Cole Wilcox, pictured, has teamed up with Dylan Bice to give Heritage what could be one of the best pitching duos in the state.GHSA Baseball State Playoffs
First-round pairings(Best-of-three series — doubleheader today; third game, if necessary, Saturday)Class AAAAADunwoody (13-13) at Dalton (19-6), 2Class AAAAChamblee (12-14) at Heritage (19-7), 2Ridgeland (15-11) at Marist (21-5), 3Class AAAWest Hall (17-9) at Calhoun (18-7), 4:30Banks County (10-15) at Ringgold (20-6), 5Sonoraville (11-14) at Franklin County (24-1), 5:45Class AAHoly Innocents’ (18-8) at Gordon Lee (20-6), 5Class A PublicClinch County (15-9) at Trion (18-7), 5
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.”