BUFORD - In recent years, Buford's Tony Wolfe has experienced a wealth of success with the softball program and its four straight Class AA state titles. Now, he wants his baseball team to get to experience the same feeling of walking away on top.

In baseball, the Wolves have just one state title (1977) in school history, but can take another step toward reaching that goal with a win in the state quarterfinals.

Buford hosts Pierce County in the best-of-three series, opening with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. today at Gerald McQuaig Field.

"That's what I've told the players, because I've had way more than my fair share of state titles," said Wolfe, who also previously served as an assistant football coach. "I want this one for them.

"It's an interesting culture we have at this school because we've had some crazy successful teams."

And if Buford's baseball team is going to add to the tropy case, this could be the year. With the Region 6-AA title from the regular season, the Wolves are assured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Buford pitching rotation is one of the best in the state, led by a pair of righties in Jake Burnette and Josh Heddinger (both headed to Georgia Tech next year), and a junior left hander Sam Clay who is also a lock to be pitching in Division-I after graduation, according to Wolfe.

"We have three sure-fire Division-I pitchers on this staff and they all have great chemistry together," Wolfe said.

However, the real question for Buford when the season started was the run production.

They've answered with six hitters batting over .400, including a 6-foot-7 sophomore designated hitter Mason Gentry, who leads the team with nine home runs.

Defensively, the Wolves have only committed 39 errors in 28 games. On top of that, Wolfe said his senior catcher Jamie Ritchie is the best he's ever coached at the position.

If Wolfe was to find any flaw with his team, it would be a lack of team speed. But when you've already swept the first two playoff series against Fannin County and Calhoun, nobody's worrying about stealing bases.

"I feel like the more we can avoid Game 3 and get that extra day off, the better," Wolfe said. "But I'd be naive to think we could make it all the way through without having to play a third game in a series."

Buford set the stage for its playoff run by taking care of business in region play. The Wolves won the championship 5-3 against Blessed Trinity in the regular season finale on April 28.

Looking at how the playoff bracket set up, Wolfe knew that would be critical, and so far he's been right. Already, Blessed Trinity had to win on the road in round 2 against Adairsville, and is on the road again in this round against Pike County - the same school that eliminated Buford in the second round last season.

And the Wolves' win against Blessed Trinity was just the icing on the cake.

In Region 6-AA's unusual regular-season format, each team played once through the 12-team region. Then for the final five games, the top six teams squared off once more, while the bottom six did the same.

With that, Buford had to survive games against powers like Greater Atlanta Christian, Westminster, Blessed Trinity, Lovett and Decatur in order to seal a playoff spot.

During that stretch the Wolves won all five games to lock up the region title and home-field advantage in the postseason.

To put into perspective how competitive Region 6-AA is, consider that three of Class AA's eight remaining teams (Buford, Blessed Trinity and Lovett) are from this region.

And Greater Atlanta Christian, with a 16-10 regular season record, didn't even make the playoffs.
"It's a bear just to make the playoffs in our region," Wolfe said.

Playing a schedule like that has a way of making the playoffs almost seem easy. So far in the playoffs, Buford has needed only five innings to win three of the four games.

"There's no doubt we play in the best region in the entire state," Ritchie said.

Today, Buford's No. 2 starter Heddinger (7-0) and No. 3 Clay (6-1) will pitch against the Bears. If it goes to Game 3, Buford's No. 1 starter Burnette (6-0) will pitch.

The pitching order is based on who is next in line to throw. So far, the Wolves haven't had to use all three in a single series; Heddinger didn't pitch against Calhoun, and Clay didn't throw against Fannin County.

In addition to their velocity, Wolfe is pleased with the maturity that his pitching staff displays.

One such example was the fact that Burnette had a 21-consecutive scoreless inning streak snapped against Calhoun in the second round with a three-run third, but rebounded nicely en route to a 15-3 win.

His scoreless streak came in a tough stretch of games with wins against Greater Atlanta Christian, Westminster and Fannin County.

And even though Burnette would be perfectly happy with sweeping Pierce County and not getting the throw in this round, the competitor inside him wants the chance to pitch with the season on the line.

"I'd love it," Burnette said. "I want to be out there on the mound with the pressure on me."

With its success this year, it would be easy to compare this year's Buford team to the ones at the school that made the state semifinals in 2005 and 2006.

Wolfe says those comparisons are fair, but says his pitching depth this season is one edge this team brings to the field.

"This team has great talent, chemistry and leadership all the way around," Wolfe said.