Competing in what he terms “one of, if not the toughest” regions in the state, Winder-Barrow High School baseball coach Brian Smith was feeling pretty good Sunday night as he reflected on what his team has accomplished.
Smith’s Diamond Doggs have already punched their ticket for the upcoming Class AAAA state tournament. The only question that remains is how high of a seed WBHS can finish with.
Last week’s 9-6 win against Salem sealed the deal for the Bulldoggs, who just missed the qualifying for the postseason last spring.
“We’ve had to deal with some injuries to key players this season,” Smith said. “When you look at that and the fact we only have three seniors then I am really proud of what we have accomplished.”
Going into the final week of the regular season, WBHS has already recorded 15 wins.
“We’ve had other players step up and pick up the slack,” said Smith, who is in his second season as head coach. “We have overcome that adversity to play good baseball in one of, if not the toughest regions in the state.”
With a postseason bid already wrapped up, Smith said his players can take the field a little more relaxed in their final regular season contests.
Still, the coach doesn’t want the team to lose any of its focus.
‘There is no pressure for us to win to get in,” the coach said. “We should be able to play a little looser the rest of the way. Still, we have a lot of pride. We don’t want to change anything we have been doing that has allowed us to be successful.”
Smith has talked numerous times about peaking at the right time.
“You want to be playing your best baseball at the end of the season,” the coach said. “We want to go into the playoffs hot.”
Where WBHS will finish in the region standings is still up in the air as the final week of the regular season arrived. Smith said the Bulldoggs could definitely finish third and there was an outside chance of placing even higher if some upsets occur.
“Once we clinched I must admit I really quit scoreboard watching,” Smith said. “We’ll just try and win out and see what happens. That’s all we can worry about.”
WBHS NOTES: The Diamond Doggs just missed knocking off defending state champion Loganville last Friday falling 3-2 in extra innings.
Clint Spratlin pitched well working seven innings.
Friday’s loss ended a five-game winning streak for Smith’s team.
In the 9-6 win against Salem earlier in the week, Taylor Hinshaw homered twice while Bobby Segars also delivered a key two-run homer.
The win gave WBHS the tiebreaker edge against the Seminoles as all other teams had been officially elimiated from postseason contention.
