Diamond Cougars Set for GISA State Playoffs

The Piedmont Academy baseball team enters the 2019 GISA Class AA state playoffs on a quest for an unprecedented sixth championship in a row.

The Cougars, a number one seed, will host a quarterfinal best-of-three series Friday and Saturday, May 3-4 against Gatewood. The Gators finished second in their region.

Games are set for 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Friday with a third game, if necessary, to be played Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

“Gatewood is a solid team,” Piedmont coach Colt Spivey said. “They swing the bats well and have a lot of pitching depth. They don’t have one dominant pitcher but they are all solid and will keep throwing solid ones at you.”

The Gators defeated the Cougars during the regular season.

“We pitched some younger guys and Gatewod executed better than we did,” Spivey said.

“We hope having the home field advantage will help.”

Piedmont closed out the regular season last Thursday with a 4-2 win against visiting Tiftarea Academy, a Class AAA school. The Cougars scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning before the Panthers tied the score in the top of the third.

Two runs by Piedmont in the bottom half of the third proved to be the difference. Chase Porter had two hits for the Cougars and also drove in a run.

Porter and Sam Wright both pitched in the contest. Porter had three strikeouts while Wright struck out two batters.

Piedmont enters the postseason playing well having scored 61 runs in its last six games. The Cougars are 13-3 overall and finished with a perfect 6-0 record in region. Winning region allowed Piedmont to have a first round bye in the state playoffs.

Gatewood swept Memorial Day in its opening-round series on Monday by scores of 16-1 and 18-0.

While the Cougars are one of the favorites to win state again there are quality teams in the bracket including Terrell Academy ,Edmund Burke and Gatewood. Pitching depth is typically a game in the postseason especially if a series goes to three games. Piedmont has numerous pitchers and hopes that proves to be an advantage.

“I feel we have the best pitching in terms of the top four ones we throw,” Spivey said. “However, if we win it all it will certainly have to be earned and that starts with Gatewood. This will not be like some of our opening series in the past. If we get runners in scoring position we have to get them home.”

In other first round series Brentwood swept Robert Toombs 17-5 and 11-1 and will now face Terrell Academy in the quarterfinals. The winner of this series will meet the survivor of Piedmont and Gatewood in the semifinals.

Crisp Academy swept Brandon Hall 14-8 and 13-1 in the opening round. The Wildcats now travel to Edmund Burke for the quarterfinals.