MOULTRIE – For the second year in a row, Colquitt County High baseball had player representation on Team Georgia at the Sunbelt Classic in Oklahoma.

Packer head coach Tony Kirkland himself has worked with Team Georgia for a decade now and thus made numerous summer trips to the Midwest. For the last two years, Kirkland’s been a part of the Junior Series, each year taking one of his players along.

“Taking Jay Saunders last year, and now Gavin Patel this year made it special,” said Kirkland. “Gavin could not have been better. He represented Colquitt County High, Moultrie and Georgia really well.”

Patel is Colquitt’s rising senior shortstop who just completed his second year as a starter for Kirkland. Anyone who attended games at Packer Park more than likely saw Patel exhibit a range, release and arm strength in the infield that were of Major League variety. It led, in 2017, to a fielding percentage of .925 (52 assists to seven errors in 93 chances, including eight double plays).

At the plate, Patel showed even more strides batting .305 in 30 games with 25 hits and 14 runs batted in. He only had nine hits and one RBI in 24 games as a sophomore.

The Sunbelt Classic concluded on June 14 with Team Georgia finishing fifth. Kirkland said Patel opened up several possibilities for baseball beyond high school with his performances.

“It’s the most fun trip I’ve ever been on for baseball,” said Patel. “We had a lot of off time. We rode a boat on the lake. Went fishing. Went to the movies.”

Diverting a moment from talk of the diamond, that fishing portion of the week was a story in itself. Patel said he reeled in a 40-pound catfish.

“It’s crazy because they were noodling (fishing with bare hands),” said Patel, adding that they kept the fish, but didn’t actually get to feast on it.

“I had a really good week (of baseball). Saw some really good arms, anywhere from 85 to 95 (mph). I fended well. We don’t see that here. You just have to be ready to hit the fastball. That’s the way I saw it.”

Kirkland said the pitching on teams from Oklahoma Mississippi, Missouri, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and even Canada had Division I committed pitching. Games were played in six days, and Patel said his fielding was going well until the last day when everyone on the team was beginning to get tired.

“I just try to play hard all the time,” he said about his approach in the infield. “I try to make all the routine plays. If I can take away a hit, that’s great, but I try to make all the routines.”

Patel began playing as an 8-year-old and loved it right away. There’s another natural reason for his success, a lot of consistent hard work in practice.

“Hitting is on and off all the time,” he said. “There’s always going to be times when you are struggling. You have to work, keep hitting and hit your way out of it. I think I’ve gotten a lot better now than I have been.

“This past season I had a big jump. Now, I think I’m ahead of that even.”

Speaking more about this past high school season, Kirkland found himself in need of adjusting his pitching depth. In the relief corps, he turned to his shortstop to take on a middle innings set-up role for senior closer John Samuel Shenker.

After not pitching at all as a sophomore, Patel made 11 appearances, won two games and had a 1.94 earned run average with 18 strikeouts in 18 innings.

“I don’t know where that came from,” said Patel. “They asked me to pitch, and I did the best I could, competed. I hadn’t had much experience, but I tried to do my job. Try to hit my spots. I’m pretty basic, throw a fastball, curve and change-up. I feel I can spot it up well.”

As for future mound work, Kirkland said it would certainly be his preference to not use Patel there anymore. There’s a good reason in that he wants to keep whom he calls the best shortstop in the state at shortstop.

“I’ll pitch if he wants me to,” said Patel. “My main focus is shortstop.”

He did pitch three innings at the Sunbelt with the only blemish on his line surrendering a home run.

Kirkland has also seen Patel grow literally in terms of height going through the Packer program. He said getting him in the weight room could increase his production even more and his profile to college recruiters.

“I want to go to college and play somewhere,” said Patel. “We’ll have to wait and see.”