Loganville staff familiar with Middle Georgia

Loganville hasn’t played a team from Middle Georgia in several years, but the Red Devils’ coaching staff has plenty of memories of the area.

Most of it played at Georgia College during some quality seasons for the Bobcats.

Head coach Jeff Segars and assistants Mike Ryan and Bran Mills all played for Georgia College in the mid-1990s and at the turn of the century.

Mills graduated from Central in 1996.

Segars was on the team of head coach Steve Mrowka that was the runner-up in the Division II World Series, losing to Florida Southern. Segars also played under legendary head coach John Kurtz, for whom the Bobcats’ field is named.

Ryan and Segars were teammates on the 1994 team, and Mills followed them a few years later.

Mrowka went from Georgia College to George Washington and is now athletics director at Northern Virginia Community College. But there’s a part of him at Loganville.

“Coach Mrowka was the kind of guy, when I went on a visit down there, I knew he was a little different, in that he really understood what he was doing,” Segars said. “Everything we do at our place now, we model after what we did at Georgia College.”

The Bobcats made the NCAA Division II Tournament five times under Mrowka, who was 407-231-2 with Georgia College.

“Coach Mrowka’s the best coach I’ve ever been around,” said Segars, who took over at Loganville in 2000. “I think you’d have a lot of baseball alumni tell you the same thing.”

Lost in the shuffle

Jake Fromm is one of several juniors on Houston County’s team, but he’s one junior who won’t be back.

Barring some massive unforeseen circumstance, Fromm will be in Athens at this time a year from now after graduating in December and heading to Georgia.

He will enroll early and be in a football uniform next spring for the Bulldogs to begin a tremendously anticipated battle with Jacob Eason at quarterback.

Fromm, who plays third and first and hits third, is batting .317 with 22 RBI and a team-leading two homers.

Traffic jam

Fans who want to attend the title series are advised to arrive early. Extra bleacher seating has been set up, but seating is still limited.

Gates open at 2 p.m. on Monday, and fans will have to deal with buses as school lets out.

Tickets are $10, and there is no parking charge. Outside food and drinks cannot be brought into the facility.

Region 2-AAAAA dominance

Region 2-AAAAA knows its way around the championship series.

From 2012 in Class AAAAA to Monday, Region 2-AAAAA has had a team in the final.

And Loganville’s last trip to the finals was a good one. The Red Devils beat Greenbrier in three games: 4-2, 3-12 and 14-4, at home, in 2012.

Greenbrier lost to Pope a year later, Houston County won it in 2014, and Greenbrier got the title back last year.

Kell knocked out Greenbrier in the second round, and then lost to Loganville in the quarterfinals.

Comparing schedules

Houston County and Loganville have one common opponent this season, Gainesville.

The Red Devils and Red Elephants split in mid-March, Gainesville winning 5-3 at home and Loganville winning 4-1 at home.

Loganville opened the season with a 3-1 win over Parkview.

Loganville beat Parkview 3-1 in a scrimmage, and Parkview topped Houston County 10-0 in mid-March.

Red Devils in professional ball

One Loganville alum is Clint Frazier, who hit 24 homers on that 2012 championship team. He committed to Georgia, but was the No. 5 pick by Cleveland in the 2013 draft. He’s at Double-A Akron.

Another one is a little higher up. Brandon Moss led the Red Devils to their first title appearance in 2002, when he was an eighth-round pick by Boston. The 2014 all-star is with St. Louis.

This story was originally published May 22, 2016 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Loganville staff familiar with Middle Georgia."