Cougars Advance in Playoffs

It wasn’t easy for the Piedmont Academy Diamond Cougars in the first round, but playoff baseball is never supposed to be.

Piedmont (26-4) defeated Southwest Georgia 9-5 and 3-2 in an opening round GISA Class AA best-of-three series to advance to the quarterfinals, which will be held this week. The Cougars are now on a 13-game winning streak.

“Southwest Georgia wasn’t a typical No. 4 seed,” coach Danny Camp said. “The seedings from their region could have easily gone another way. They came in and played well.”

In the opener, Piedmont scored three runs in the bottom of the first and added another run in the bottom of the second. Southwest Georgia put two runs on the board in the top of the fourth before the Cougars scored one more in the bottom of the fourth. Southwest Georgia tied the game with three runs in the top of the sixth but Piedmont answered with four in the bottom half of the inning.

Zach Beggs pitched the entire seven innings with 10 strikeouts. He scattered seven hits and none of the five runs allowed were earned.

Luke Andrews was 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and a run wile Josh Williams was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Tyler Mills finished 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI and Hunter Knox was 1-for-3 with a run.

“We hit it all over the park (in the first game),” Camp said. “However, we had some mental errors that let them tie it. That’s going to happen from time to time. To our credit, we came back in the bottom of the sixth to go up 9-5.

The second game was a low scoring contest with Piedmont pushing runs across in the first, second and sixth innings. Southwest Georgia scored runs in the third and sixth innings.

Mac Brittain pitched seven innings and recorded four strikeouts. Tyler Johnson also pitched well for Southwest Georgia in the second contest Friday.

“Their pitcher didn’t throw real hard in the second game,” Camp said. “We hit too many foul balls.”

The Cougars played well defensively in the second game, their coach said. Jared Smith was solid at second base with Beggs playing well at shortstop.

“One thing I can say about this group is they held their composure,” Camp said. “When our backs were against the wall, we came through. That is the sign of a good team that we can make mistakes and still emerge with wins. Our approach was to win every inning. Baseball is a strange game at times. In the playoffs both teams are 0-0. They came up here as a No. 4 seed with nothing to lose.”

Up next for Piedmont will be Brentwood, the two-time defending state champion. The Eagles are a No 2 seed and will travel to Monticello for the quarterfinal series.

“I believe the pressure is on them since they are looking to win it all again,” Camp said.

Piedmont player Luke Andrews said it was nice to advance past the first round and believes the series with Brentwood will be competitive.

“I think it will be a tough series, but if we keep doing the things we have been doing, I believe we can win it and move on,” Andrews said.

Teammate Josh Williams said facing a program which consistently plays for state championships is a challenge he and fellow Cougars are excited about.

“You know they believe they can win any time they step on the field,” Williams said of Brentwood. “However, despite it being a difficult series, I do believe we have the talent to win it.”

The Cougars will host Brentwood at 1 p.m. Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, with a third game to follow on Saturday, if needed.