Diamond Pack to open Region at Tift County

Published 10:39 pm Thursday, March 30, 2006

MOULTRIE — Colquitt County High baseball coach Jerry Croft said he picked Tift County as one of the favorites to win the Region 1-AAAAA championship this season.

And Croft will get to see just how strong the Blue Devils are when he takes his Packers to Tifton for today’s 7 p.m. Region 1-AAAAA opener for both teams.

Tift County was expected to be one of the top teams in the region, if not the state, this season and has lived up to its billing so far.

The Blue Devils are 13-1 after Wednes-day’s 10-6 road victory over Perry.

The only loss came by a 10-8 score to Luella back on March 11.

Tift is three-deep on its pitching staff with Scott Shuman, Jacob Stinson and Austin Smith all capable of taking the ball in a region game.

Smith went the first four innings in Perry and Shuman pitched the final inning, striking out two.

Shuman, the son of Valdosta coach Bart Shuman, transferred to Tift County last summer and made an already strong Blue Devils team even deeper.

Tift County also has perhaps the best athlete in the region in Israel Troupe, an outstanding third baseman in Charlie Edwards and a strong sophomore catcher in Christian Glisson, who started last season for coach Chuck Beale as a ninth-grader.

Edwards had three hits and drove in four runs on Wednesday. Glisson had two hits and four RBIs against the Panthers.

The Packers will take a 4-8 record into the game and are coming off a 9-6 loss to Lincoln High of Tallahassee on Wednesday.

Poor play afield helped dig a big hole for the Packers, who, despite getting a seventh-inning grand slam from Sam Heath, were unable to dig their way out.

“If we don’t commit those errors, it’s a different ball game,” Croft said. “I was encourage by our pitchers. I thought Andrew McDowell and John Michael Harrison pitched well.

“And Scotty DeMott came in a did a good job. Defensively, we just didn’t play very well.”

Matt Weaver is expected to start on the mound tonight. The junior left-hander is 1-2 with a 9.43 ERA.

“He’s pitched well early, but he just hasn’t been able to finish things off yet,” Croft said. “But he’s getting close.’

Junior Andrew Wallace has been plagues by shoulder soreness and Croft said he is still reluctant to give him a start.

Wallace, 0-2 with a 4.77 ERA, could pitch in relief tonight, Croft said.

The Packers also could turn to Chance Pitts, who is 2-0 with a 5.01 ERA after back-to-back two-hitters.

If Croft uses a lineup similar to the one he filled out on Wednesday, Weaver will throw to catcher Drew Shealy, who is batting .292.

Pitts will get the start at first base. He is hitting .375. Carter Jones, hitting .342 with a team-leading eight RBIs, will be at second base. DeMott, batting .303, will be at third base.

Sophomore Blake Cato started at shortstop on Wednesday.

Senior Marshall Faircloth has been starting in left field. Heath, who is batting .314 and leads the team with two home runs, will start in center field.

Wallace, who leads the team in hitting with a .405 average and is tied for the RBI lead with eight, will be in right field.

The loss to Trojans on Wednesday snapped a three-game winning streak.

“Tift County’s playing well,” Croft said. “But we’re not intimidated. They are beatable. And I think we are getting better.”