Cougars To Play in State Title Game

The Piedmont Academy baseball team will have the chance to win its second state championship in as many years as the Diamond Cougars will host Windsor Academy beginning Friday.

The GISA Class AA state championship series will begin Friday at 4 p.m., followed by a second game Saturday at 1 p.m. A third game, if necessary, will be Saturday at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The best-of-three series will be in Monticello since both teams play in the same region and the Cougars are the higher seed.

Piedmont won the GISA Region 4-AA championship during the regular season while Windsor finished as the No. 2 seed.

“With us playing a familiar opponent, I think it can be an advantage,” Cougar coach Daniel Funt said. “I think that helps. You always like to know an opponent. Having played against them already, you know their speed and how they play. You still may not know everything about them. Even with Windsor being a region foe, there may be some things they like to do in certain situations that we have not seen.”

Piedmont Academy player Josh Williams said he hopes the team’s past playoff experience, including three successful series this year, will help this weekend.

“I think being in the playoffs will help,” Williams said.”

Despite two victories against the Knights this spring, Williams said he and his teammates will in no way take them lightly.

“I know they have good pitching,” he said. “They also have a strong batting lineup that we cannot take for granted.”

Being at home is something the Piedmont players welcome.

“I think it does make a difference,” Williams said. “You are always more comfortable on your own field. We will just try to keep everything simple and treat them as just another game as much as possible.”

Teammate Michael Davis said having so much experience in the playoffs should help counter any pre-state championship series nerves.

“We’ve been in the playoffs a good bit with success,” Davis said. “We will try to stick to what’s been working. At end of the series, if we do what I know we can do, then we will be successful.”

Funt’s team advanced to the finals by sweeping Flint River 16-7 and 11-3 last week in Woodbury. It was the first time Piedmont has had to be on the road in the postseason in 2015. Windsor (20-6 overall) advanced to the final by sweeping Robert Toombs on the road 15-4 and 4-0.

In the semifinal opener against Flint River, the Cougars broke open a close game with seven runs in the top of the sixth inning. The two teams until that point were involved in a close contest. The Wildcats, in fact, trailed just 7-6 after the second inning before Piedmont scored two more in the top of the fifth and then closing the door with seven in the sixth.

Beggs worked the first five innings and while he allowed eight hits he did record 10 strikeouts and just two of the six runs Flint River scored on him were earned. Brock Carter finished the final two innings with two strikeouts.

Several players stood out for the Cougars in game one of the semifinals including Noah Quick (3-for-4, two runs, three RBI), Beggs (2-for-4 including home run, one run, three RBI), Williams (3-for-3, two RBI), Carter (3-for-4, three runs, one RBI), Wyatt Galloway (1-for-3, three runs, one RBI), Hunter Knox (1-for-4, one run), Mack Brady (1-for-2, three runs, one RBI) and Luke Andrews (1-for-4, one RBI).

Despite scoring 16 runs, Piedmont still left six runners on base. Flint River’s David Chester took the loss in game one of the series.

In the second game last Thursday, the Cougars jumped out to a 5-2 lead after the first inning. Piedmont, the designated home team in game two, added two more in the second and third innings and one each in the fifth and sixth innings.

Davis earned the win going the distance allowing just four hits and recording eight strikeouts. All three of Flint River’s runs were earned.

Williams was 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI while Brady was 2-for-3 with two runs. Quick drove in two runs while Carter was 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run. Michael Edwards was 1-for-4 with two runs and RBI with Andrews collecting two RBI and scoring two runs.

The team went back to work on Monday preparing for Windsor.

“We know Windsor is a good team,” Funt said. “We can’t assume we are going to win now since we beat them during the regular season. Actually, that makes it tougher on us. Windsor has seen our best pitchers so we may have to come up with a slightly different game plan. Zach has thrown 10 of 14 innings against them.”

While the Piedmont coach said he would prefer playing two games to start the series, he said he’s fine with one game on Friday and then play continuing on Saturday.

At this point, you just have to go out and get it done,” the coach said. “The format isn’t going to change much of what we do. I think we will have a good crowd Friday. It’s nice to be able to play at home. In our first game against Flint River, we did not get settled in defensively for several innings. Playing on the road can be tougher than people realize.”

Despite the spotlight of the series being for a state championship, Funt said the games will be decided just like all others.

“It comes down to fundamentals,” Funt said. “The team who makes the fewer mistakes and eliminate the big inning by their opponent will likely win.”

NOTES: The championship series will be last as Windsor’s coach for Tyler Brown, who has already been announced as the next baseball coach at Stratford Academy, his alma mater.

Windsor has three state baseball championships in school history with the first coming in 1976 followed by one in 1978 and then in 2007. Piedmont won its first state baseball title in 1992 and then its second in 2014.

The Cougars, who are 20-5-2 overall, defeated Windsor 11-1 on March 24 and 10-5 on April 27.

Going into the championship series, Zach Beggs leads Piedmont, batting .500. The senior has 19 singles, 13 doubles, three homers and 35 RBI. Beggs also had an .814 slugging percentage and a .646 on-base percentage.

Noah Quick is batting .449 with 28 singles, five doubles and a triple with 25 RBI. Brock Carter has also compiled a .449 batting average with 23 singles, 11 doubles, one triple and 28 RBI.

Other leading batters for the Cougars include Hunter Knox (.369), Josh Williams (.357), Mack Brady (.317), Mike Davis (.294) and Luke Andrews (.291).

Pitching-wise, Beggs is now 8-0 while Mike Davis is 7-1. Beggs has recorded 55 strikeouts while Davis has 53. Carter has a 1.37 earned-run average with 26 strikeouts.

Key players for Windsor include Josh Brooks, William Owenby, Jonathan Osborn, Austin Thomas and Seth Elder. Thomas, along with teammate Travis Cumbie, are two of the top pitchers for the Knights.