Teasley hoping to earn his stripes

The pipeline from northwest Georgia to Madisonville, Tenn. continues to grow for the Hiwassee College baseball program as the Tigers added LaFayette senior Logan Teasley to their den on Monday.

Teasley will join LaFayette grad Brandon Buck on the Hiwassee roster. The Tigers also have three players listed on their roster from LFO and two more from Ridgeland.

In fact, it was Buck that helped steer Teasley to the southeast Tennessee school.

“I found out through (Buck) that they were looking for people,” Teasley explained. “I contacted the coach and he immediately got back with me and told me to come up. I practiced with them and after that, he told me he wanted to me to sign with them.

“I’m thrilled and really thankful and blessed that I got this opportunity. It’s a once- in-a-lifetime type of thing that you really have to work for. I’m just happy to get the chance and I plan to take advantage of it. I just have to keep working on my skills to get to the next level.”

Ramblers’ head coach Mike Shank called it “a good opportunity” for his senior.

“Hiwassee is a small school, which I think will be good for him to kind of get him started,” Shank explained. “This is by far the best season he’s had at the plate. He’s hitting about 15 to 20 points higher than he’s hit in previous years. He had been having a pretty good year on the mound until he ran into a little bit of an arm problem recently, but hopefully he can get back in the swing of things and throw a few more innings for us down the stretch.”

Teasley said he liked the smallschool atmosphere at Hiwassee.

“It’s very small so you can really focus on your work and baseball,” he said. “There’s not much around (the school) so I’m happy about that.”

Tigers’ head coach Shane Gardner said he liked what he saw in his newest signee.

“He’s a gritty little ballplayer,” Gardner said. “We like those old-school, dirt bag type of players, the ones who look dirty at the end of a game and the ones who do the small things to help their teams win. I like his stick and he’s hitting the ball pretty well his senior year, so we’re excited to get him in our program.

“Defensively, he’s a really good infielder that projects to playing second or third base for us. We basically open up the roster in the fall to everyone, so he’s got a chance to come in and compete for a varsity starting spot right away.”

Teasley said he is considering majoring in Physical Therapy or Business.