Diamond Doggs to host opening-round of state

“There are very good baseball players in that region,” Smith said. “They will be a rough first-round opponent.”

While WBHS fell short in their quest for the Region 8-AAAA title, Smith said he was proud of how his team competed against Loganville High School last week.

“A play here or a play there, and we could have won the series,” the coach said.

Other opening-round series involving teams from Region 8-AAAA include Loganville hosting Lambert, Johns Creek hosting Flowery Branch and South Forsyth hosting Heritage.

Smith and the WBHS coaching staff have been busy this week gathering inforamtion about their first-round opponent.

“The way it looks, it came down to the wire in their region on who would finish where,” Smith said.

The Diamond Dogg coach said he believes his team’s tough non-region schedule as well as its tests in 8-AAAA, should help the team be prepared for state.

“We’ve seen tough pitching,” Smith said. “I like going into state knowing we have competed against tough teams all season. That is something we are going to continue to do in the future. We will add even more meat to our non-region schedule next year.”

The reward for WBHS finishing second in 8-AAAA, is hosting the first round of state. Smith said he sees definite advantages in being at home.

“We will be able to practice at home,” the coach said. “We also know every inch of our infield and how it plays. We always seem to play well at home. We hope to continue to have great support from our fans, our students and the community.”

The WBHS coaches are weighing all options in terms of who will pitch when in the series this week.

“We might even wait until we find out who they will throw,” Smith said. We haven’t decided anything for sure yet.”

WBHS engaged in another classic series with Loganville last Thursday for the Region 8-AAAA title.

The Red Devils took 4-3 and 3-2 wins to secure their fourth consecutive region championship and the seventh under the direction of coach Jeff Segars.

“We continue to have great games with Winder,” Segars said. “We always feel fortunate to emerge with a win when we play them.”

“I thought we took some good swings on them,” Smith said. “We had good chances, and that’s all I can ask out of my guys, to fight and give ourselves a chance. We did that in every game against Loganvlle.”

Ryan Brown was 2-for-2 in the opening game and scored all three of Winder-Barrow’s runs.

Travis Demeritte pitched well in the opener recording 10 strikeouts and allowing only three hits in six innings of work against a LHS team which typically scores runs in bunches.
Blake Marbut also was effective in game two.

Smith was not too concerned by his team’s mistakes, noting they were of an “aggressive” nature.

“Sometimes that’s just the way it goes,” the WBHS coach said.