By: Cameron Miller

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Brunswick High Pirates are headed to the State Playoffs!

After a long regular season of ups and downs, the Brunswick High Pirates Baseball team punched their ticket to the state playoffs after sweeping the Evans Knights in 3 game series.

Since suffering a 2-1 series loss to the Glynn Academy Red Terrors in the city championship and losing one of their stars with Junior OF/P Grant Moore suffering a season ending injury during game one of the city championship, the Pirates have tallied wins in 8 of their last 10 games.

It’s safe to say the Pirates and head coach Greg Roberts seem to be getting hot at the right time. Brunswick definitely has a chance to make some noise in the playoffs this year, but with Grant Moore being out for the season it did seem to raise a big question of whether the Pirates  have enough talent on the mound to replace him in the rotation.

Well, the short answer is yes.

They still have their other go-to starters in star OF/P Trenton Robinson who is only a junior and University of Central Florida commit standout senior Jordan Lodise. Robinson has pitched 53.2 innings so far this season with a 1.69 ERA that has led him to a 6-1 record on the mound. Jordan has pitched 46.1 innings this season with a 1.83 ERA giving him a 5-0 record.

Brunswick has a variety of options to go to on the mound besides those two. They have Junior Catcher Avery Jefferson, who has proven he can be a valuable asset behind the plate and on the mound.

Jefferson has a 2-0 record starting on the mound, pitching 24 innings for the pirates this season. The Pirates also have options in the Bullpen with Junior 2nd baseman Brett Hickson, Junior 1st baseman Braxton Johnson, and Sophomore Right Fielder Coleman Smith all being able to come in and provide quality arm talent on the mound to close out games.

We all know the importance of a team’s ability to pitch, but that’s still only part of the game. Not only was Moore a go-to on the mound, but he was also the Pirates starting Center Fielder and batting .311 as the number two hitter.

Coach Greg Roberts was forced to make some quick mid-season defensive adjustments and must have designed the perfect recipe for success.

With the emergence of Junior Braxton Johnson into the starting lineup at 1st base, it allowed Coach Roberts to Shift Trenton Robinson from RF to CF and Coleman Smith from 1st to RF.

You might be wondering what they do when one of those guys mentioned is told to head up to the mound, well that’s where the super versatile Junior Garrison Strickland comes in. Strickland is one of those Charlie Culberson types of players. This season Strickland has played right field, shortstop, 2nd base and even catches when Jefferson is on the mound.

The Pirates this season are averaging almost 7 runs per game, which means they can be a very dangerous team when they get their bats going in sync and get on base. Leading them in runs scored are Hickson (26) and Lodise (25), but the Pirates runs are being scored all across the lineup.

Close behind them you have Senior Left Fielder Dawson Parke (20), Coleman Smith (16), Garrison Strickland (14), Trenton Robinson (14), and even Freshman Bentley Henson (10) and Sophomore Brady Miller (7), who get brought in at times for some additional speed on the bases, have brought in their fair share of runs for pirates.

Brunswick’s batting is highlighted by Brett Hickson who is batting .442, Jordan Lodise batting .337, and Avery Jefferson batting .312, but they aren’t the only ones putting the ball in play.

A few others who have had a consistent season at the plate are Coleman Smith, Dawson Parke, and Trenton Robinson all batting over .250 for the Pirates this season.

The Pirates finished the regular season off very strong, but their big 10-0 win against Seckinger wasn’t the only accomplishment that night.

It was also a huge achievement for Coach Greg Roberts with that game marking off his 300th career win as a baseball coach.

There’s no doubt the Pirates have had a rough road to the playoffs, but with the ability of these players and their coaches being able to gain all of this momentum over the last few weeks, the only thing that matters now is what’s ahead of them.

The playoffs and a chance to reach the coveted State Championship. If this Pirates team under the leadership of coach Roberts can continue to stay hot and take it game by game the sky is truly the limit for them.