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Tournaments  | Story  | 3/4/2022

Loganville Grabs Momentum at Showdown

Blake Dowson     
Photo: Dawson Coe (Perfect Game)
HOOVER, Ala. -- You could have easily been fooled if you walked over to the quad at the Hoover Met Complex on Thursday night and thought the playoffs had started on Field 4.
 
It was that kind of atmosphere as the Loganville Red Devils (Ga.) and Hueytown Golden Gophers (Ala.) faced off in each team’s first game of the tournament. As such, it meant both teams ran out premium arms, which sent plenty of scouts in attendance behind home plate and down the right field line to get a closer look.
 
Loganville’s Dawson Coe and Hueytown’s Alton Davis both got into a good rhythm early, and the game moved through the first few frames quite crisply.
 
Coe and his relief, Matthew Heard, ultimately got the best of Davis and Hueytown, coming away with a back-and-forth victory, 4-3, to give them some early momentum in Hoover.
 
“That was a really good team. We saw a really good arm tonight,” Loganville Head Coach Bran Mills said. “I’m really pleased with how we ended up tonight…The feeling I got from them, their head coach, Billy, does a great job. They’re competitive. They’re here to win, too. We were really in it. That’s the one thing I’ll say about our team, they’re going to bring the energy.”
 
Coe, an uncommitted senior lefty for Loganville, got the ball to start the game and was up to 90 mph. He went toe-to-toe with Davis, an Alabama commit, who is a top-200 talent in the 2022 class and the No. 23-ranked left-handed pitcher. Coe ended up tossing four innings, giving up one earned run and striking out seven in the process.
 
On the other side, Davis was up to 93 mph and struck out seven of his own in 4 1/3 innings.
 
“Dawson was really good,” Mills said. “He struggled at times, he couldn’t throw the curveball for a strike. But he got a couple putaways with it. And then he just got a little tired at the end, that was his longest outing of the year.”
 
Heard, a senior righty committed to play his college ball at North Georgia, took over for Coe and was absolutely lights out.
 
Down 2-0 through four innings, Loganville got to Davis in the top of the fifth to the tune of four runs to take a 4-2 lead. That’s when Heard got the ball in the bottom half of the frame.
 
He threw the final three innings, giving up just two hits and striking out six, giving Hueytown little hope during his time on the mound.
 
Mills said he had a good feeling when he went to Heard.
 
“There was no doubt when he went in there,” he said of his righty. “He’s dominant.”
 
Both Loganville pitchers seemed to feed off the energy coming from the dugouts throughout the game. It wasn’t a playoff game, but it sure felt like one. Playing under the lights with dozens of scouts and a pair of lefty starters pumping 90 mph fastballs will do that.
 
Mills got consistent production from his lineup as well, though.
 
Nine hits came from eight different spots in the lineup, and they finally got to Davis in the top of the fifth inning to the tune of four singles and a walk before he was removed, ultimately scoring four in the inning and taking the lead for good.
 
The depth of the Loganville roster really showed through, something that’s critical in a tournament setting like the PG High School Showdown. To make your way through a bracket, you’ve got to get production from a lot of guys.
 
Mills feels good about what’s to come in that regard.
 
“We have a lot of competition on the roster,” he said. “We’ve got some other guys on the bench who are pushing, too. It’s a really good thing.”
 
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