Tattnall Square baseball geared up for title series

In Joey Hiller’s eyes, playing a difficult schedule and going through the highs and the lows of a long season are the best way to prepare a team for the rigors of playoff baseball.

Hiller’s strategy has worked this season, as his Tattnall Square baseball team has rolled to nine straight postseason wins and is in the GHSA finals for the first time.

Tattnall Square (25-7) hosts Hebron Christian in a 3 p.m. doubleheader Saturday to open a best-of-three series that will determine the GHSA Class A Private champion. The third game, if needed, will be played Monday.

Tattnall is led by the workhorse duo of Cory Bartholomew and Garrett Houston. Between them, they have logged 152 innings on the mound this season, while the rest of the pitching staff has pitched 57 innings.

Bartholomew, a senior who has been the Game 1 starter during the postseason and is headed to USC Upstate, has 10 wins, while Houston, a junior who has been the Game 2 starter, has won 12.

Is Hiller worried about a possible third game?

“We have had pitching staffs like this before, where our first two were so dominant that no one else got innings, but we feel like the rest of our pitching staff is very good, too,” Hiller said. “While we are sweeping doubleheaders, our number three and four guy doesn’t get to pitch. But we work them hard at practice, and they are prepared for a possible third game.

“Cory and Garrett are hard to get off the mound once they are there, and they both have the ability to grind out innings when they don’t have their best stuff.”

The Tattnall offense is led by Wake Forest signee Nick DiPonzio, who is hitting .448 with 42 runs scored and 25 stolen bases. Blake Simmons is batting .441 with a team-leading 31 RBI, and Logan Simmons is batting at a .424 clip. But the Trojans have benefited from strong hitting throughout the lineup during the playoff run.

No. 8 hitter Austin Marchman is hitting .368 in the postseason with five RBI and four runs scored and also hit his first home run of the season in the first round against Mount Paran Christian, while No. 9 hitter Luke Laskey is hitting .353 in the postseason with a pair of home runs and six runs scored.

“When we hit all the way through the lineup, we are a tough team to beat,” Hiller said. “Going into this season, we knew we were going to be younger than we were last year but we had good potential. We start four sophomores, and we needed them to be special and over the last month or so, they have really stepped up.”

Hebron Christian comes in with a 29-6 record and is fresh off of a three-game series with defending champion King’s Ridge Christian in which Hebron, which lost to King’s Ridge in last year’s title series, rallied for victories in the second and third games.

Tyler Calvert is Hebron’s top hitter, connecting on seven home runs. The team’s top two pitchers are Ben Coker (9-1) and Jake Hershman (11-2).

“I think it will be a really close series,” DiPonzio said. “I have heard a lot of good things about them and I know what level we are playing at right now, so I would not be surprised if it went to the third game.

“It really doesn’t get any better than playing for a state championship as a senior, especially since the series is here at Tattnall. We want to go out and play our two best games on Saturday and just hope it’s good enough.”

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Tattnall Square baseball geared up for title series."