Heritage’s Cole Wilcox pitches against Ringgold Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at Ringgold High School.An outsider’s first impression of the early work done by prep baseball teams in Georgia’s Region 7-AAAA might lead to a quick dismissal of the league as mediocre at best and one that’s certainly not up to its usual standard.
As region play started Tuesday, only three of the league’s eight teams had winning records, and neither of those was perennial state power Cartersville or recent region contender Northwest Whitfield. However, while Northwest’s struggles may persist due to heavy graduation losses, the Purple Hurricanes’ early work is a bit deceiving.
Coach Stuart Chester’s team was 4-6 entering the week, but the losses were to four higher-classification Georgia teams and two from Florida. Cartersville has annually faced tough opponents in nonregion play and doesn’t mind taking licks early to improve later.
“I think we’re all playing some real good folks,” Heritage coach Eric Beagles said. “You do that for a reason, and sometimes your records can be a little misleading. We’re all trying to get battle-tested for this five-week region schedule.”
Ridgeland coach Scott Harden concurs. His Panthers, even with a significantly tougher early schedule than in recent seasons, entered league play 7-4. Ridgeland has played teams in Augusta, Atlanta and Alabama, as well as Tennessee powers Baylor and Cleveland.
“We made it tougher for a reason, and we’ve competed well for the most part,” said Harden, whose team opened region play with a win against Southeast Whitfield before falling to Heritage. “It was important for us to have some early success – in part because we are so young – but it’s more important to have it against the competition we’ve played this year. It’s really boosted their confidence.”
Harden called this his most versatile and athletic team and, unlike recent seasons, the Panthers have a strong pitching rotation. Micah Genter already has four wins, while sophomore left-hander Jalyn Shelton and right-hander Ivy Boehm also are off to good starts.
In addition, junior catcher Will Hodges is hitting better than .400 and showing strong leadership.
Heritage, which has played seven games against area powers Gordon Lee, Ringgold, Calhoun and Dalton, struggled before winning its past five. The last two were 11-2 over Pickens and 9-6 over Ridgeland to start region play.
The Generals have arguably the deepest pitching staff in the region, anchored by college recruits Dylan Bice and Cole Wilcox. Beagles hopes that makes a difference as teams play three games each week.
“We’ve been really pleased with where our guys are,” he said, including Alex Barbee and Jonathan Hickman. “(Pitching coach Thomas Gray) has done a great job of getting them where they are now. We have to make sure we spread the load the best we can, and with four quality pitchers, we should be able to. We’re pleased so far.”
Beagles is also stressing to his players how important every inning is in region play. The league annually seems to have some of its playoff seedings determined by tiebreakers, and Heritage has been on the bad end of those more than once.
“When the season all hammers out, what seemed like little things can make all the difference,” Beagles said. “For example, turning a double play and ending an inning without giving up a run versus not turning it and allowing one can send you from a two seed to a four seed or out of it.
“Those little things you tend to gloss over, we’re trying to stress to our guys how valuable it all is. It will all come out in the end. It always does in this region.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.