Playoff Preview: Area GHSA teams well-armed to begin baseball state playoffs

Cole Wilcox, pictured, has teamed up with Dylan Bice to give Heritage what could be one of the best pitching duos in the state.

Success in the regular season doesn't necessarily mean a high school baseball team is equipped to make a long run in the playoffs. For northwest Georgia's three region champions, though, there is a major reason to believe the good work already accomplished is a portent of things to come.

In a word, pitching.

Region 7-AAAA champion Heritage, 6-AAA winner Ringgold and 7-AA kingpin Gordon Lee are well-armed to make a run at state glory. Nearly every playoff team will have an above-average pitcher. These three squads have multiple arms capable of dominating games.

"We feel like we've got six kids, maybe seven, that we can run out there and keep us in a ballgame," said Ringgold coach Brent Tucker, whose Tigers ended the regular season with a 2.03 ERA. "The past few years we just didn't have the pitching experience to go deep in the playoffs, so I made it a priority this year to get a lot of kids experience. We head into the playoffs with seven guys with 12 innings or more."

The Tigers (20-6), who open a best-of-three series against Banks County (10-15) at 5 p.m. today, have a legitimate ace in senior Devin Lancaster, who enters the playoffs with a 9-0 record and an ERA under 2.00. He has made postseason starts the past two years and is ready to accept the lead role on a staff that also features Payton Tennant, Rhett Baldwin and Garrett Wilbanks.

Heritage (19-7), fresh off winning its first region title, has perhaps one of the best pitching duos in the state with Dylan Bice and Cole Wilcox. The two combined to go 11-2, each doing his best work late in the season.

"Pitching does matter greatly in the postseason, and it's been a strong suit for us all year," said Heritage coach Eric Beagles, whose Generals open at 2 p.m. today against Chamblee (12-14). "It doesn't get any bigger to have that type of strength than this time of year. Cole and Dylan finished strong for us, and it's nice to have two No. 1 guys at this time of year."

Gordon Lee (20-6) has perhaps the toughest test of any region champion in the first round as Atlanta private school Holy Innocents' (18-8) comes to Chickamauga for a 5 p.m. doubleheader today. Holy Innocents' region annually puts two, three and at one time all four of its teams in the semifinals, and last year it produced state champion Wesleyan, which eliminated Gordon Lee in the quarterfinals.

Gordon Lee coach Mike Dunfee knows the series will be tight and that pitching depth will be a major key. He and the Trojans feel good about their top two starters, Ethan Clark and Tucker Bradley, and believe a late-season warmup with the bats could signal another long playoff run for a team that finished as state runner-up in 2013 and 2014.

"They are a quality club, and it's going to be a challenge for us," Dunfee said. "You've just got to play your game, make all the defensive plays and hit the ball enough. The last couple of games of the season, I challenged them to step it up at the plate and they answered the call with 25 runs and 25 hits. They competed in the box, which is the key for us making a run."

Six area teams will host doubleheaders today, including Region 7-AAAAA runner-up Dalton, 6-AAA runner-up Calhoun and Class A public school No. 6 seed Trion. Ridgeland (Class AAAA) and Sonoraville (Class AAA) will travel.

"If necessary" games in the best-of-three series will be played Saturday.

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.