As Al Davis used to say, “Just win, baby!”
That’s the focus Gainesville, Buford, Jefferson, and Rabun County are taking as they prepare for Monday’s GHSA baseball semifinals in their respective classifications.
“Whatever it takes to get a win,” Gainesville coach Jeremy Kemp said. “I don’t care how we do it just so long as we get the win. You just have to find any way you can to get a win at this time of the year.”
On a historical note, it will be hard to duplicate the postseason run by area baseball teams in 2015. Six teams made the quarterfinals and now, all four of the teams left standing are just two wins from playing for state titles. The area has had just one baseball title since 2002 (Buford in Class AA in 2011) making Monday’s possibilities enticing to say the least and even harder to fathom all at the same time.
On a practical note, however, individually they all know know neither can help the other. And only Gainesville will have the home field advantage as Buford, Jefferson, and Rabun County have the extra burden of playing on the road.
“I think it’s great that we have four teams in the area left,” Buford coach Tony Wolfe said. “The baseball in this area is some of the best, if not the best, in the state, and this proves it. But, it will come down to how each of us play that day. Hopefully we can all come through, but none of us may make it. You just have to take care of yourself and focus on what you do.”
“I’ve been telling our guys to make sure they enjoy the moment because it doesn’t around come very often,” said Jefferson’s Tommy Knight, whose Dragons are making their first run to the semifinals since 2007. “But our guys are focused and have shown all year that they are willing to do the little things. We can’t get caught up in the historical things yet. Maybe if we get to the finals.”
And while all four have ridden their playoff runs behind outstanding pitching, it will take something a little extra to reach the championship series.
“Whoever does the little things in each series will probably win,” Rabun County coach Daniel Young said. “Its cliche but it’s true. Every team in the playoffs is good so there isn’t any real margin for error. Take the extra base, hit the cut-off man, block pitches in the dirt, that kind of stuff will make the biggest differences.”
Here is a preview of each of the four semifinal series by classification. All four will play doubleheaders on Monday with Game 3s, if necessary, on Tuesday.
CLASS AAAAA
JONES COUNTY at GAINESVILLE
-- WHEN: 4 p.m. Monday; 5:55 p.m. Tuesday (if necessary)
-- WHERE: Ivey-Watson Field
-- RADIO: 1240 AM
-- JONES COUNTY (26-7): No. 3 seed from Region 2-AAAAA, swept East Paulding in the quarterfinals (10-1, 12-3)
-- GAINESVILLE (26-6): No. 1 seed from Region 8-AAAAA, beat South Effingham in three games in the quarterfinals (5-2, 3-10, 8-6)
-- NEXT ROUND: Winner gets the Greenbrier-Allatoona winner in the championship series.
The Red Elephants are back in the semifinals for a second consecutive season but also are looking for their first championships series appearance since 2002 when they won the second of back-to-back titles and their fifth in a seven-year span.
“We’ve been chasing it a while but what happened last year or tradition or anything else doesn’t matter,” Kemp said. “Playing for right now is all that matters.”
Gainesville has been led by junior Jonathan Gettys on the mound and Michael Curry at the plate and neither has disappointed in the playoffs. Gettys (10-2, 0.43 ERA, 107Ks in 65.1 IP) has four wins in the playoffs and Curry (.479, 15 HR, 43 RBI) has been as hot as any player in the state with six home runs in the playoffs. He had homered in every playoff game until Game 3 against South Effingham when they pitched around him. As a result Caleb Whitenton (.396, 17 HR, 38 RBI) belted two home runs and have 5 RBI in Game 3 to pace the offense.
“We feel we are very balanced,” Kemp said. “Jonathan dominated on the mound in Game 1 and our offense carried us in Game 3. It’s different every game and you have to be able to do that in the playoffs.”
Jones County was led by Keever Walker, who pitched five innings allowing no runs in Game 2. Walker had four hits and six RBI in the series of their win over East Paulding. Walker Juhan had five hits, five RBI, and scored seven runs in the two games for the Greyhounds. They also are 2-0 in elimination games in the 2015 playoffs.
“They’ve gotten hot at the right time,” Kemp said. “They can really hit the ball so we’ll have to throw strikes, get ahead of hitters, and make plays in the field. But if we take care of what we do, I like our chances.”
CLASS AAAA
BUFORD at CARTERSVILLE
-- WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Monday; 6 p.m. Tuesday (if necessary)
-- WHERE: Cartersville
-- BUFORD (30-2): No. 1 seed from Region 8-AAAA, swept Locust Grove in the quarterfinals (10-0, 8-5)
-- CARTERSVILLE (22-10): No. 1 seed from Region 7-AAAA, rallied to beat Wayne County in three games in the quarterfinals (2-14, 12-1, 4-3)
-- NEXT ROUND: Winner gets the Whitewater-Veterans winner in the championship series
There is nothing better in sports than a rematch between titans. This promises to be a good one as the Wolves travel to Cartersville looking to avenge a loss to the Purple Hurricanes in last year’s Class AAA semifinals in Buford.
“You always want a second shot at somebody and we get it,” Wolfe said.
That’s not to say the Wolves aren’t focused on the task at hand. Oh, contrare.
The Wolves have been business-like much like The Terminator in mowing down their first three opponents, outscoring Heritage-Catoosa, Perry, and Locust Grove by a combined 52-6 in three straight two-game sweeps
“I think the guys have really been focused on doing what it takes to win in the playoffs,” Wolfe said. “They had a bad taste with how it finished last year, and the seniors especially know this is their last shot.”
It starts and ends with pitching for Buford with Jake Higginbotham (10-1 0.23 ERA), Connor Bennett (7-0, 0.80 ERA, 6 SV), Keyton Gibson (7-1, 0.32 ERA), and Kevin Coulter (3-0, 0.70 ERA) all seeing action in the playoffs with dominating results.
The key will be defensively, the only chink in the Wolves armour. They have committed 36 errors in 32 games. Several key errors in last year’s series with Cartersville were the difference.
“You have to play well defensively in the playoffs and I like where we are right now,” Wolfe said. “No excuses but when you get the kind of pitching we’ve gotten this year sometimes the guys in the field can lose their focus because they don’t get a lot of chances. That’s what we’ve been working on and we’ve improved in that area the last couple of weeks.”
Offensively Buford has been smacking the opposition as well. The Wolves only have 13 home runs as a team but are solid top to bottom. Austin Wilhite (.362, 27 R) has been setting the table for Joey Bart (.429, 3 HR, 25 RBI) and brother Nick Wilhite (.347, 3 HR, 32 RBI). Justin Glover and Ian Jenkins have been swinging hot bats in the playoffs as well.
“We think our pitching gives us a chance every game but you see better and better pitching each round so you have to be able to find ways to score,” Wolfe said. “We don’t have the power of recent years but we don’t have an easy out in the lineup.”
The Purple Hurricanes have been as hot as any team in the state the last two weeks of the regular season and the playoffs. They have gone 10-1 since a 12-9 start but had to win back-to-back elimination games against Wayne County to get to the semifinals. Seniors Jack Mayo and Lane Wilson, who combined beat the Wolves in Game 3 last year, return for Cartersville on the mound.
CLASS AAA
JEFFERSON at WESTMINSTER
-- WHEN: 4 p.m. Monday; 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (if necessary)
-- WHERE: Wildcats Field, Atlanta
-- JEFFERSON (26-5): No. 2 seed from Region 8-AAA, swept Callaway on the road in the quarterfinals (5-3, 3-0)
-- WESTMINSTER (24-9): No. 2 seed from Region 4-AAA, swept Jackson County of Region 8-AAA in the quarterfinals (3-2, 11-0)
-- NEXT ROUND: Winner gets the Blessed Trinity-Westside, Augusta winner in the championship series. Blessed Trinity is the defending AAA champion.
It is the first trip to the semifinals for the Dragons since losing to Eagles Landing Christian in 2007. Knight said it has been a fun ride to this point and that taking that next step has been the focus since beating then No.3-ranked Pierce County in the quarterfinals. They survived back-and-forth 10-inning rollercoaster to beat Pierce County in Game 3 and then needed 11 innings to win Game 1 over Callaway.
“I’m hoping the Pierce County series is the springboard for us to get to the next level,” Knight said. “We saw just about everything you can see in the playoffs in those two games. We are battle-tested and that should help against Westminster.”
Much like Buford, the Dragons live and die with their pitching and may have the most depth of any team left in AAA. Micah Carpenter, Ethan Garner, Christian Hutch, Jake Franklin, Taylor Wilkes, and Asher Standridge all have gotten quality innings for Jefferson. The Dragons have allowed just 14 runs in seven playoff games.
“We can go five or six deep and we hope that is the difference,” Knight said. “If one guy is a little off any of the others can come in and throw strikes and give us quality innings. We’ll win or lose with our pitching.”
But you have to score to win and Jefferson has gotten enough offense to keep advancing. Wilkes has gotten hot in the playoff and has set the table at the top and is threat to steal whenever he gets on. Hunter Thompson along with Hutch, Franklin, and Garner all have come up with some clutch hits in the playoffs.
Knight said they are focused on Westminster but also understand the historical significance should they become the first Jefferson baseball team to ever reach the championship series.
“It would mean a lot for the program and the community,” Knight said. “Hopefully we can take care of business (on Monday).”
CLASS AA
RABUN COUNTY at DARLINGTON
-- WHEN: 2 p.m. Monday; 2 p.m. Tuesday (if necessary)
-- WHERE: Darlington
-- RABUN COUNTY (21-5): No. 1 seed from Region 8-AA, rallied to beat 2013 state champ Lovett in three games in the quarterfinals (1-6, 2-1, 8-1)
-- DARLINGTON (22-7): No. 1 seed from Region 7-AA, beat GAC in three games in the quarterfinals (5-0, 4-13, 8-2)
-- NEXT ROUND: Winner gets the Wesleyan-Fitzgerald winner in the championship series. Wesleyan won back-to-back Class A state titles in 2009-10.
Rabun County rode the arm of Stetson Scott in the quarterfinals but will need to get more production from its staff to knock off the Tigers on the road. Scott pitched 13 1/3 innings in the three games, picking up both of their wins.
However, Young was not worried about lingering effects on his senior pitcher.
“Normally we would never do that but he only had thrown about 60 pitches in the first game so we knew he still had some pitches left,” Young said. “All our main guys got some work so they’ve been through the battles. Stetson should be fine. He’ll have rested for four days.”
Zach Gragg, Chase Horton, and Will Humphries will need to give them some quality innings. But Young said finding runs against a tough Darlington staff may hold the key.
Junior pitcher Jay Shadday and senior Burton Dulaney have been outstanding for the Tigers, despite them needing three games to advance in each of the last two series. They are 2-0 in elimination games
“The key will be against Shadday,” Young said. “If we can find a way to get some runs off him I like our chances in the series.”
The Wildcats offense has caught fire of late, despite scoring just 11 runs in three games against Lovett. They scored 16 in a two-game sweep of Bacon County in the second round.
Alden Wright atop the order has set the table for Trey Wilcox, Drew Backer, and Jacob Sego, who three hits, including a pair of two-out RBI hits in Game 3 against Lovett.
“We have been able to get guys on, move them over, and get them in. That’s huge in the playoffs,” Young said. “The biggest key will be avoiding wild pitches, passed balls, errors, not walking people. Those are the things that make or break a team in close games in the playoffs. We’ve been avoiding those things and doing the other little things to win so I like where we are right now.”
Much like Jefferson, the Wildcats realize what a series win and a trip to the finals for the first time would mean for the program and area at large.
“We’re still just trying to get our name out there,” Young said. “It would mean a lot to us to show people that we can play a little ball up this way. But no matter what happens it has been an amazing season.”
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL SEMIFINAL ROUND SCHEDULE
Monday, May 18
(Semifinal round state playoff series, best-of-3)
(Doubleheaders)
Rabun County at Darlington, 2 p.m. (Class AA)
Jones County at Gainesville, 4 p.m. (Class AAAAA)
Jefferson at Westminster, 4 p.m. (Class AAA)
Buford at Cartersville, 4:30 p.m. (Class AAAA)
Tuesday, May 19
(Game 3s, if necessary)
Rabun County at Darlington, 2 p.m. (Class AA)
Jefferson at Westminster, 5:30 p.m. (Class AAA)
Jones County at Gainesville, 5:55 p.m. (Class AAAAA)
Buford at Cartersville, 6 p.m. (Class AAAA)
