GAINESVILLE -- With nearly half of the region schedule still left to be played, the fate of Region 8-AAAA is likely to be decided Wednesday and Friday when Class AAAA No. 1 Buford and No. 7 North Hall tangle in their home-and-home region series.
North Hall (11-4, 6-2 Region 8-AAAA) travels to Buford (14-2, 6-0) on Wednesday with the two teams heading to Jody Davis Field on Friday. First pitches for both games are scheduled for 5:55 p.m., weather permitting.
Neither coach -- North Hall's Trent Mongero nor Buford's Tony Wolfe -- wants to admit it but the last two seasons, when both teams were in Region 7-AAA, the winner of their series decided the region champion.
Buford swept North Hall last year in three games to win the title. North Hall took two-of-three in 2013 on the way to the region title.
Will things be different this time around?
The Trojans split with Madison County, which sits one game behind them in third place, in a pair of one-run games, and Buford will play the Red Raiders next week. No other team at the halfway point is within one game of either North Hall or Buford in the standings when factoring in head-to-head tiebreakers.
"The last couple of years it turned out that our series of games did decide things but if you relax in any region game you can get beat so while this is a big series there is still a lot of baseball left," Mongero said. "It's really just one game at a time."
Wolfe said at the start of the region schedule a couple of weeks ago that he felt the week stretch of North Hall and Madison County in back-to-back series would be crucial for all parties involved.
"That will will be a huge part of the schedule. Will it decide the region title? It depends on how everyone plays in games they feel they should win before and after that," Wolfe said then.
The now has Buford a solid No. 1 in Class AAAA and experts thinking their current staff, led by senior pitchers Connor Bennett, Kevin Coulter, Keyton Gibson, and Jake Higginbotham, may be one of the best high school staffs ever assembled in Georgia. All four have signed Division I scholarships and await the 2015 Major League Draft, where all four could go in the early rounds.
Mongero knows all too well the task at hand. Only Class AAAAAA Mountain View has been able to score more than four runs against the Wolves this season. Buford pitching has allowed two runs or fewer in 13 of their 16 games and they have scored 10 or more runs in five of their six region games with five run-rule victories; a 5-2 win over Monroe Area in the rain and mud was the only non run-rule region win.
"I don't think in my 20-plus years of coaching I have seen a pitching staff that loaded and that good at this level," Mongero said. "Before I came to North Hall we played the No. 1 team in the country at that time and that team did not have anywhere near the pitching depth of this Buford team. That is a special and talented group."
The Wolves also feature a solid lineup led by senior catcher Joey Bart and juniors Nick and Austin Wilhite.
So what do the Trojans need to do to be able to breakthrough against the Wolves? A sweep would put North Hall in first place with the tiebreaker edge.
"We'll have to play North Hall baseball, which is throw strikes, use off-speed pitches, and play sound defense,"Mongero said. "You can't make mistakes against them and win. But we've been playing against good pitching all year."
The Trojans have faced plenty of Division I-level talent in their first 12 games. But depth is the Wolves strength where they can bring in one after the other high-level pitcher in relief.
Class AAAAA No. 2 Gainesville witnessed that two weeks ago in a 2-0 loss. They were able to get Higginbotham out by the sixth inning but Bennett finished up striking out five of the six batters he faced to shut the door. The Red Elephants stranded eight baserunners, six in scoring position, went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and struck out 15 times for the game.
"The key will be quality at bats," Mongero said. "We can't waste a single at-bat. You have to put the ball in play. But that's easier said than done."
The Trojans are led by senior Corbin Lewallen, who has had a solid year both on the mound and at the plate. Seniors Lincoln Hewett, Micah Strickland, and Drew Coker, as well as junior Drew Atha and sophomore Taber Mongero have all contributed during the season.
But of course, as high school coaches are apt to say no matter the sport, anything can happen in high school sports.
"It's 15- to 18-year-old kids and you never know what's going on from day-to-day," Mongero said. "I like our team and I think we're improving each week. And I don't think we've played anywhere close to our best game so far.
"To beat Buford, though, we will need our best players to have their best games of the season in the biggest games of the season so far. They can do it. They just need to go out there and show people they can. We'll see what happens."
Friday
January 24th, 2025
7:22PM
