Haggard helps make Ringgold a baseball title contender again
Pitching is the key to any long prep baseball postseason run and three Northwest Georgia teams have the arms to get it done as the GHSA playoffs begin Tuesday with doubleheader starts to best-of-three series across the state.
It’s those doubleheaders that put stress on a pitching staff, but if things go as planned, Ringgold, Gordon Lee and Heritage are set up well even if opening-round series go the distance.
Pitching has always been a strength at Ringgold and this year is no different, even with the graduation of Best of Preps player of the year Ross Norman.
As the Tigers (21-6) prepare to host Gilmer (15-13) from tough Region 7 Tuesday in a Class AAA series, they have another true ace in senior Sebastian Haggard, who enters the playoffs with a 7-0 record, an ERA under 1 and the ability to finish what he starts.
“He’s every bit of an ace,” Ringgold coach Drew Walker said after Haggard shut out Gordon Lee last week. “That guy has had a couple of outings that may be the best I’ve seen, including three complete games under 80 pitches. He will go down as one of the elite ones to pitch here.”
The University of Pennsylvania recruit — who will be the program’s first Ivy Leaguer — has allowed only 25 hits in 50 innings with 78 strikeouts and just eight walks.
Haggard has plenty of help on the mound in Jackson Black and Eli Crew, two pitchers who starred in Ringgold’s run to the state finals.
“We feel good about what we can put out there in any game,” Walker said. “Those guys have been in pressure situations and have proven they can handle it.”
Gordon Lee (17-12) has had to rely on its pitching this season after graduating six players — Brodie Genter, Blake Rodgers, Bo Rhudy, Kade Cowan, Holt Roberts and Nate Dunfee — who combined to drive in 174 runs.
The Trojans, who host battle-tested Wesleyan (14-13) in Tuesday’s Class AAA series, also lost their top two starting pitchers in Rhudy and Rodgers, which makes this season’s region runner-up finish even more impressive.
“Our guys have stepped up this year and seized the opportunity,” said Gordon Lee coach Mike Dunfee, who took the program to back-to-back GHSA championships in 2018 and 2019. “We’ve got a tough series, but the key is just to focus on us and play our game.”
The Trojans are paced on the mound by returning starter Aiden Goodwin, Dustin Day and Maddox Millard. Day enters the postseason coming off a five-hit shutout of Ringgold and has a tidy 1.84 ERA in 49 innings, while Goodwin, before allowing four runs in five innings in his last start vs. Ringgold, won his previous four outings by allowing two runs and six hits with 25 strikeouts in 20 innings.
Region 7-AAAA champion Heritage (21-7) opens its series with Southwest Dekalb (10-12) Thursday. David Dinger’s first season at the helm has featured the starting pitching of Max Owens (5-1, 2.23 ERA), JC Armour (6-1, 2.97 ERA) and Brady Chandler (6-2, 2.62 ERA) and a shut-down closer in Ryland BlackLong, who has struck out 27 in 22 innings.
While the Generals have been efficient with allowing runs, they often walk a tightrope with control. While Owens, Armour and Chandler have combined to strike out 133 batters in 117 innings, they have walked 71.
“Thursday’s games will be the same for us as any other game this year,” the veteran Dinger pointed out. “If our pitchers throw strikes we’re pretty good, when they don’t we struggle.”