ITG Next speaks with Jeff Davis’ head baseball coach, Paul Glass, on the state championship win last year and what fans can expect this upcoming season.
Q. Coach, congratulations on the state championship last year. That is actually two in a row, with the Covid- shortened season preventing teams from finishing that year. How hard is it to repeat as state champions?
A. It’s extremely hard to win a championship and even harder to repeat. You have to get breaks on and off the field. You have to be playing well at the right time, and your guys have to handle adversity when it hits. You have to have good timing as well. All of those things happened to us last year.
Q. How do you see the region playing out this season? You have a few teams expecting to be in the mix again, like Vidalia of course, but Bacon Co. is expected to be much improved also, Coach.
A. I look for the region this year to be much like it is every year. If you can somehow survive the region and be one of the four teams standing at the end, you will have a shot. Of course, everyone is chasing Vidalia again this year. Toombs looks to be a major player with the young guys that they had last year getting valuable experience. Swainsboro has pitching returning from last year’s team along with really good hitters. Bacon and East Laurens look to be improved as well as they both played several young guys last year. Survival is the name of the game again this year.
Q. You have to be excited about having catcher Matthew Glass and pitcher Duke Stone returning. Who else will you be counting on to lead this team to another solid season?
A. We have some young guys who were thrown in the varsity fire last year returning along with four seniors who have been in the fire. The seniors are Matthew Glass, Trenton Clance, Josh Griffin and Kade Harpe. All of these guys have been in the varsity fire at different roles. Matthew and Trenton were both on the field in Savannah in the championship series. Josh was a relief pitcher and pinch runner for us last year. Kade Harpe moved to Jeff Davis over the summer from Dodge Co. where he was an outfielder for them. We hope these guys spread their leadership over the young players and give them the guidance they need to be successful. Our younger guys do have some experience with our two juniors Cason Clance and Ethan Griffin who were on the field in Savannah last year, and we will have to rely on several sophomores this year including Duke Stone and Alex Mason on the mound. Both pitched in huge games last year. Duke pitched the “if” game in the semifinals vs. Callaway, and Alex threw the final pitch in the championship series.
Q. We talked about region 2-AA, but how is the entire AA classification looking statewide this year? Who do you see as the teams that could be obstacles to getting that 3rd straight title?
A. Early on, it looks like 2A will be a Bear this year. Teams like Vidalia, Lovett, Pace, Pepperell, Haralson Co., Callaway, Breman, Cook, Thomasville and several more. I would say there are 10 or more teams that have a legit shot at the championship this year. All we can do is use the non region to prepare for the region. Try to win enough games in the region to be one of the four playoff teams and hope to be playing well at the end of the year to be in the final mix. 2A should be one of the toughest classifications this coming year.
