Diamond Cougars Begin 2020 Season

The Piedmont Academy baseball team returned to the diamond for the 2020 season with a pair of close games last week.

The Diamond Cougars fell to Loganville Christian Academy 3-2 on the road last Friday before returning to action with a 7-4 road win against John Milledge Academy on Saturday. Both teams were Class AAA opponents.

“It was a good overall start for us,” said new Piedmont coach Matt Britt. “Loganville Christian is a good team and played really well. We didn’t do enough offensively in that game. Our pitching is ahead of our hitting at this point. That was true for both of our first two games.”

Cameron Mobley pitched well in the season opener against LCA on Friday working four innings and striking out nine batters. David Bishop was also effective in relief.

Ironically the pitching was so strong in the opener that Britt said he didn’t get a good look at how his defense was.

Caleb Coffey helped pace the offense with a hit and two RBI. Drake Coody and Zach Spivey both drew two walks.

“We are still learning the right approach at the plate,” Britt said. “Against a good pitcher if your approach is not good you are going to struggle. We had too many strikeouts. It’s OK to strike out if you are fouling off several pitches or even if you swing and miss. However, we took too many pitches we should have put in play.”

In Saturday’s game against John Milledge, Owen Brady, Tate Marks and Mobley each collected two hits. Brady and Mobley both drove in two runs.

Marks worked 3.2 innings and had eight strikeouts. Brady, Jacob Ferguson and Spivey all worked in relief.

“Tate threw very well,” Britt said. “John Milledge kicked it around some. That’s going to happen early in the season because everyone has been so limited on practice time.”

The Cougars are aiming for another postseason run this spring. Britt is now guiding the program after coaching Windsor Academy in recent seasons.

Like most area teams the preseason has been a battle against the weather in the preseason.

“We are fortunate with our facilities,” Britt said. “We can still get work done but we haven’t had a lot of time on the field. The players are working hard to get done what we are trying to do. With so much rain it often becomes a case of what you can do rather than what you want to do.”

Pitching depth should be a strength for the 2020 team with Marks and Mobley helping lead a solid roster.

“We will try to get our pitchers as many innings as possible early in the season,” Britt said.

While this is his first season coaching at Piedmont, previous teams guided by Britt have competed against the Cougars for state titles. Britt led both Windsor and Flint River Academy to the finals against Piedmont.

The Cougars won a region title last spring. Piedmont has won five of the last six GISA Class AA state baseball championships.

Piedmont’s varsity team will travel to Solid Rock on Friday for a 4 p.m. varsity contest. The Middle School Cougars will host Gatewood at 4 p.m. on Friday.