If it had come on the heels of most other seasons, the 2016 baseball campaign would have been considered a huge success for northeast Georgia-based teams. But what 2016 had going against it was 2015.
Last year saw three teams -- Buford, Gainesville, Jefferson -- play for a state title in their respective classifications with the Wolves capturing the Class AAAA title. Three others advanced to the quarterfinal round or better as well.
Yet the 2016 campaign saw several history-making moments with Buford advancing back to the Class AAAA championship series before falling in a memorable three-game series to Locust Grove. It was the first back-to-back championship series runs for the Wolves.
In fact it just about took state championship-level foes to knock off a northeast Georgia team. Besides Buford, four other area teams (Gainesville, North Hall, Jefferson, and Union County were the others) were eliminated by eventual state champions.
In Class AAAA, North Hall, behind a young pitching staff, advanced to the second round and pushed eventual state champion Locust Grove to three games and had the lead late in Game 3. The Trojans also lived out a dream by getting to play a regular season game at Turner Field and coming away with a win over Cartersville.
In Class AAAAA, Gainesville got back to the state semifinals for the third straight season before losing to old nemesis and eventual state champ Houston County in three games. The Red Elephants showed tremendous resiliency over the final month of the season after No. 1 pitcher Jonathan Gettys was dismissed from the team. They went 6-1 through the first three rounds and had the tying and winning runs on base in Game 3 against Houston County but could not complete the comeback.
In Class AAA, Jackson County advanced to its first-ever state semifinals before falling to Blessed Trinity in three games on the road. It was a sweet and sour finish for the Panthers, who also saw the resignation of long-time coach Tommy Fountain, who stepped down after the series to join the Ministry.
“You know, if you had told me nine years ago when I took over that we’d be here today, I’d have been happy,” Fountain said after the loss to Blessed Trinity. “We got further than we did last year and made some history. We were one win from the finals. I love these kids and I’m going to miss them but the program is in good shape.”
Also in Class AAA, Dawson County, behind new coach Dwayne Sapp, advanced to the second round for the first time in years and took highly-ranked Westside-Augusta to three games. Jefferson ran into eventual Class AAA champ Westminster in the second round
In Class AA, Region 8-AA champ Union County advanced to the Elite 8 but ran into eventual state champion Lovett.
In all, 10 teams advanced to the second round, five made it into the Elite 8, and three advanced to the semifinals. So much for a down year -- even if only Buford made it to the championship series.
There were plenty of individual accomplishments as well.
Probably none were as impressive as Buford’s Brandon Marsh, who hit a Gwinnett County-leading .559 on the season. The senior outfielder, a Kennesaw State-signee, was unstoppable in the championship series, going a blistering 8-for-11 with a home run against Locust Grove. The Wolves’ Justin Glover, a Georgia-signee, was a perfect 10-0 on the season
Jackson County pitcher Zane Corley was tough in the clutch, going 4-0 in the playoffs, including a sensational eight-inning outing in Game 2 against Blessed Trinity to hand the Titans their first playoff loss since the 2013 season.
There were some tremendous individual games and series as well.
Gainesville’s Sam Carpenter put the Red Elephants on his back in the quarterfinals against Dalton, picking up a win on the mound to go with six hits -- including a home run -- two RBI, four runs scored, and winning the all-important coin toss after Game 2 to get home field in the deciding Game 3, which gave Gainesville the last at-bat.
Two of the 2015 state runners-up -- Jefferson and Gainesville -- clashed early on with the Dragons staging a late comeback to knock off the Red Elephants at Ivey-Watson Field and show that 2015 was no fluke.
Jackson County and Flowery Branch, highlighted by a pitching duel between the Panthers’ Coleman Barbee and the Falcons’ Kohlton Hamann, battled to a 1-1 tie at Coolray Field before the rains came in the eighth inning.
Dawson County brought the aluminum in the playoffs. In their first-round series against Adairsville, the Tigers pounded out 27 runs in a two-game sweep. They scored 42 runs in their five playoff games. Had they not run out pitching against Westside, who knows how far they could have gone.
There was a little of the bizarre as well.
In one of the more unusual training methods of late, Jackson County turned to beans to break out of a mid-season hitting slump. The Panthers, who were in fifth-place in Region 8-AAA at the time, got hot down the stretch averaging nine runs a game and brought their bag of beans all the way to the semifinal round. The magic, however, finally ran out against Blessed Trinity’s vaunted pitching staff.
They will be plenty of questions heading into the 2017 season, but there also will be plenty of young talent coming back as well to give coaches and fans plenty of optimism.
Alas, we’ll save those for our preview next winter. We already can’t wait for opening week.
