Great South League

Athens Pirates Players return "Home" in Siena versus Georgia Baseball Weekend

This weekend's 3 game baseball series between the Siena Saints from Loudenville NY and the University of Georgia Bulldogs will not be your typical match-up of D I schools playing out-of-conference foes. It won't be your average North comes South or blue-gray, Yankee-rebel rivalry.

In fact, it's unlike any other college baseball series on the DI level this season. This series will feature 15 players on the team's rosters that have been teammates or about to be teammates of the well known College Summer Baseball Club, the Athens Pirates. . It is, in effect, a "homecoming" to Athens for 12 players on the Siena roster: 8 former players and 4 new players for the 2010 College Summer Baseball Season.

Even Siena Assistant Baseball Coach, Jimmy Jackson, is a Pirates veteran, having played on the 2002 Pirates team. On the Georgia side, pitchers Justin Earls and John Herman played on the 2009 Athens Pirates and were teammates with 4 Siena players: Danny Paolini, Ryan Poplawski, Andrew Sawyer, and Nikko Stento. Sawyer is a local product of McEachern High School and is from Powder Springs GA.

Tony Rossi, the 41 year veteran head coach of Siena started sending some of his best players to Athens in 2004. That year the Saints sent John Lannan, LHP, currently the #1 pitcher in the Washington Nationals rotation and Scott King to play for the Pirates and the tradition continues to today. Georgia's Director of Baseball Operations, Kris Edge, a long-time "friend" of the Pirates even sent his brother, Kevin, to play with the Pirates in 2004: a teammate of Lannan and King. Lannan spend the summer with the Joe & Vikki Sykora family while King was a guest of Stan Stanchek, long-time Pirates friend who passed away a couple of years ago.

The Pirates are now in their 19^th season and members of the Great South League (www.greatsouthleague.com ). The Great South League is the nations largest College Summer Baseball League consisting of 24 teams in 6 states ranging from Virginia to Florida.

The 3 game series begins Friday, March 12th at 6:30 PM at Foley Field in Athens GA where the expected starter for Siena is Pirates' signee, Robert Tedesco. Saturday's game is scheduled for a 3PM start. The final game of the series is Sunday, March 14^th at 1PM.

Simmons played a key role in leading the Panthers to their first CAA Championship and NCAA Atlanta Regional appearance in 2009. He becomes the fourth member of the class of 2009 to sign a contract to play professional baseball.

In his two-year career, Simmons batted .344, tied for the fifth best batting average in school history. During his junior year, he batted .379 to earn All-CAA First Team honors as a designated hitter.

In his senior year, Simmons belted 13 home runs, ninth most in a single season, while scoring 60 runs, the third most in one year in Georgia State history. He was honored with All-CAA First Team honors for the second year in a row and sparked the Panthers in the CAA Tournament.

The Grizzlies are based out of Sauget, Illinois and will begin playing games on May 21^st at GCS Ballpark. The Frontier League was founded in 1992 as an independent professional baseball league to serve an area of the country that would otherwise never have a chance to have an affiliated professional team in their community.

Patrick Koontz- 3B - Pulaski (SCAD)

Scott Dailan -Ult-Pulaski (Bluefield State)      

Josh Holskey - 3B- Roanoke(Campbell)

Jay Laramore - 1B - Roanoke(Roanoke)

Mike Blanchard - P/OF - Roanoke (Hampden-Sydney)

Jack Shelton - DH - Fuquay Twins (GTCC)

Brice Rivenbark - CF - Fuquay Twins (Surry)

Ben Goldston - P - Fuquay Twins (Lenoir Rhyne)

Richard Wall - P - Fuquay Twins (NC Wesleyan)

Payden Houser - INF - Central Va.(Tusculum)

Eric Conley - 1B - Central Va.(Tusculum)

Rich Glover - P - Central Va.(Lynchburg)

Mike Crowder - 3B - Central Va.(Tusculum)

Brock Wilson---1B---Central Va (Gardner- Webb)

Jake Hartley - 1B - CatawbaValley (Lenoir Rhyne)

Andrew Wyant - P - CatawbaValley (USC Upstate)

Brandon Hairston - INF - CatawbaValley(NorfolkState)

Brian Chandler - P - CatawbaValley (Lenoir Rhyne)

Jesus Santiago - C - CatawbaValley (Wilkes CC)

Ben Benfield ---P-CatawbaValley(OhioState)

John Smith - P - Carolina Hurricanes (NC A&T)

Drew Baldwin - P - Carolina Hurricanes (Salisbury Univ.Md.)

Rob Herrman - C - Carolina Hurricanes (Fredonia StateNY)

Matt Keeler - P/INF - Carolina Hurricanes (WingateUniv.)

Michael Blocher - P - Carolina Hurricanes (GuilfordCollege)

Wayne Lewis ---OF---Carolina Hurricanes (St. Augustine)

Mike Parker - INF - Kernersville (GreensboroCollege)

Adam Hart - P - Kernersville (GuilfordCollege)

Jordan Jessup - P - Kernersville (Surry)

JD Dudding ----P-Kernersville (Danville CC)

John Neese - OF - Kernersville (GTCC)

Alex Starbuck - OF - Kernersville (GuilfordCollege)

Kernersville Bulldogs claim CVCL Tournament title

The Kernersville Bulldogs rebounded from a heartbreaking opening round tourney loss to win four games in extreme hot and humid conditions over the weekend in Hickory to capture the Carolina-Virginia Collegiate League (CVCL) Tournament title.

Kernersville had an 11-7 lead going into the ninth inning of their first tournament game, but Catawba Valley erupted for seven runs and handed the Bulldogs a 14-11 loss. The loss spoiled a solid outing from starter Jordan Jessup on the mound and the multi-hit performances of Myles Pearl, John Neese and Alex Starbuck.

Adam Hart took to the mound in Game 2 and hurled a one-hit shutout of Roanoke to pick up his seventh win of the year.  Roanoke had just come off a 14 inning 5-4 loss to the Hurricanes in Game 1. Kernersville jumped out with five runs in the first inning, including a two-run homer from Brad Pippa and doubles from Mike Parker, Lester Rivenbark, and Cody Walker. Alex Starbuck drove in Josh Strickland  with a run in the fifth inning and Kernersville capped the 10-0 victory with four runs in the seventh.

On Sunday, second-seeded Central Virginia awaited the Bulldogs. Corey Norman picked up the win with an outstanding pitching performance. He pitched seven innings and allowed just five hits. Jacob Moore finished off Central, recording six strikeouts in the 10-2 win. Mike Parker (2-for-3 with a double), Brad Pippa (2-for-4 with a double) and Myles Pearl (3-for-3, including a home run) paced the offense.

A rematch with Catawba Valley in the finals of the loser's bracket finals was another super game for Kernersville. The Bulldogs prevailed 15-9.

"It was like two championship fighters with give and take and each team having leads and not holding on. Pitching was good but the batter's desire required great defensive plays to just get out of each inning," stated Bulldog assistant coach Freddy Transou.

Catawba got 17 hits while Kernersville countered with 10, but the Bulldogs had seven extra base hits, including a monster two-run homer by John Neese.

With the score tied 9-9 in the eighth inning, Stephen Andrews led off with a double and scored on a bases loaded walk to Aaron Jones. Brad Pippa had a two run-double and Myles Pearl contributed another two-run double. Daniel Coffey's sacrifice fly produced the six run inning.

Reliever JD Dudding picked up his 4th win of the year.

"It looked like our tired Bulldogs saved their best for last as the defense and pitching of Nick Oelker inspired the club to a 10-2 win in the championship game," commented Bulldog assistant coach Homer Wernsing. "We didn't let fatigue dampen our enthusiasm, we used all our players, keeping fresh bodies in, and everyone contributed."

Oelker hurled eight-and-a-third innings. He walked only one batter and allowed five hits and no earned runs to pick up the win.

Aaron Jones paced the offense with three hits including a double. Pearl was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Stephen Andrews was 1-for-2 with a triple and scored two runs.

"It was a great and fast summer," stated Kernersville head coach Dale Ijames.

The Bulldogs became one of only a few summer teams to accomplish a 45-win season. The Bulldogs ran their record to 45-8 on the summer with the weekend wins.

 Webmaster Comment: The North Division did not participate in the Great South League Tournament due to scheduling problems at year end. In 2010 the GSL looks forward to having the North Division as full members of the Great South League.

By Clint Thompson
Times Enterprise

THOMASVILLE - The Great South League Championship game didn't conclude until almost 2 a.m. Sunday.

Instead of feeling fatigued, the Thomasville Bombers were jubilant.

The Bombers captured the league championship with an 11-9 victory against the East Alabama Train. A day after winning the first title in the team's brief history, coach Bobby Rodriguez was still excited.

"It was a great feeling, great feeling," Rodriguez said. "I'm very happy for the boys."

Thomasville only had to win one game Saturday but lost to East Alabama 7-5. The loss forced a decisive championship game at 9:45 p.m. Saturday. Thomasville trailed 6-1 before clawing back for the victory.

The win capped a thrilling end to the Bombers' summer. Thomasville won 10 of its last 13 games.

"It was a beautiful thing," Rodriguez said. "It sort of clicked when we played Gainesville the last series over in Live Oak.

"The bats started swinging. The pitchers started getting a little bit better. They started to gel. We came back with the same lineup again the following game. It produced again and I came back with it again. It produced and I said, ‘You know what. This is it.'"

Area players had a big part in leading Thomasville to the title. Former Cairo shortstop Hugh Russell Lee went 3-for-5 in the title game with two doubles and two RBIs. Thomas University's Tyler Davis added three hits, including two doubles and one RBI. Rodriguez's son, Ruben Rodriguez, chipped in with a homer and two runs scored.

Former Brookwood standout Drew Johnson added a hit.

Jonathan Jones notched the win in relief.

Thomasville's skipper is hopeful this title win will benefit the team in future seasons.

"When we started this program here in Thomasville, the idea was to build it, hopefully get into the playoffs and getting recognized so we could get more kids to come to Thomasville to play," the Bombers' skipper added. "It was a great idea when they came up with it. Now, it's starting to flourish and produce Now that we've become GSL champions, it gives us a little bit more responsibility of representing the name at a higher level."

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - The Thomasville Bombers entered the Great South tournament as one of the hottest teams in the league and it showed.

The Bombers are Great South League Champions after a thrilling win over East Alabama Saturday night in the championship game. They had trailed 6 to 3 but rallied to come away with an 11-9 win.

The Bombers entered the tournament as a 9 seed and went 5-1 capturing their first ever Great South League Championship.