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| Martin Luther King outfielder played in two All-American games |
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Trey Griffin, a senior outfielder at Martin Luther King Jr., participated in a pair of All-American baseball games this summer.
Griffin (6-3, 195) was selected along with 39 other top high school baseball players from across the United States to participate in the AFLAC All-American High School Baseball Classic and the Under Armour All-American Baseball Game during August.
The speedy outfielder came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning with his Baseball Factory team trailing 2-1 and delivered the tying run on a RBI double. Griffin then stole home to give his team a 3-2 lead on the way to an 11-2 win over Team One Baseball in the August 8 Under Armour game at Chicago’s famed Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs.
He scored the go-ahead run for the East All-Americans in the eighth inning of the AFLAC game at San Diego’s PETCO Park, home to the Padres, in a 4-4 tie with the West on August 16. He was 0-1 at the plate in the game that went 10 innings.
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| North takes series lead with 7-4 victory over South |
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| Chamblee's Ennis Coble (left) and Columbia's Robert Hutchinson earned MVP honors during the 7th annual DeKalb County Senior All-Star Baseball Classic. (Photo by Mark Brock) |
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New format of one, 9-inning game began this year
Senior/Junior All-Star Classic Boxscores
Chamblee’s Mark Lindeman hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the third inning to propel the North DeKalb County baseball all-stars to a 7-4 victory over the South in the seventh annual DeKalb County All-Star Baseball Classic on Saturday at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.
The North used four home runs in the game to take a 7-6 series lead over the South in the new format featuring just one nine-inning game. The previous six years featured two seven-inning games between the senior all-stars.
Demarcus England of Towers and Steve Wimpye of Redan had teamed up in the second inning to give the South a 4-3 lead as England singled to score Deon Hall (MLK) and Wimpye followed with a two-run single for the lead.
Nick Bowers (Tucker) and Linwood Roberds (Druid Hills) drew two-out walks against South starter Brian Thomas (SW DeKalb) to set up Lindeman’s heroics. Lindeman took Thomas’ first offering, pulled it down the left field line and banged it off the scoreboard behind the outfield fence to give the North a 6-4 lead they would never relinquish.
Four North pitchers combined for six shutout innings to finish the game as Bowers went the final two to pick up the save and make a winner out of Hudson Randall (Dunwoody) who had relieved starter Charlie Arrendale (Druid Hills).
Rondall Oliver (Miller Grove) gave the South the first lead of the game with a sacrifice fly to s c ore Wimpye in the top of the first inning.
The North answered quickly in the bottom of the first as Ennis Coble (Chamblee) and Adam Jones (Dunwoody) opened with back-to-back homers on the way to a 3-1 lead.
Coble would add another homer in the sixth inning for the final margin of 7-4 on the way to Most Valuable Player honors for the North squad. Coble finished with a record setting 4 hits (4-5) in the game, two RBI, two home runs, a stolen base and three put outs and three assists in the field for a perfect fielding average of 1.000.
Columbia’s Robert Hutchinson pitched three innings of relief and allowed just one run while striking out four to help the South stay within striking distance.
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North defeats South 13-6 in inaugural Junior All-Star Classic |
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Mitch Earnest (Lakeside) and Tim Lin (Dunwoody) both had two-run doubles to help the North build an 8-0 lead on the way to the 13-6 victory in the debut of the DeKalb County Junior All-Star Baseball Classic at Martin Luther King Jr. High School on Saturday.
Earnest’s double came with two out in the bottom of the first inning to plate Hunter Wheeler (Dunwoody) and Lin for a 2-0 lead and the North never looked back.
Lin’s two-out double in the second inning made it 6-0 as Will Middour (Lakeside) and Andy Threatt (Lakeside) crossed the plate. Desmond Towns (Druid Hills) added a sacrifice fly and Threatt drove in another run on a fielder’s choice in t he four-run inning.
Ian Davis (Dunwoody) and Kevin Smith (Lakeside) were both hit-by-a-pitch in the fourth inning for the 8-0 lead.
Daquivous Hickson got the South on the scoreboard with an infield single to score Monte Reese with two out in the top of the fifth inning.
Casey Tuttle (Druid Hills) followed an RBI single by Middour with a two-run single to extend the lead to 11-1.
Xavier Griffen (Columbia) jump started a two-run, sixth inning by the South with a lead-off triple and scored on a groundout by DeAndre Waldburg (SW DeKalb) and Aaron Benjamin (SW DeKalb) singled to score George McGinnis (Columbia) to trim the lead to 11-3.
The North answered with a two-run sixth of its own aided by a pair of wild pitches and an error.
The South closed out the scoring with a three-run seventh on RBI singles from Dionte Mandeldove (Redan), Griffen and McGinnis to make the final of 13-6.
Andy Threat got the victory for the North as he pitched the first two shutout innings and Leopold Dixon went 1 2/3 innings in taking the loss for the South.
Mitch Earnest and Tim Linn both went 2-3 and Will Middour was 2-4 to lead the North offense. Xavier Griffen was 3-4 while DeAndre Waldburg, George McGinnis and Dionte Mandeldove were all 2-3 to lead the South’s 12-hit attack.
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| Lakeside falls in two games to defending state champs |
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| Lakeside junior shortstop/pitcher Will Middour had a two-run homer to give the Vikings a lead in Game 2 against No. 4 ranked Loganville. (Photo by Mark Brock) |
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Seven position players return for 2010
The Lakeside Vikings held leads in both games before falling 3-1 and 6-3 to defending Class AAAA state champion and No. 4 ranked Loganville in the second round of the Class AAAA baseball state playoffs on Wednesday at Loganville.
The Vikings dropped the opener 3-1, but bounced back quickly in the second game of the doubleheader as Will Middour stroked a two-run homer over the right field fence in the bottom of the first inning for an early 2-0 lead against Loganville lefty Kenny Anderson.
The lead held until the top of the third when a Viking error led to two unearned runs against Middour. Brandon Cruse’s two-out, RBI single knotted the game at 2-2 following the error.
Loganville’s Jacob Johnson gave the Red Devils the lead for good as he hit a towering three-run home run to left field to make it 5-2.
Vincent Ochoa entered for Middour in the fifth and limited Loganville to one run over the final three innings to give the Vikings an opportunity to close the gap.
The opportunity came in the bottom of the seventh as Ochoa led off with single and Niko Stathakis was hit by a pitch to bring senior Jason Rowe to the plate with no outs in the inning.
Rowe reached on an error as he hustled out an infield bouncer and an errant throw to second by Loganville reliever Landon Hayes to load the bases with no outs.
Nathan Terrell grounded out to drive in Ochoa to cut the lead to 6-3 with one out as Lakeside brought the tying run to the plate three times in the inning. Hayes settled in to get the final two batters and seal the best-of-three series win for Loganville (25-5).
The opening game was a 0-0 tie after three innings as starters Andy Threatt (Lakeside) and Clay Garner (Loganville) worked out of jams heading to the top of the fourth.
Lakeside third baseman Niko Stathakis hit a tow-out double into the right center field gap to score Ben Means for a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Chad Bridges gave Loganville the lead for good with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth and Drew Dickerson added an insurance run with a RBI single to make it 3-1.
The Vikings got the bases loaded in the top of the seventh with two out as Terrell singled to right, but Loganville reliever Casey Shiver closed the door without any further damage.
Lakeside finished the season 18-12 overall and will return seven of the position players and their top two pitchers next season.
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| Lakeside's Nathan Terrell slides safely into second with a stolen base against Sandy Creek. Terrell singled in the winning run in the Vikings 3-2 victory in Game 3 of the Class AAAA state playoff series to send Lakeside into the second round. (Photo by Mark Brock) |
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2009 DEKALB COUNTY JV TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE |
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Rain forces tournament officials to declare co-champions
The DeKalb County Junior Varsity Baseball Tournament weathered rain for most of Saturdy as the semifinal games were finished.
Dunwoody shutout Martin Luther King 13-0 to win one semifinal at Shamrock Middle School.
The other semifinal game went to Lakeside by a score 9-8 in nine innings as the the Vikings pulled out the win over Chamblee as the heavy rain hit.
The championship game was rained out and Dunwoody and Lakeside were declared co-champions for 2009.
SEMIFINALS:
Dunwoody 13, Martin Luther King Jr. 0
Lakeside 9, Chamblee 8 (9 Innings)
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Pruitt is first DeKalb Co. coach to 400 wins |
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| Redan head baseball coach Marvin Pruitt hits win 400 in victory over Douglass. (Photo by Mark Brock) |
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Avondale graduate has amassed a 401-285-3
Marvin Pruitt became the first baseball coach in DeKalb County history to register 400 career victories with a 15-0 blanking of Douglass on Wednesday, April 29.
The victory improved Pruitt’s overall record to 400-285-3 in 26 seasons as a head baseball coach.
A DeKalb County product as a graduate of Avondale High School, Pruitt began his baseball coaching career as a graduate assistant at Lakeside in the spring of 1978.
Pruitt spent his first five years as either a junior varisty head coach or varsity assistant coach before securing his first head varsity position at Lakeside in the 1983 campaign, taking over for former Viking leader Mike Trapani.
His first campaign as the Viking head coach proved to be a memorable one, as he guided Lakeside to a super 22-11 showing that included a trip to the state Class AAAA semifinals. The state berth was the first in the history of the school.
Pruitt eventually spent four seasons at the helm of the Vikings, running off winning records of 16-8 in 1984, 18-7 in 1985 and 13-9 in 1986 for a total mark of 69-35.
Following a six-year stint at Rockdale County (60-63 record) from 1987-92, Pruitt returned to the county at Southwest DeKalb in 1993 and proceeded to immediately turn around a program that posted four losing records in the eight previous seasons (87-74-1 overall mark).
Southwest DeKalb went 14-8 in 1993, 20-10-1 in 1994 and 19-10 in 1995, highlighted by state playoff berths in 1994 and 1995. It had been 15 years since the Panthers last qualified for state in 1979 under legendary coach John Devore. Pruitt was 53-28-1 in his three-year stay there.
Pruitt took a year off from the head coaching ranks in 1996, returning to serve as the inaugural skipper for Stephenson in 1997.
A five-season run for the Jaguars produced 37 victories against 78 defeats and two ties, with the best campaigns coming in 2000 (12-11-2) and 1998 (12-15).
Pruitt then accepted his current position at Redan in 2001 and has produced eight consecutive state playoff teams.
The Raiders have registered a super 181-81-2 record during Pruitt’s nine campaigns, posting winning records in 2001 (16-10), 2002 (21-10), 2003 (24-10-1), 2004 (23-8), 2005 (19-9-1), 2006 (25-4), 2007 (22-9) and 2008 (19-8).
Only current Redan principal, Greg Goodwin, has won more games as a head coach at Redan, having gone 228-96-2 from 1989-2000.
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History of DeKalb County Baseball |
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| Ron James and his Dunwoody teammates got some revenge against Columbus for a semifinal loss in 2006 with a sweep in the 2007 Class AAA state championship series. |
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33-year state championship drought ends in 2007
The Dunwoody Wildcats ended a 33-year drought of baseball state championships for DeKalb County Schools by bringing home the Class AAA state title in 2007 with a 2-0 sweep of Columbus.
The last Georgia High School Association baseball state championship to find a home in DeKalb County before 2007 came back in 1974 when Henderson laid claim with a 2-0 series sweep of Southwest Macon.
DeKalb County had come up short since that time despite sending some very good teams into the playoffs. Prior to 1974, DeKalb had won titles in 1952 (Avondale), 1956 (Tucker), 1964 (Avondale), 1966 (Tucker), 1967 (Tucker), 1968 (Walker) and 1972 (Sequoyah).
Beginning with the 1952 season, DeKalb County teams have combined for 129 playoff appearances through the 2007 season. Eighteen of the current 19 DeKalb schools have made at least one playoff appearance following Martin Luther King Jr.’s rise to 5AAA champ in 2004. Gordon and Shamrock, two of the seven schools that are no longer high schools, were the only ones of the 26 DeKalb schools to never make a playoff appearance prior to the opening of Miller Grove High School in 2005. The playoff run has collected 211 wins over that time as well.
The baseball history of DeKalb County also includes the likes of former pros Wally Joyner (Redan), Pete Ladd (Henderson) and Ron Blomberg (Druid Hills).
- Wally Joyner played 16 seasons in the majors with the California Angels, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and the hometown Atlanta Braves. He collected a .289 career batting average, 204 home runs, 1,106 RBI and 2,060 hits.
- Ron Blomberg was the first player picked in the 1968 major league draft. He signed with the Yankees and spent eight years in the majors with New York and the Chicago White Sox. The .293 career hitter was baseball’s first designated hitter.
- Pete Ladd led Henderson to the 1974 state title and signed with Ole Miss. He had a career best 25 saves for Milwaukee in the 1983 season and posted two saves in the 1982 American League Championship Series.
DeKalb County has been a hotbed on draft day with 75 players drafted since 1985. That includes three from the 2004 season including first round and No. 9 pick overall Chris Nelson of Redan (Colorado) and four from 2006 including Scott Hunter of M.L. King in the 3rd round (San Diego, 93rd pick) and 2005 second round selection P.J. Phillips of Redan (California, 73rd pick).
STATE CHAMPIONS
Tucker (3)—1956, 1966-67
Avondale (2)—1952, 1964
Dunwoody (1)-2007
Henderson (1)—1974
Sequoyah (1)—1972
Walker (1)—1968 |
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