Baseball Cougars Are Region Champs

For the first time since the 2008 season, the Piedmont Academy varsity baseball team has captured a region championship.

The Cougars capped a perfect region record with a 9-0 win against Flint River Friday at home. Piedmont enters the state playoffs with a 24-4 record while compiling an 8-0 Region 4-AA mark.

“We battled it out and played well,” coach Danny Camp said of the region championship clinching win against Flint River.

Piedmont took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and those runs would prove to be enough even though the Cougars would score six additional times. The Cougars benefited from a home run by Malcom Tyler, who was 2-for-4 with four RBI.

“We competed well,” Camp said. “I am very proud of the team. They deserve it. It was a great atmosphere. The parents, students and fans made it a playoff environment. I am just proud for the kids. We have a good chance at going a long way if we play well. We will have to play well facing the bracket we are going to.”

Zach Beggs earned the win going six innings and striking out seven. He allowed just one walk. Beggs was also 2-for-3 at the plate with a run. Luke Andrews was 1-for-3 with a run scored.

The Cougars have been led this season by three seniors in Tyler, Jared Smith and Mac Brittain. Each player said winning a region championship this spring was a preseason goal for the team.

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“That was one of our main goals,” said Smith, who plays second base. “When we had a team meeting at the beginning of the year, Coach Camp told each of us to write down our goals. Winning the region championship was something every mentioned.”

Tyler, who plays first base for the team, said he and his teammates believed winning region was an obtainable goal.

“We felt like we had a chance to do with the team we had coming back,” Tyler said. “It was also nice to finish the region schedule undefeated.”

Brittain, who plays third base and pitches for Piedmont, said after not winning region in 2013, capturing the title this season means a great deal to the players.

“We showed improvement with each game and it was nice to defeat Flint River to clinch it,” he said.

Brittain was 3-for-3 in Friday’s win against Flint River with a run and RBI.

All three players believe a deep state playoff run is possible.

“Everyone’s goal now is to win a state championship,” Smith said. “We will go one round at a time and focus on who the next opponent is. We have a deep pitching staff and I believe that will help us.”

Brittain said the 2014 team is one of the better squads in recent seasons.

“Being a No. 1 seed will be helpful,” Brittain said. “It will be nice to play at home for at least a couple of rounds.”

Said Tyler: “We have a good chance to make a run at winning it all.”

The team closed out the regular season Monday with a non-region road win against Heritage 10-9 in Newnan. The Cougars overcame a six-run bottom of the sixth inning by Heritage to earn the win. Piedmont had scored four runs in the top of the sixth and added three more in the seventh to hold on.

Smith was 2-for-4 at the plate while Andrews drove in three runs. Brady, Beggs and Williams each had two RBI.

Brady earned the win working in relief. Mike Davis, Andrews and Brittain also worked two innings each on the pitcher’s mound.

The GISA Class AA state playoffs begins Friday with Piedmont hosting an opening-round best-of-three series against Southwest Georgia. Two games will be played at 1:30 and 4 p.m. A third game, if necessary, would be Saturday at 11 a.m.

The Cougars have established a program record for wins in a regular season this spring. Camp said it also appears the team has also set a season record for number of home runs in a season with 15.

Piedmont also defeated region foe Griffin Christian on the road last Thursday 11-0. Smith was 2-for-3 in that contest with two runs while Josh Williams was 3-for-3 with two RBI. Tyler added a 2-for-3 performance with two runs and two RBI. Brittain was also 1-for-2 with a run and two RBI. Mack Brady also drove in a run.

Brittain earned the win working three innings with two strikeouts before Davis closed the door pitching two innings and recording four strikeouts.

Piedmont was also effective on the base paths as Noah Quick and Smith both had four stolen bases while Tyler had two and Beggs had one.