Diamond Cougars Move on to Quarterfinals
The Piedmont Academy baseball team was all business last Friday afternoon and quickly dispatched of visiting Solid Rock to advance to the GISA Class AA state baseball quarterfinals.
Coach Daniel Funt’s Diamond Cougars took 19-0 and 21-0 victories to begin their quest for another state championship. Piedmont will begin play in the second round against Southwest Georgia with a Friday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. A third game would be Saturday at 1 p.m., also at Piedmont.
Southwest Georgia was the co-region champion of 3-AA with Crisp Academy.
“They will be a tough opponent,” Funt said. “They are scrappy and like to compete. They enjoy playing the game. What you will see is a fundamentally sound team that likes to bunt, hit-and-run and steal bases.”
The two teams actually met in the playoffs last season with Piedmont sweeping the series.
“They were also a tough opponent then,” Funt said. “If we play well, we should be OK, but we also need to execute and our pitchers need to work both sides of the plate and get the ball down. Offensively, we need to have quality at-bats and not waste trips to the plate.”
There were plenty of strong performances in the opening round against Solid Rock. In the 19-0 victory, Zach Beggs went all three innings and recorded eight strikeouts while not allowing any hits or walks.
Offensively, Noah Quick was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI while Beggs helped his own cause with a home run while going 2-for-2 overall with five RBI. Hunter Knox also had a 2-for-2 outing with two runs and two RBI and Brock Carter went 2-for-2 with two runs and three RBI.
Josh Williams had a 2-for-2 game with an RBI and Luke Andrews was 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBI.
Piedmont scored 16 runs in the first inning and then scored three more in the second to help end the game after three innings on the mercy rule.
In the 21-0 victory, Mike Davis earned the win with six strikeouts. Solid Rock managed just one hit for the game and the afternoon.
Once again there were numerous standout efforts at the plate as Quick was 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI while Carter was 3-for-3 with three runs and four RBI. Mack Brady was 1-for-1 with two runs and Knox was 1-for-1 with three runs and two RBI.
Also contributing were Alan Powell (1-for-1), Brett Bush (one run, one RBI), Andrews (three runs), Hunter Whiting (1-for-1, one RBI), Wyatt Galloway (2-for-3, one run, one RBI) and Michael Edwards (1-for-2, two runs, three RBI).
While the first-round series did not provide the Cougars much of test, Funt said his team went out and took care of business.
“The first round can be tough but our kids went in with a great attitude and we played aggressively,” the coach said. “We tried to work on certain things like stealing bases and we did what we had to do. We got all of our players involved in the series so it was good to get everyone some playoff experience.”
For the season, Beggs now has a .544 batting average with Quick at .484. Carter is now batting .409 with Knox at .392. Beggs also is now 6-0 on the pitcher’s mound.
In other first round series, Flint River defeated Brentwood, First Presbyterian Christian Academy defeated Georgia Christian, Crisp Academy defeated Twiggs Academy, Windsor defeated Brandon Hall, Monsignor Donovan upset LaGrange Academy and Southwest Georgia defeated David Emanuel. Robert Toombs advanced to the second round via a bye.
Other second round matchups will include First Presbyterian Christian Academy at Flint River, Windsor at Crisp Academy and Monsignor Donovan at Robert Toombs. The winner of the Piedmont-Southwest Georgia series will meet the survivor of Flint River-First Presbyterian Christian Academy. The pre-determined brackets would have the Cougars on the road in the semifinals if they meet another No. 1 seed.