Prince Avenue baseball's modus operandi of 'be great every day' pays off with state title win

For the second year in a row, and second time ever, Prince Avenue Christian's baseball team is Class A-Division I state champions.

The Wolverines defeated Tallulah Falls in a Friday doubleheader, 6-5 and 9-4.

The first game was set to play at 3 p.m., so the team left at 8:30 a.m. from Bogart to make it to Statesboro. However, upon arrival, they were delayed due to rain for an hour and a half, so first pitch wasn't thrown until 4:30 p.m. Still, no amount of exhaustion from traveling across the state in the early moments of dawn showed on their faces as they took the first game in a 6-5 comeback.

Senior Trey Taylor took the plate with the Wolverines down two, runners waiting on second and third base, and singled on a line drive to center field, allowing sophomore Dylan White and senior Andrew Gillespie to both slide home, tie the board 5-5 and send the game into extra innings. White returned to the plate and knocked a double line drive to the right fielder, where senior Will Goff seized the opportunity to score and solidified the first win for the Wolverines.

"We just knew it was going to be a grind," head coach Allen Osborne said. "And it was. Our guys were fit to the challenge, and it was a really, really good baseball game. The first game."

The second game began with sophomore Eli Attaway doubling to bring home junior Judson Hartwell and Goff, followed by senior Connor Causby sending a fly ball to left field for Attaway to round the bases and score. The early three run go-ahead for the Wolverines was then delayed 45 minutes, the tarp pulled back over the dirt.

"We jumped on them pretty good (when we came back)," Osborne said. "It kind of gave us, I guess, a kind of refocus, a restart, to get off the field, gather ourselves a little bit, slow it down a little bit and we jumped on for a five spot and then it was kind of over after that."

Attaway finished game two with three of the nine RBIs, while Taylor, White and Hartwell split the six RBIs in game with two apiece.

"It's kind of funny man, is our guys, we don't talk about winning, we just kept going through it, we just kept putting pressure on them and it ended up being a 9-4 ball game," Osborne said. "It could have been greater, though, you know. They got out of some really tough jams, and I think we left the bases loaded twice in the last four innings. We scratched during those, but we couldn't get a big, kind of knockout blow. Couldn't get a big double or just a hammered ball, so to speak, that could score too. They were playing shallow a little bit, it was kind of weird, so we'd hammer a ball and they'd cut it off because they're very athletic. We just kept grinding through it."

His five seniors — Taylor, Gillespie, Causby, Goff and Mason Banks — end their high school careers with a 95-14 overall record, five of the 14 losses actually coming from the same guys over at North Cobb Christian. They also have three region titles and two state titles under their belts as they head toward their college days.

"I'm truly indebted to them because those five guys came to work every day and pressed upon everyone that we're going to be good, we're going to be great and they didn't let up," Osborne said. "They didn't let anybody slouch, they didn't let anybody sluff off and not prepare on a daily basis. Were there ups and downs? Absolutely. ... We're going to miss them and ... they can always come back and realize that they were the forerunners to what we've tried to do as a program."

To have the momentum to go from last year's state championship win, all the way into this year's, is a credit to the whole school, Osborne said, not just their program. It's in Wolverine DNA to want to be the best, and to go out there and physically make it happen. The coaches help mold, of course, but mostly they remain as accountability officers patrolling the boys, keeping them on the right path when they might sense someone swerving out.

"We always give them answers to the 'why,' but our guys, they want to be great and it's their expectation now," Osborne said. "If the state championship is a byproduct of their preparation and the opportunity they get to go about crafting their skill, then that's what we end up doing. ... Our sights are always set on being the best, which is state champions and every day they go about that, it's their modus operandi."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Prince Avenue baseball's modus operandi of 'be great every day' pays off with state title win