2020 DeKalb County Baseball Media Guide THE HOME OF STATE CHAMPIONS https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/athletics/baseball/ $2.00 DEKALB COUNTY BASEBALL GUIDE 2020 DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT 5829 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083 (678) 676 -1821 www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/athletics Directory INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT Ramona Tyson EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS James Jackson BASEBALL COORDINATOR Chris Chilton ATHLETIC SPECIALIST Chris Chilton ATHLETIC SPECIALIST Mark Brock 2 DEKALB COUNTY BASEBALL HISTORY From the first designated hitter in major league baseball history to a pair of overall No. 1 professional draft picks, DeKalb County’s baseball history is a long and proud one. Ron Blomberg is perhaps the most famous name among DeKalb County’s elite list of baseball participants. A 1968 graduate of Druid Hills, Blomberg was the first player selected in the 1968 ma- jor league baseball draft. Blomberg played eight years in the majors with the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox, becoming baseball’s first designated hitter and had a .293 career average. Walker product Mike Ivie followed Blomberg on the local scene two years later and was selected No. 1 in the pro baseball draft by the San Diego Padres. Henderson’s Pete Ladd (1974), Sequoyah’s David Beard (1977), Redan’s Wally Joyner (1980) and Redan’s Brandon Phillips (1999) are among the other DeKalb graduates that went on to star in professional baseball. The list of team accomplishments is equally impressive, beginning with Avondale’s state championship in 1952. Coach Lyman Howard guided the Blue Devils to the Class A crown that year, defeating Thomasville (15 -8) in the final to complete a stellar 24 -5 campaign. Tucker has captured the most state titles of any DeKalb County school, claiming three overall state triumphs in the 1956, 1966 and 1967 seasons. D.D. Brooks served as the head skipper in 1956 for a Tiger squad that capped a strong 15 -1 campaign with a 12 -8 victory over Wacona in the class B final. Ed Tatum , meanwhile, coached the victorious Tucker state championship teams of 1966 and 1967. Avondale won again under Tip Goza in 1964 (AAA), while Walker (1968; AA), Se- quoyah (1972; AA) and Henderson (1974; AAA) ran DeKalb County’s state title list to six over an 11 -year period from 1964 -74. Dunwoody ended a 33 -year dryspell on the local front by sweeping Columbus (7 -5 and 6-0) in the 2007 AAA final to finish a 34 -4 state title run under Tom Bass in 2007. Redan (30 -7) returned the state glory to the local front in 2013, rolling past Marist in the final by the scores of 11 -0 and 4 -3 to claim the AAAA crown for Marvin Pruitt . Famous coaches include Marvin Pruitt (1983 -2014 at Lakeside, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson and Redan), John Devore (1969 -96 at Southwest DeKalb and Shamrock, Don Burgess (1976 -2004 at Druid Hills and Henderson), Lee Medwick at Towers (1982 -2004), Jim Levie (1977 -2000 at Peachtree, Clarkston and Stone Mountain), Ron Elgin (1978 -2003 at Walker, Lakeside and Lithonia), Robert Nowell (1960 -89 at Druid Hills, Sequoyah and Briarcliff), Tony Palma (1948 -75 at Chamblee), Sam Edenfield (1968 -89 at Cross Keys), Rick Kneisel (1982 -94 at Peachtree and Dunwoody), Tom Bass at Dunwoody (1995 -2009), Greg Goodwin (1989 -2000) at Redan, David Roman at Tucker (1990 -2007), Rob English (1971 -81) at Briarcliff, Dion Williams (1990 -2000 at McNair), Duane Wilson (1992 -2003 at Lakeside) Jerry Hogan (1974 -84 at Walker and Redan), Ed Tatum (1963 -74 at Tucker and Peachtree), Bill Newsome (1992 -2015 at Avondale and Lakeside) and Steve Dennis at Columbia (1989 -2017). 3 2020 BASEBALL GUIDE CONTENTS DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT ......................................................... 4 REGION ALIGNMENTS .................................................................................... 5 DEKALB MAJOR LEAGUERS .......................................................................... 6 DEKALB PLAYERS IN COLLEGE BASEBALL ............................................. 7 2019 SEASON IN REVIEW .............................................................................. 11 2019 DEKALB ALL -STAR GAME RECAPS .................................................. 12 ARABIA MOUNTAIN ...................................................................................... 14 CEDAR GROVE ................................................................................................ 16 CHAMBLEE ...................................................................................................... 18 CLARKSTON .................................................................................................... 20 COLUMBIA ....................................................................................................... 22 CROSS KEYS .................................................................................................... 24 DRUID HILLS ................................................................................................... 26 DUNWOODY. ................................................................................................... 28 LAKESIDE ......................................................................................................... 30 LITHONIA ......................................................................................................... 32 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR ........................................................................... 34 MCNAIR ............................................................................................................ 36 MILLER GROVE ............................................................................................... 38 REDAN .............................................................................................................. 40 SOUTHWEST DEKALB ................................................................................... 42 STEPHENSON ................................................................................................... 44 STONE MOUNTAIN ......................................................................................... 46 TOWERS ............................................................................................................ 48 TUCKER ............................................................................................................ 50 SCHOOL ALL -TIME SINGLE SEASON RECORD HOLDERS .................... 52 2019 FINAL STATISTICS ................................................................................ 59 YEARLY COUNTY LEADERS ....................................................................... 61 DEKALB COUNTY SEASON RECORDS ....................................................... 66 SCHOOL RECORDS ......................................................................................... 68 STATE PLAYOFF SCORES ............................................................................. 77 MAJOR LEAGUE DRAFTEES ......................................................................... 83 COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS ...................................................... 88 DEKALB STATE PLAYOFF RECORDS BY WINS ....................................... 94 2019 NO -HITTERS ............................................................................................ 95 ABOUT THE COVER The cover for the 2020 DeKalb County Baseball Media Guide is a tribute to former long -time DeKalb County head baseball coach Marvin Pruitt. The Avondale graduate, who passed away in 2019, won 510 games over 31 years as a head coach. DeKalb County School District Athletic Specialist Mark Brock shot these pictures along with most of the team group photos shown inside taken at 2020 DeKalb County Baseball Media Day. 4 DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT The DeKalb County School District has nineteen high schools that field teams in inter- scholastic sports. DeKalb schools compete in six of the seven classifications of the Georgia High School Association: one is in AAAAAAA, four are in AAAAAA, eight are AAAAA, one is AAAA, four are in AAA and one is in AA. The 2020 region align- ments are listed on page 5. The DeKalb County School District, one of Georgia’s largest, serves more than 100,000 (K -12) living in a 258 square -mile area in the east and northeast sections of metro At- lanta. DeKalb provides diverse educational programs and services operating on a se- mester basis. The system includes 83 elementary schools, 20 middle schools and 21 high schools, special service centers for foreign language, science, vocational -technical, educational computing, special education, early childhood, learning resource and per- forming arts. GAME TIMES Baseball games played in DeKalb County during the school week priot to Daylight Sav- ings are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and after that at 5 p.m. Games are seven innings in length. Due to weather conditions in the spring, games are often rescheduled due to poor playing conditions. It is recommended that you call the host school to confirm the date and location. All teams play at their home school except Druid Hills, which will once again be playing it’s home schedule at Druid Hills Middle School. ADMISSION The county does not charge for regular season varsity and junior varsity baseball games. Regions set their own prices for the playoff games. Some regular season tournaments charge admission. Admission for the state playoffs set by the Georgia High School As- sociation is $7.00 at the gate. RECORDS Season records, single game records, hitting and pitching statistics have been