hvizdak Andrew Herlitz Peyton Cariaco Quinn Kerce Andrew Feld Cooper Krause Riley Frost Ben Medley Ian Hancock Dawson Campbell Andrew Bowman Danny Crabtree James Craig

INF INF/P INF OF INF/P P OF/P C/1B OF/P P C INF INF INF C P INF/P OF/P OF C INF/P INF/P OF IF P P P

NORTHSIDE, COL. PATRIOTS 12 12 10 12 12 12 11 12 11 10 11 11 11 11 10 12 10 10 12 11 10 11 12 9 12 11 11

DENMARK DANES

Head Coach: Leon Dee Miller

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25 32 34

Tory Van Patten Scotty Allen K.J. Barber Walt McConnell Connor Trepanier Justin Veloz Spencer Chandler Mack Williams Joey Bialoncik Gage Washam Clayton Weaver Hunter Poe Will Graydon Charles Stephenson Tray Richburg Eliu McMoore Connor O’Neal Colton Joyner Alex Harrell Connor Sizemore Tyler Elrod Will Bryant Kyle Burt

C P OF INF P OF OF/P OF/P INF INF INF INF/P P INF/P INF/P INF/P C INF/P OF INF/P OF OF INF

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

Head Coach: David Smart 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 10 11 13 14 16 17 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 29 32

Teddy Davenport Jack Kream Logan Delong Drew Clare Sammy Leis Carson Russell Tim Welicky Jack Whitlock Nic Ferrer Brody Wheeler Cole Hansen Ben Whitlock Carter Manley Erik Achterman Gray Wilson Jaxson Corr Aiden Whillock Smaran Ramanathan Ryan Kidd Matthew Cassandra Trevor Bryk Dalton Hansard

CF 3B/P 1B/OF P/3B C/P C P/IF P/IF SS/2B OF OF P P P OF SS/2B 1B/P P/IF C OF OF P

10 11 11 9 9 11 10 11 10 9 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11

THE FINAL WHISTLE?

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GHSA 2019 STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | ROME, STADIUM MUTUAL STADIUM - CLASS 4A & 6A

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MAY 21-23

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