Wesleyan's loaded senior class finds the ultimate relief of pressure: a state championship

The Wolves bounce back from last year's loss in the final series by leaving little doubt against North Cobb Christian.

Author:
David Friedlander
Publish date:
May 26, 2022 6:01 AM EDT

By David Friedlander | Photos and video by Willie Prince

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Experience can be the best teacher. Just ask Wesleyan's baseball team.

A year after falling to Mount Paran Christian in the Georgia High School Association's 2021 Class A Private state championship series, the Wolves were back for another shot in this year's finals against North Cobb Christian.

And the lessons they learned a year ago played a big part in putting them over the top in a 3-0, 18-3 doubleheader sweep of the Eagles on Tuesday at Coolray Field.

“Winning a state championship is an unbelievable feeling,” Wesleyan coach Brian Krehmeyer said. “This is a team that was simply determined, and I think last year's result is what filled resolve in the guys that came back. Many of them played in that (series) last year. They just weren't going to be denied.”

Wesleyan (35-5) pounded out a combined 19 hits and 21 runs in the two games, bringing their season total to 402 runs, en route to the program's fifth state title and first since 2015.

The balanced attack was led by Bryce Hubbard (a combined 2-for-5, two doubles, five RBIs and four walks), Forrest Lietz (3-for-7, four RBIs), Cooper Blauser (3-for-6, triple, three RBIs), Reed Purcell (4-for-7, two RBIs) and Druw Jones (2-for-3 with a double, triple and four walks).

Clutch pitching outings from Game 1 starter Carson Ballard and Purcell out of the bullpen in the nightcap were also important factors in the sweep.

But when a specific situation called for it, the Wolves were able to dig into their memories about how to handle that situation better than they did a year ago, an advantage North Cobb Christian (30-8) didn't have in its first trip to the state finals.

“We had a good balance of people who were here last year and people who weren't,” said Blauser, whose RBI triple capped Wesleyan's decisive three-run second inning in the opener. “Those guys who were here were like, 'We've got to play good. We know what we have to do. We have to step our games up.'

“This whole (year during the) playoffs, it didn't matter what happened. I knew we would come around and we'd score a lot of runs. I had faith in our team, and that's why we came out on top.”

That faith came in handy after the Wolves loaded the bases with only one out in the bottom of the first in Game 1, only to see North Cobb Christian starter Armando Nunez wriggle off the hook and keep the game scoreless.

“I had nightmares of a year ago, when we left the bases loaded several times and did not score a run,” Krehmeyer said. “And I'm thinking to myself, 'Oh gosh, is this going to be a repeat of that?' But it was huge coming up in the second inning, and we were able to … bring the guys home. That just let the air out. We could breathe.”

Hubbard's two-out, two-run double and then Blauser's triple helped Wesleyan break through against Nunez.

“I knew I was going to get a fastball because I knew (Nunez) wasn't locating his breaking ball much,” Hubbard said. “So first pitch, I saw a fastball low middle and I just tried to put a barrel on it and put it in the gap. I knew with Druw's speed, he's going to score from first on any double.”

Those three runs were all the Wolves would need, thanks in no small part to Ballard, who mixed a mid- to upper-80s fastball with pinpoint command of his curveball and change-up to allow just four hits and one walk with four strikeouts and nine groundball outs over six shutout innings.

But they had one more nervous moment to survive after North Cobb Christian brought the potential tying run to the plate in Michael Mullinax with two outs against Blauser in the top of the seventh.

The Eagles' slugging center fielder sent a towering drive with home run distance in the spacious home of the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, but was pulled well foul.

With the count moving full, Blauser came up with his most clutch pitch by taking something off and getting Mullinax to foul-tip it into the glove of Hubbard for the final out in a Game 1 victory.

Wesleyan then took advantage of jitters from North Cobb Christian in the top of the first in the nightcap.

The Wolves took a quick 5-0 lead after Eagles starter Blake Dean hit three of the first five batters and walked another to bring in a run and load the bases, plus two errors on Lietz's two-run single that allowed two more runs to score on the play.

With the lead 8-0, the Eagles threatened to get back into the game with three runs in bottom of the second and only one out.

But Purcell came on in relief of Jones on the mound and limited the damage, throwing 3 2/3 scoreless innings on three hits with a strikeout to pick up the win.

“We've been in (tight) situations all season long,” Purcell said. “We knew how to stay calm and take it pitch by pitch and inning by inning.”

The Wolves showed a killer instinct with six runs in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth to close out the game, and the championship, with a run-rule victory.

It should come as little surprise that Wesleyan found a way to learn from its mistakes and find redemption, including coming back from a Game 1 loss to defeat Mount Paran in three games in the semifinals to avenge last year's loss.

A loaded senior class features Blauser, a Clemson signee and the son of former Atlanta Braves infielder Jeff Blauser; Jones, the son of another Braves star, Andruw Jones, who is also a Vanderbilt signee and projected to be a top-five pick in this year's MLB Draft; and Hubbard, who will play college ball at defending national champion Mississippi State.

Those seniors have had to deal with the pressure of high expectations throughout their high school careers. Tuesday's title relieved that pressure and then some.

“Our goal this year, for me and Cooper especially, was just get back here … to this moment and making the most of it,” said Jones, who made a highlight-reel over-the-shoulder catch in center field in the final inning of Game 2. “(It was) just embracing the moment and making sure we were calm and collected all the time, making sure everybody's on the same page, and just making sure we're all tightening up as a team.”