Hurricane Baseball Team Enters Playoffs

The Monticello Hurricanes will begin the playoff portion of their schedule Thursday, entering as the #4 seed from Region 5-A, Division 1.

Their opponent will be Whitefield Academy, the Region 6-A, Division 1 champion. The Wolverines of Whitefield come in sporting an overall record of 22-5, with a region record of 15-1, their only loss in region play coming at the hands of region runner-up King’s Ridge.

The Wolverines are led by University of Tennessee baseball commit Brayden May, a left-handed pitcher who sits around 87-90 with his fastball, and also serves as the leadoff batter for the Wolverines. They also have two other pitchers who touch the upper 80’s on their strong staff, which held opponents to only 83 runs during the regular season, and helped to support an offense that scored 264 runs in 27 games (almost 10 runs per game).

The Hurricanes finished the regular season on a down note, getting swept by the Oglethorpe County Patriots in the final region series of the year. Going into the playoffs, the Hurricanes will be led by the bat of sophomore catcher Chandler Aguirre, who finished the regular season with a team leading .351 batting average (26/74).

Aguirre also was the team leader in hits, runs batted in (RBI), slugging percentage, and on base percentage. Junior Hunter Hays finished the regular season with a .263 batting average (20/76), with 4 doubles, 14 RBI, and 21 runs scored.

Junior Chevy Sands finished third on the team with a .257 average (18/70), scoring a team leading 22 runs, while also leading the team with 20 walks on the season. Sands also led the team in stolen bases with 13.

From a pitching perspective, Junior Tom Schilling led the team through the regular season with a 3.91 ERA (48.1 innings, 27 earned runs) along with 34 strikeouts. Hays also led on the mound, finishing the regular season with 82 strikeouts in 53 innings pitched, which means he averaged over 10 strikeouts per 7 innings pitched.

Although it has been a tough season from a win/loss perspective, the growth of the young team throughout the year has been evident, and the improvement from the previous season and success from our junior varsity and middle school programs shows that the future of the Hurricane baseball program is bright.

The state playoffs start today with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. in Mableton. If there is a split, game three will be played at 4 p.m. on Friday at Whitefield.

Come out and support the Canes as they start the next portion of the season.