Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Sandy Creek finishes baseball season strong

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Going into their final stretch of games in the regular season, the Patriots of Sandy Creek High School were 4-9 in the region and 7-14 overall. They were out of the AAAA playoff picture and it would hae been very easy for the team to phone in their performance the rest of the way and focus on something else.

They chose to battle instead, getting several come-from-behind region wins and a 9-4 victory over Northgate, the number-one seed from Region 4-AAAA and the team that had handed Sandy Creek an 11-0 loss earlier in the season. It may have been a little too late but Coach Eddy Householder was proud of his team’s effort.

“The ending has been positive,” said Householder, who is hoping it carries over into the summer league and next year. The Patriots’s pitching staff was fairly young and inexperienced but came on strong toward the end of the year. The team got good performances in the stretch from junior Chad Brooks, sophomore Brandon Lamb and freshman Brandon Swann. The team will graduate five seniors this year and some of those athletes will not be easy to replace.

“Our outfield was as good as we’ve ever had,” said Householder, who spoke glowingly about Calvin Johnson, Dusty Bennett, Josh Haney and Jermaine Jones. Johnson will be playing football and baseball for Georgia Tech, while Jones is heading to Coastal Carolina to play football and Bennett will head to Georgia State University. Jones broke his hand early in the season but still lead the team in hitting and Haney was out towards the end of the season. These injuries opened the door for Philip Sims, who played just about everywhere during the season for Sandy Creek. Of Sims, Householder remarked that if basketball has a sixth man, Sims is the team’s 10th man.

The Patriots had several sophomores step up big this year, including Kel Cudsik, who came up from JV and played catcher. “He did a great job,” said Householder. “There are still places where he has to improve, but I’m real proud of the way he played.” Householder also cited the improvement of shortstop Brent Brewer and knows that Carlos Vasquez and Chad Owens got enough playing time this year and will be able to step in and contribute next year as well.

The summer season will start the day after graduation. The teams don’t keep formal stats for the season but players get a chance to play more and try some different positions. It also gives coaches a glimpse into what might be next spring and Householder is hoping to return to the playoffs next year with a team that has had its fair share of losing and a taste of what it’s like to win.