2003 Packers win school’s second state baseball championship

Published 6:18 am Wednesday, March 22, 2023

MOULTRIE – On this day 20 years ago, March 22, 2003, the Colquitt County baseball team traveled to Thomasville for a doubleheader against Starr’s Mill and Thomas County Central.

In the first game, senior left-hander Cody Green pitched a three-inning no-hitter in the Packers’ 15-0 victory. It was the first of Green’s eight wins in 2003.

Colquitt got the sweep in Game 2, a 12-1 victory over the Yellow Jackets that raised the Packers record to 5-1.

On the mound for the Packers in that game was Thomas Tripp, who allowed just three hits over five innings to raise his record to 2-0.

The big junior right-hander served primarily as the team’s closer the rest of the season and did not get his third and final win until Packers head coach Jerry Croft, with the concurrence of pitching coach Keith Croft, sent him out to face East Coweta in the game that would decide the Class AAAAA state championship.

If many Packer fans were not familiar with Tripp before he stared down the first East Coweta batter on June 10, they were after he was mobbed on the mound by his teammates two hours later.

All Tripp did was hold the Indians to just three runs and four hits as the Packers defeated the Indians 6-3 to win the program’s second state championship.

“Boy, that guy provided us with a moment that people will never forget,” Jerry Croft said.

The win, on the original Ike Aultman Field behind the “old” Colquitt County High School, gave the Packers a 29-9 record and its second state title in seven years.

The Packers were coming off a 20-9 record the year before when they finished in a four-way tie for first in the region.

Jerry Croft was expecting another successful season with a strong core of eight seniors, a potentially deep pitching staff and a hard-hitting lineup that did not disappoint.

“You always have aspirations of making a run in the playoffs,” said Croft, who finished his career with 449 wins and was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame in 2012. “That was a good group of kids.

“I thought we’d have good season.”

Packers hitting coach Tony Kirkland wasn’t so sure everyone shared the head coach’s optimism.

“I don’t think a lot of people expected us to be in that position,” said Kirkland. “But those guys just had the desire to be the best in the highest classification in the state.”

Led by a pair of left-handers in Aaron Eubanks and Cody Green, who combined for 20 wins, and an offense that hit .337 and crashed 41 home runs, the Packers were remarkably consistent.

They got off to a 15-3 start, and after dropping four in a row from April 23-29, won 14 of their final 16 games.

Eubanks turned in a performance reminiscent of the season Hayden Gliemmo, another outstanding southpaw, had in Colquitt County’s 1997 state championship season.

Both won 12 games and pitched their team’s to a number of clutch victories.

Known affectionately at “Euby,” the senior posted a 2.35 ERA.

Among his wins was a region no-hitter against Tift County on May 6.

Third baseman Isaac Jackson came up with two outstanding defensive plays and Eubanks struck out 12 Blue Devils to clinch a playoff berth for the Packers that evening in front of the home fans.

And, like Gliemmo, Eubanks was also dangerous with a bat in his hand, hitting .380 with five home runs.

The combination of pitching and hitting led to his earning the Region 1-AAAAA’s Player of the Year award.

Green, who led the pitching staff in appearances with 16, befuddled opposing batters and was 8-3 with a 3.04 ERA.

The No. 2 man in the Packers starting rotation was called “a crafty gamer,” by Keith Croft.

Starting shortstop Will Southwell, who, like Eubanks went on to a fine collegiate career at Georgia Southern, was 5-1 with 3.07 ERA.

Tripp, who had thrown only 20.2 innings before taming East Coweta, finished with a 3-1 record and a 2.53 ERA.

Sophomore Sherard Reynolds, who went on to an All-American football career as a defensive back at Valdosta State, started in center field, but produced when called to the mound. He produced a 3.27 ERA.

The Packers pitching staff had plenty of offensive support.

“They all hit with an attitude,” said Kirkland. “They weren’t going to be easy outs.

“They hit it all over the field and they hit it with power.”

Perhaps the best indicator of how strong a hitting team the 2003 Packers were is Kirkland’s hitting chart, which assigns points to good at bats and takes points away for poor ones.

A player with 100 points is deemed to have had a strong season.

Four were over the century mark in 2003, led by senior catcher Max DeMott, who had 130 points. Southwell had 124; Green had 115.5; and Eubanks had 115.

“When you have four do that, you know you are producing a lot,” Kirkland said.

The team total of 744.5 points was “unreal,” Kirkland said.

Kirkland was especially impressed with Southwell, who was just a junior in 2003.

“He was a special player in a lot of different ways,” he said of Southwell, who led the team in hitting with a .411 average and drove in a team-leading 33 runs.

Green hit .400 and DeMott hit .385.

Kirkland also remembers Cody Turpen as “the ultimate table-setter.”

Turpen also is remembered for a bunt he was able to get down against Harrison to help the Packers reach the Final Four.

Kirkland and Jerry Croft still marvel at the team’s 41 home runs.

“I know bats have changed,” the Packers head coach said. “But 41 home runs is unheard of today. That’s pretty phenomenal.”

Kirkland added, “Now you think 15-20 would be a good year.”

DeMott led the team with nine homers. Southwell had eight and senior Lee Henry, known as “Bam-Bam,” had six.

“I remember one he hit off the backdrop,” Kirkland said. “He hit it so hard, we had to go out there after the game and check the dent.

“He was a scrapper and was not an easy out.”

The other Packers seniors were second baseman Brandon Connell and outfielders Keon Caldwell and Brian Gay.

In addition to Tripp, Southwell and Turpen, the team’s other juniors were Abel Eubanks, Jonathan Dunn, Ross Cox, Johnathan Walker and Tim Green.

The sophomores were Reynolds, versatile Mike Mobley and catcher Chad Smith.

The season started on March 11, at home against Cook and Eubanks ensured the season got off to a winning start by throwing a two-hitter in a 3-0 win.

After defeating Lee County4-3 in Leesburg the next day, the Packers gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh and lost at Thomasville 4-3.

Colquitt then reeled off seven wins in a row before falling to McEachern 7-3 on April 5 at home.

The Packers then beat Coffee, Lee County and Lincoln County before dropping a 4-2 decision to Valdosta, also at home.

Colquitt then beat Tift County 10-6 and shut out Effingham 4-0 and Lowndes 13-0 before dropping four in a row.

The mini-streak started with back-to-back losses to Lawton Chiles in Tallahassee on April 23 and in Moultrie the following day.

The Packers then went to Douglas and fell to Coffee 4-2 despite out-hitting the Trojans 8-6.

Three days later, Lee County visited Ike Aultman Field and handed the Packers a 8-1 loss. The Trojans scored four runs in the top of the seventh to put the game away.

But Colquitt lost just twice the rest of the season.

In a big region game on May 6, Jackson twice robbed Tift County catcher Luke Gordon of base hits to keep the Eubanks no-hitter in order in the 5-0 win.

The win ensured Colquitt would make the playoffs and DeMott made sure the Packers had one last shot at the region championship when his seventh-inning home run beat Lowndes 2-1 on the final day of the regular season.

Unfortunately for the Packers, Lee County pounded Coffee 15-4 the same day, relegating the Packers to second place.

The Packers still were able to play host to a best-of- three first-round playoff series for the first time since 1998 and made quick work of Jonesboro, sweeping a doubleheader 13-2 and 9-3.

Colquitt played at Ike Aultman Field in the second round as well against a McIntosh team that featured one of the state’s top players in outfielder/pitcher Tim Battle.

The Packers won the first game of the doubleheader, but McIntosh forced a deciding game with a 11-6 win in Game 2.

McIntosh jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first in the rubber game, but the Packers scored in each of the first four innings and won 8-4 to earn a trip to the quarterfinals at Harrison High.

Harrison had eliminated the Packers from the playoffs with a doubleheader sweep at Don Shaw Field in 1998 and the Packers staff wanted nothing of the sort to happen again.

In the first game, the Packers scored five runs in the top of the fourth and went on to a 8-5 victory.

Down 7-2 in the fourth inning of the nightcap, the Packers rallied to tie the game 9-9 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Walker started the inning by reaching on an error and Jerry Croft gave Turpen the bunt sign, hoping to move Walker into scoring position.

But Turpen could not get the bunt down on either his first or second attempt.

Undeterred, Croft flashed the bunt sign again and this time Turpen laid down a beauty.

The Harrison pitcher fielded the ball, but then threw wildly past first and down the right field line.

As Walker headed to third, Croft frantically waved him home.

Walker slid in just under the catcher’s tag and the Packers had avenged the 1998 losses and earned a berth in the Final Four at home against Fayette County.

Colquitt pounded the Tigers 11-4 in Game 1 with Eubanks homering to help his own cause.

Fayette County trailed 7-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh before rallying to score four runs, but Tripp struck out the final Tiger to send the Packers to the championship series at home against East Coweta.

Colquitt won its fifth-straight postseason opener by downing the Indians 3-2, on a double by Southwell that scored Turpen with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

But the Indians would not go quietly, winning Game 2, 7-3.

Jerry and Keith Croft discussed whether to send out Eubanks, the Game 1 winner, to start Game 3 or go with Tripp.

The decision was Tripp and the young right-hander was ready.

“I’m not going to lie,” Tripp said 20 years later. “I was nervous. But I wanted to pitch so bad.

“I just gave myself a little pep talk, told myself not to overthink things. Then I felt comfortable and relaxed.”

The game was tied 1-1 when the Packers scored four times in the top of the sixth.

The go-ahead run came on a single to center by Tripp, who admitted, “I was not very well known for my hitting.”

Tripp gave up two runs in the top of the seventh, but got Lee Heaberlin to look at a called third strike to end the game and give the Packers a 6-3 win and the state championship.

It was a memorable moment for the youngster who had been taken under the wings of fellow juniors Southwell, Cox and others in his first season as a Packer.

“It’s something I’ll always cherish,” he said. “I wish I could do it all again.”

After pitching for the Packers as a senior in 2004, Tripp went on to pitch at Valdosta State, primarily as a reliever.

The state championship was especially meaningful to Kirkland, who left after the season to become the head coach at South Effingham.

“That was a very emotional day for me,” Kirkland said.

After six years at South Effingham, Kirkland returned to Colquitt County to become the Packers head coach for 10 years before retiring after the 2019 season.

He was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame in 2019.

With Kirkland’s departure, the 2003 season was the last of 13 that the trio of Jerry Croft, Keith Croft and Kirkland coached the Packers baseball team.

Jerry Croft coached the Packers three more seasons before retiring.

“I’ve been blessed to be part of two state championships,” he said. “A lot of coaches don’t get the opportunity to play for one state championship, let alone two.

“And those two meant more to me because of the two guys, who are also my friends, I got to share them with.”

But, ultimately, it was the players who made the plays on the field who led to the championship.

“Those guys worked hard and they practiced hard,” Jerry Croft said. “That championship was well-deserved.”