Diamond Cougars Open Season Saturday

The Piedmont Academy baseball team begins its quest for the postseason this weekend when it opens the 2012 season with two games in Loganville.

The Diamond Cougars will face Crown Academy at 2 p.m. and Covenant Christian at 4:30 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 25. The games will be played at Covenant Christian in Loganville.

Coach Danny Camp said the Cougars scrimmaged Covenant last season and noted they have a “pretty good team.”

“It’s a chance to get our feet wet,” the coach said.

Camp said he is not as familiar with Crown Academy, a team comprised of home-school players from the Atlanta area.

Piedmont qualified for the state tournament last spring after taking the region’s No. 4 seed. The Cougars pushed No. 1 seeded Robert Toombs to three games before being eliminated.

“We were missing some pieces of the puzzle last season,” Camp said. “We didn’t have any seniors. We did get better as the year went on. We had to fight in the playoffs. We played our best baseball the last series of the year. We were a very young team who got better by the end of the season. We are hoping to build off that this spring.”

Piedmont will be led by six seniors in 2012 including returning players Cole Hamilton, Daniel Leinweber, Jakey Dunagan and Josh Brennan and newcomers Seth Harvey and Austin Corley.

Logan Partenza, Glade Tuggle and Andrew Wilzman are juniors on this year’s team. The sophomore class features Mills Smith, Jared Smith, Malcom Tyler and Mac Brittain. Luke Andrews, Zach Beggs, Josh Williams and Hunter Knox will be the squad’s four freshmen.

“I think we will be better this year,” Camp said. “We have a pretty good pitching staff. Offensively, we have guys who can put it in play and who can connect for the long ball. We will look to play good defense and find ways to score runs on the same day.”

The region will be tough as it features teams such as Brentwood, Gatewood, Windsor, Briarwood, Monsignor Donovan, Central Fellowship and Covenant.

“We will have to earn what we get, day in and day out,” Camp said. “The players have been working hard. We will have good senior leadership. They know how to win and know what it takes to win.”

The team practiced with a full squad for the first time Monday following the completion of basketball season.

Following Saturday’s two games, Piedmont will not play again until March 6 when it travels to Trinity Christian in Dublin.