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Stamina will be tested at Gainesville, North Hall
0511baseball
Gainesville’s Hunter Anglin pitches to a Troup batter during the first round of the state playoffs Friday - photo by Tom Reed

As excited as they are to advance out of the first round of the Class AAA baseball playoffs, North Hall coach Trent Mongero and Gainesville coach Jeremy Kemp are aware of the side effects that come with playing three games in two days.

First of all there is the heat aspect, but as temperatures reached 90 on Tuesday, Kemp shrugged off the impact of the weather, saying that's why he's keeping practices "quick and high-intensity."

"Our guys play better when it's warm," said Kemp, whose team travels to Woodward Academy today in the second round. "We've been focusing on hydrating all week."

Up the road, and under the same bright sun, the Trojans were also getting their practice completed quickly.
With two games against traditional powerhouse Cartersville beginning today at 4 p.m., Mongero centered his practice around pitching, and not just his own.

"Our focus today has been to give guys looks at left-handed pitchers," he said as first baseman Hamilton Harper drilled a double to the opposite field gap. "We know Cartersville has two quality left-handers."

While he knows what the Purple Hurricanes have, Mongero admitted his pitching staff was left thin after playing three games against LaGrange in the first round.

"There were pluses and minuses," he said. "The pluses were we were tested and hard to perform under extreme duress and come through with a win, but (No. 1 starter Chris) Stevens had to pitch Friday and Saturday and will be pitching (today) on three days rest."

Pitching is the top concern when faced with a quick turnaround following a 3-game series. After today, both Gainesville and North Hall will have played five games in six days.

"We're in a lot better shape than we were last year," said Kemp, who used five pitchers in the series win over Troup. "It put a lot of stress on the arms, but at the same time there's a happy medium: we didn't have anyone throw more than 90 pitches."

The same can't be said at North Hall, where Stevens threw an efficient 115 pitches in his two outings last weekend. Stevens is expected to start Game 3.

"That's the plan," Mongero said. "He recovers well and pitches free and easy, so he should be OK."

If he's not, Mongero said he might need to switch up his coaching strategy.

"It puts us in a situation where you need your starting pitcher to go deep in the ball game," he said. "If for some reason he can't, it may require more coaching toward a series win and not a game win."

And it doesn't matter if that series win happens in two games or three.

"It definitely builds confidence in the kids," Kemp said of pulling out a win in three games. "I hope we don't do it again, but it was a great test.

"They expected to advance, there's no relief" he added. "You don't get any extra points for making it pretty. It's about getting the job done."

 

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