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2016 GHSA CLASS A BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016 GHSA CLASS A BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS2016 GHSA CLASS A BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2016 Georgia High School Association Baseball Class A State Championship Guide is published by Score Atlan-ta, in conjunction with the GHSA. The guide was designed by Rhonda Rawls, edited by Craig Sager II, Lauren Gold-

stein and Kyle Sandy and information was provided by the GHSA. Photos on the cover are courtesy of Tim Morse/Geor-gia Dugout (Treutlen), Robin Rudd (Trion), Tattnall.org,and Jim Lacey (Hebron). For more information on Score Atlanta, go to ScoreAtl.com or call 404-256-1572.

GHSA.NETGHSA.NET GHSA.NET

CLASS ACHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

HEBRON CHRISTIAN@ TATTNALL SQUARE

CLASS A - PRIVATE

CLASS A - PUBLICTRION@ TREUTLEN

Hebron Christian broke the spell cast over Class A-Private the past two seasons as

they defeated defending state champ King’s Ridge in the semifinals. It took the Lions three games to bounce the Tigers, who beat Hebron in a gut-wrenching three-game series last year in the state finals. Entering the tournament as the No. 6 seed, Hebron (29-6) edged past King’s Ridge 5-3 in the clincher. The Lions trailed 3-1 head-ing into the sixth inning before Sloan Bennett blasted a 2-run triple to knot the game up and Shane Smith added the go-ahead run with a sac fly. Bennett finished the game 3-for-3 but it was Spence Johns’ clutch per-formance at the dish and on the mound that locked up Hebron’s chance at the school’s second title. After tossing a complete-game, three-hit shutout in a deciding Game 3 victo-ry over George Walton Academy to advance to the semis, his encore performance in the clincher produced a complete-game allowing just two earned runs and adding an insurance

RBI of his own at the plate with a double in the top of the seventh. The Lions meet Tattnall Square Academy (25-7) in the championship, a program look-ing for its first state championship. The Tro-jans will need to be ready for a heavy dose of Jake Hershman, Hebron’s righty on the mound signed to play at Wofford. No. 4 seed Tattnall has swept through the playoffs, posting a per-fect 6-0 record against No. 13 Mt. Paran, No. 5 ELCA and No. 9 Calvary Day. The Trojans turn to a duo of Division-I signees to power their offense. Nick DiPonzio (Wake Forest), Blake Simmons (Georgia Southern) and Garrett Houston make up a potent core. In their 6-1 win over Calvary Day to clinch a spot in the state title game, DiPonzio went 2-for-4 with a 3-run homer to set the tone while Simmons added three hits and two runs. Houston struck out 11 batters in his complete-game outing. On the season Simmons is batting .422 with 31 RBIs. DiPonzio is hitting at a .429 clip and Cory Bartholomew (USC Upstate) is batting

.344. Simmons’ younger brother Logan is a sophomore and is second on the team with 30 RBIs. The Trojans turn to Houston (13-1, 1.40 ERA) and Bartholomew (11-2, 0.81 ERA) on the mound.

Class A-Public No. 6 Trion (24-7) attempts to raise its third banner and first since 1983 against No. 4 Treutlen (26-5). The Treutlen Vikings are in search of their first-ever state championship after sweeping defending champion Schley County while allowing just two runs. Treut-len’s pitching will be tested by Gabe Howell, a Chipola College commit that has high hopes for being drafted this summer after an incred-ible senior season in which he has hit over .600. The power-hitting shortstop is lethal with the stick. Evan Walker, Drew Williams, Griffin Floyd and Malik Martin join him as top offensive threats. Tristan Cone is the ace up Treutlen head coach Brent Korn’s sleeve. Cone, a Valdosta State signee, leads the Vikings with 30 RBIs and has a .304 batting average. Titus Benja-min has been a table setter with his .391 aver-age and .459 on-base percentage. Treutlen’s stoppers on the mound are Cones and Zach Hughes. Cone is 10-1 with a 1.07 ERA including 120 K’s in 72 innings. Hughes is 9-2 with three saves to go along with his 1.10 ERA. Treutlen has cruised through the postseason and has not allowed more than two runs in a game en route to outscoring opponents 48-to-8. Photo courtesty of Jim Lacey

CLASS A FINALS

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

TITLE DRY SPELLS TO BE BROKEN IN CLASS A

WORD FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GREETINGS, GHSA BASEBALL FANS!

May 14Game 1: 4:00PMGame 2: 30 min after Game 1 endsGame 3: (IF NEEDED): May 16,4:00PM

May 14Game 1: 3:00PMGame 2: 30 min after Game 1 endsGame 3: (IF NEEDED): May 16, 5:30PM/OFFICIALGHSAFOLLOW US

Live on NFHSNetwork.comWelcome to the 2016 GHSA Championship Series for

Baseball, the final GHSA events of this school year. Nearly four weeks ago these teams began competing in these playoffs, and now they are poised for the final challenge – com-peting for the State Championship. The Georgia High School Associ-ation is proud of the commitment to excellence that these players and coaches have demonstrated throughout the season, as the qual-ity of play in high school baseball in Georgia continues to grow. Congrat-ulations to Ernie Yarbrough, GHSA baseball administrator, on a job well done now and throughout the entire season.

We hope that you, the faithful fans, will enjoy these games, and that you will demonstrate the high-est levels of sportsmanship as you positively encourage “your team” toward victory. The GHSA is grateful for the generous contributions of its corpo-rate partners and preferred vendors who enable the GHSA to provide these events. As you see the list of these partners around the field, please support them at every oppor-tunity.

Gary PhillipsExecutive Director

CLASS A-PRIVATE

CLASS A-PUBLIC

No. Name Pos. Gr.1 Luke Laskey P,C,UTIL 102 Blake Simmons SS,2B 124 Destin Mack P,OF 105 Austin Marchman P,OF,UTIL 106 Brock Baggarley P,3B,1B 107 Nick DiPonzio OF 129 Jared Heath OF 1111 Jacob Dooley P,2B,OF 1212 Tyler Warnock P,2B,OF 1114 Logan Simmons 3B,SS 1015 Trey Ham P,3B,1B 916 Jon-Clay Atwater OF 1217 Mikey Wilson 1B 1118 Cory Bartholomew P,INF 1219 Andrew Long 1B,OF 1022 Garrett Houston P,OF 1125 Coleman Rumney P,OF 1126 Logan Fink P,1B,3B 1027 Matt Blair P,1B 1228 Miles Morris P,INF 930 Bret Welch P 1241 Austin Granger C 1242 BJ Spears OF 943 Chandler Whittington C 10

Head Coach: Joey HillerTATTNALL SQUARE

No. Name Pos. Gr.

1 Tanner Railey P, OF 10

3 Tyler Gill P, OF 12

5 Reece Crabtree 2B, 3B 11

7 Jarrett Pierce OF 11

8 Griffin Floyd 2B 12

9 Hagan Willingham P,UT 9

10 Gabe Howell C,IF 12

12 Ty Reynolds P,1B 11

14 Evan Walker P, UT 11

15 Blaine Woody P,OF,1B 9

20 Malik Martin OF 12

21 Drew Williams P, 3B 12

24 David McCary 1B, 3B 12

27 Treyton Coffman P, 3B 12

30 Jackson Bowers C, 3B, 1B 11

33 Dallas Thomas P, 3B 10

Head Coach: Jason LanhamTRION

No. Name Pos. Gr.1 Trevor Kasten OF 112 Landon Jones MIF 103 Spence Johns IF, RHP 115 Sloan Bennett OF 126 Shane Smith 3B, OF 127 Caleb Martin OF, RHP 128 Christian Marquez OF, RHP 119 Austin Dixon C, 1B 1210 BJ Riley OF 1011 Ben Coker RHP, OF 1212 Jeremey Bryan OF 1113 Tyler Calvert INF, RHP 1214 James Civelli C 1115 Steven Casey SS, RHP 1116 Luke Crawford RHP, OF 1219 Jake Hershman RHP 1221 Cameron Smith LHP, 1B 11

Head Coach: Ben DrustHEBRON CHRISTIAN

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2016 GHSA CLASS A BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

GHSA.NET

No. Name Pos. Gr.2 Magel Johnson OF 124 Chris Maddox 2B 105 Titus Benjamin 1B 126 Bryson Wilcher C 127 Tyson Brooks 2B 118 Tyler Benjamin 3B,P 119 Alston Phillips P,OF 1010 Trent Morris SS 1011 Hunter Byrd C 1113 Jordan Morris OF,P 1214 Jarrod Holmes P 1115 Seth Love 1B 1217 Tristan Cone P,OF 1218 Trevor Byrd C 919 Griffin Beall SS 1020 Hayden Youmans P 921 Zach Hughes P,DH 1222 Colby Mimbs P 923 Peyton Page P 1025 Tyler Summerall OF 1134 Kevin Wheeler OF 9

Head Coach: Brent KornTREUTLEN