Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

GHSA Playoffs: Championship Round Recap (Day One)

May 21, 2019
By Andy Sroka
Staff Writer

On Monday, we embarked on the final week of the 2019 GHSA baseball season, and we already have two champions, representing the 7A and 5A classes, to share with you. We’ll recap all four games from yesterday, two of which our PBR Georgia staff was in attendance for. It was an exhilarating first day of championship action, so let’s break it all down.

Stay tuned today, Tuesday, to see the other start of the other series match-ups, as well as the conclusion of the two game threes set to conclude. Follow us on Twitter at @PBRGeorgia and utilize the #GHSAPlayoffs hashtag to keep up with the live action as it happens.

Here’s what you may have missed from Monday, including two coronations.

7A

PARKVIEW VS. HILLGROVE

By Andy Sroka

GAME ONE: The reigning champs Parkview accomplished the sweep over the Hawks from Hillgrove on Monday, in a most familiar fashion. The Panthers got huge, overwhelming outings from both their aces, 1A and 1B, righties Miles Garrett and Xander Stephens. The juniors both twirled gems and dominated a loaded Hawks lineup, limiting them to just one run combined over the two games.

Despite the score, both games played much closer than they might appear skimming scorelines.

In game one, Garrett and Hillgrove’s Deion Walker mostly cruised through the first two-and-a-half frames. In the bottom of the third, after a lead-off walk, single, and sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third, Jonathan French singled to center which plated both runners. With the RBIs, French broke Parkview’s single-season RBI record, held by former big leaguer Jeff Francoeur.

It took Hillgrove until the fifth to really threaten Parkview, but every time the Hawks sincerely looked as if they were about to snag all of the momentum, the Panthers wiggled out of the jam. Walker led off the inning with a single to right and sped to second only to be thrown out on an impeccable catch and throw from right fielder Makenzie Pate. A single and a walk followed that play and Garrett used a strikeout and soft groundout to end the threat.

A Stephen Hrustich run-scoring double in the bottom of the fifth felt like a near-knockout blow, but the Hawks were resilient.

Hillgrove earned back-to-back walks off Garrett with one out in the top of the sixth and it was enough for head coach Chan Brown to pull his Vandy commit from the ballgame. Brad Stanley has transformed into quite the weapon from the bullpen, with his quick, side-arm slot that makes him a tough look, particularly against righties. He relieved Garrett and struck out the first batter he faced. Still in need of an out, Walker was able to battle with two strikes and grounded a soft ball to shortstop Koby Ayala who couldn’t corral it, not that it would have mattered with Walker running. The run that scored on that infield single was Hillgrove’s first, though unfortunately it became their last of the spring.

Stanley earned a fly out in the next at-bat to keep Parkview in the lead, 3-1. Jonathan Ponder’s sac fly in the bottom of the frame got that run back for the Panthers, and Stanley made pretty quick work of Hillgrove in the bottom of the seventh to give the defending champs a big 1-0 advantage in the series.

GAME TWO: While the score reads 9-0, these two heavyweights duked it out for five deadlocked frames before Parkview broke the game wide open late, sending 14 batters to the plate against a deflated Hillgrove in the seventh inning.

Parkview’s starter Stephens and Hillgrove’s Austin Heard quelled any trouble they found themselves in for five scoreless innings.

Stephens, who’s allowed just seven earned runs all spring long, looked like he was going to allow an eighth in the bottom of the first frame. Hillgrove put runners on first and third with one out, but the Georgia Southern-bound righty earned a line out off the bat of Walker and a soft groundout to keep the game scoreless.

The Hawks had their next big chance to score in the bottom of the third when Stephens hit and walked the first two batters of the half-inning. He bailed himself out on a sac bunt attempt that was popped up in front of the mound that required a spectacular diving catch, and he doubled off the runner at second, too. He struck out the ever-threatening Walker to energize his ‘View dugout and stymie another big Hawks chance.

But again, the next two frames were quiet. Scoreless into the top of the sixth, a double play looked like it was going to make for another zero on the board for Heard, but he walked Pate and needed to find a way to dodge French’s big barrel. And unfortunately for the Hawks, he could not.

French launched the hardest hit ball of the day to deep, deep left-center, one that looked like it had the fuel to leave SunTrust Park, but it banged off the bottom of the fence instead. Either way, it was plenty deep enough to send French to third and score the game’s first run in the process.

In a game where it felt as if the first run was of utmost importance, Stephens stepped up and punched out the side in the bottom of the sixth to pin the Hawks against the ropes and they exploded in the seventh to effectively put the game away.

Parkview tallied eight hits, including a triple and a pair of doubles, in the half-inning and the lead felt almost insurmountable the moment Pate’s two-out soft liner to right dropped in front of a diving Justin Tew, which was enough to clear the loaded the bases, handing the Panthers a 4-0 lead. The Hawks weren’t able to record the inning’s final out for another seven batters, and Stephens had a 9-0 lead to protect to seal the program’s eighth title in its history.

Hillgrove admirably loaded the bases right out of the gate off Stephens, with a lead-off single and two walks, and that prompted a pitching change. Stanley took the mound for the second time on Monday and struck out the first two batters he faced on six pitches. He fielded a routine comebacker and tossed it to first to help shut out Hillgrove and seal a successful 7A title defense for Parkview.

We last updated our GA Power 25 on April 29 and Parkview was the No. 1-ranked squad in the state in it. The back-to-back 7A champs still look like the best this state has to offer, regardless of class.

5A

LOGANVILLE VS. OLA

By Kyle Colletta

GAME ONE: In 5A, Loganville took both games against Ola, on Monday night, to claim their third straight GHSA State Championship. Loganville won the first game by a score of 6-2, in what was a pitching duel for the majority of the game.

On the mound for Ola was Lincoln Memorial recruit Sterling Richardson. The senior lefty had a solid outing, going into the seventh inning with a 1-1 tie. Sterling did a nice job of keeping Loganville off balance by pitching backwards throughout the duration of his start. HIs fastball sat in the 82-85 mph range, paired with a 1/7 curveball, 70-76 mph, that he frequently threw to the back foot of right-handed hitters.

On the other side, Caleb Garner was equally as good for Loganville. The uncommitted junior threw a complete game, while only allowing Ola just two runs en route to the win. For Garner, his fastball sat 82-84 mph and his curveball worked off an 11/5 plane, 74-75 mph. He was also mixing in a changeup, sporadically, that ranged from 75-78 mph.

Ola’s Carson Barnett and Loganville’s Blaine Marchman (Georgia State commit) and traded RBIs in the bottom of the second and the top of the third and that was all the scoring that took place in the ballgame until the Red Devils’ bats got loud in the seventh.

Dylan Strickland (Georgia Tech) started what became a string of triples for Loganville, by driving a ball down the left field line to give the Red Devils a 3-1 lead. Jacob Boyd followed him up by hitting an RBI triple of his own. Ian King scored Boyd on a sac fly, followed by another run-scoring triple off the bat of Daniel Braswell. Garner and Loganville, with a commanding 6-1 lead, allowed Ola to score a solitary run in the bottom of the seventh but left the score right there to earn a critical game one win.

GAME TWO: In game two, the scoring got off to a quick start, as Ola put up two runs in the top of the first. Patric Holloman (Georgia) and Braylen Sanders both came up with RBI singles for the Mustangs to take the rapid 2-0 lead.

Loganville countered right away, tying the game up at two. After an RBI single by King, it was Marchman’s turn to triple, and he drove a ball to deep center to bring in the tying run.

The Red Devils added runs on outs in the second and fourth innings, earning a 4-2 lead in the process.

Down 4-2 in the fifth, Ola answered in a big way with a two-run triple by Holloman, followed by an RBI single by Sanders. And all of a sudden, the Mustangs were back in front, 5-4.

Again, Loganville didn’t waste any time, and tied the game on Braswell’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the inning. With the bags still packed and only one away, Ola opted to go to Dalton Thomas, an offensive force who combined for five hits in both games, and ask him to help them halt Loganville’s rally. The uncommitted senior came out firing, sitting in the 87-89 mph range, topping 90 mph once, mixing in a slider at 70-75 mph. Thomas struck out back-to-back batters to keep the game tied, in a moment that felt like it’d swing the momentum back in favor of the Mustangs – and it did.

Garrett Carter gave Ola a 6-5 lead in the bottom half of the frame and a grounder that snuck through the middle of the infield, but, once again, the lead did not last long. 

An error with two outs and a runner on third tied the ballgame up and King’s third hit of the game scored Loganville’s go-ahead run.

With three outs to go, Ola loaded the bases with one out and Strickland on the mound now. Facing a pinch-hitting Richardson, Strickland coaxed a first-pitch groundball hit hard to shortstop Jacob Boyd, who vacuumed it up and tossed it to second baseman Michael Knight, who then fired it to first with enough time to end the game on a perfectly executed 6-4-3 double play, giving Loganville their program’s third straight state title.

2A

ROCKMART VS. JEFF DAVIS

By Andy Sroka

GAME ONE: Who else but Ty Floyd (Louisiana State commit) was able to shove Rockmart to a victory in game one.

One of the top-ranked juniors in the state’s 2020 class, who’s also ranked inside the country’s top-75 on our national board, starred again on the mound for his Yellow Jackets. Floyd limited Jeff Davis to just one unearned run on two hits, five scattered walks, and he punched out another 12 batters.

Brayden Cole doubled and scored the game’s first run as Rockmart took the early lead, but Jeff Davis, managed to tie it in the third. With the help of an error and two walks, Hamp Hayes singled on a grounder to center to tie the game up, 1-1. On that single, Rockmart threw out the second runner headed home to get out of the jam, preserving the tie.

Rockmart took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth when, with two outs, Cooper Yanzetich singled to score a pair of runs to propel his team to a 3-1 advantage.

Floyd retired nine straight until he walked a couple in the seventh, but it didn’t matter, as he struck out the final batter of the ballgame to earn the game one win.

GAME TWO: The second game of the day was tight, too, and it’s going to lead us to a game three today. Jeff Davis’ four-run third was the entire difference in the game and starter Caleb Leggett and reliever Britt Metts made sure that the Davis Yellow Jackets were able to cling to the win.

It was actually Rockmart that struck first in this one, with the help of a rally that began with two outs in the first inning. Floyd chipped in at the plate this time with a single to center that scored the game’s first run and sent another runner to third. A balk allowed Rockmart to tally their second run of the inning, too.

From there, Jeff Davis’ pitching was lights-out, limiting Rockmart to just four hits the rest of the way.

After Leggett retired Floyd in the top of the third with two on and two out, Davis put together a rally of their own in the bottom of the frame. Metts’ single scored their first run and an RBI groundout in the next at-bat tied it up. Colby Marchant’s double to left put Davis in front once and for all and Hayes recorded his second run-scoring hit of the day to score his team’s fourth run of the inning.

In the sixth, Rockmart’s bats came alive. Three singles loaded the bases with one out and it was enough to remove Leggett from the ballgame. Metts came on and shut the door, earning a shallow fly out and pop out in the infield to stop the threat, keeping Davis in front, 4-2. Three straight fly outs in the top of the seventh means that these two teams will meet one more time to decide which program will be called the 2019 2A champion.

1A PUBLIC

SCHLEY COUNTY VS. GORDON LEE

By Andy Sroka

GAME ONE: The most recent two 1A Public champs are in the title series this spring, Schley County (2017) and Gordon Lee (2018). Both games were well-played and tightly contested, but it was Gordon Lee and starter Jake Wright that got the better of the Wildcats in game one.

The junior righty went the distance in the 2-0 shutout, allowing just two hits, four walks, and he struck out 13 batters in the ballgame.

Meanwhile, Schley’s starter Dylan Taylor was effective his first time through the order, but slipped up in the fourth when Gordon Lee earned a walk and single to put runners on first and second with one out. The Trojans scored the game’s first run on a fielder’s choice that had Will Sizemore score all the way from second base, too.

While Wright overwhelmed Schley’s bats, Gordon Lee gave him some additional breathing room in the sixth after a two-out double by Brody Cobb set up a clutch RBI single off the bat of Chris Potter. The Trojans threatened to tack on more in the sixth and seventh, but failed to do so.

Wright made sure it didn’t cost them, however things did get a little nerve-wracking in the seventh. After punching out the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh. Wright walked two in a row on nine pitches. In stood Trypp Lumpkin, who grounded a ball through the infield into right and the Schley runner was waved home but cut down before he got there to end the game, 2-0, in Gordon Lee’s favor.

GAME TWO: Dueling complete games made it so this was another tight contest between the two, though Lorne Barineau just had a little more back-up, which ensures Schley a game three opportunity to win their second state title in three years.

After a silent first, the two teams traded runs in the second. Schley struck first on passed ball with two outs, but Gordon Lee answered right away. Cobb opened the half-inning with a double and he scuttled to third on a single in the next at-bat. Garren Ramey’s fly ball out allowed Cobb to cruise home to tie the game at one.

In the top of the third, Schley retaliated with three straight hits, capped by Taylor’s two-run double that gave his team a 3-1 lead. Once again, Gordon Lee had a rally in them and they were able to cut into the deficit on Hunter Hodson’s RBI triple to center.

But that was really as close as the Trojans could get.

A lead-off walk in the bottom of the seventh sparked the Lee dugout, but Barineau earned three straight outs to shut it down, including back-to-back punch-outs to end the ballgame.

We’ll see you again tomorrow to decide the 1A Public winner.

ON DECK FOR TUESDAY

In addition to Tuesday’s two game-three match-ups, Denmark and Northside-Columbus will begin their 4A series, as will Pace Academy and Pike County on the 3A side. Also, the two most recent 1A Private champs are squaring off, much like the other 1A pool. Tattnall Square Academy and Savannah Christian are battling in Grayson Stadium, which should serve as a slight hometown edge for the Raiders.

If you’re looking for the 6A series between Pope and Heritage-Conyers, that’s slated to start in Rome on Wednesday.

RELATED CONTENT