EMERSON, Ga. – This is how Kennesaw Mountain High School (Kennesaw, Ga.) standout senior Reggie Pruitt introduced himself to dozens of scouts and other onlookers during the first day of play Thursday at the Perfect Game High School Showdown at PG Park South-LakePoint.
Hitting in the leadoff spot in 15-year head coach George Hansen’s lineup, Pruitt laid down a perfect bunt on the first pitch he saw from Columbia (Miss.) High School left-hander Parker Duncan and blazed to first base with an infield single. On the third pitch to the Mustangs’ 2-hole hitter Hampton Clark, Pruitt got a terrific jump and slid into second base with an uncontested stolen base.
He quickly moved to third on a fielder’s choice groundout to the right side and just as quickly scored on a wild pitch. Thanks to that leadoff bunt single on the first pitch in the bottom of the first inning and Pruitt’s 6.58-second 60-yard dash speed, Kennesaw Mountain had a 1-0 lead on its way to a 13-3, five inning romp past Columbia; the onslaught included 15 Mustangs' hits.
It was an atypical sequence of events that is actually becoming pretty typical for the nationally No. 21-ranked Mustangs in this young season. It was obvious the kids were having a blast out there playing in their PG High School Showdown opener, and the team that laughs together generally makes a habit of winning together.
“We’re really bonding together as a team,” Pruitt said before his team took the field Thursday afternoon. “This is a team that is really based on being family-oriented and definitely meshing with each other, and once we get into the flow of that with our offense, we’re deep in pitching and great on the field.
“This team is definitely one of the (most fun) teams in the country,” he continued, his smile continuing to widen. “I’ve been playing with some of these guys since I was young … and this team right here is the team that’s going to (separate) Kennesaw Mountain.”
Like just about every other elite high school team in the country, Kennesaw Mountain is paced by a solid group of seniors, led by Pruitt, a Vanderbilt signee ranked No. 99 nationally (No. 12 in Georgia) and catcher Tyler Stephenson, a Georgia Tech recruit ranked Nos. 103/13.
There are also Nos. 152/20 right-hander Ryley Gilliam and top-500/59 right-hander Zach Goodman, both Clemson signees; not to be left out, Nos. 470/51 catcher/third baseman Cole Buffington has signed with The Citadel.
“Obviously, their talent and the kind of kids they are sort of speaks for itself with the things they do on the field,” Hansen said of this senior class. “They’re tremendous kids, they’re great people … and they have a great work ethic. And there are kids that have some tremendous talent; it’s just God-given.”
And it’s not just the seniors. Three juniors – outfielder/first baseman Terence Norman, shortstop/right-hander Matt Cole and right-hander/third baseman Patrick Martin are all ranked in the top-500 in the national class of 2016; none of the three have committed to a college yet.
The Mustangs won five of their first six games to start this season, including a 3-0 victory over nationally No. 1-ranked Lambert High School, a game played in front of an overflow home crowd in Kennesaw.
“That was a big game for us, both mentally and physically,” Stephenson said. “We can prove to everybody if we can come out and win this (tournament) that we’ve got the tools and the talent to compete with anybody nationally. … We’ve got great chemistry and that’s going to take us far, and this is the year to do it if we’re going to make a statement and prove to everybody that we’re the real deal.”
This tournament is a big deal for the Mustangs as they continue to work toward becoming a pivotal player in the state of Georgia, which annually fields many of the top high school teams in the country. Even coming in at No. 21 in that national rankings, two other Georgia schools – No. 1 Lambert and No. 14 Buford – are positioned ahead of them.
Winning a championship here Saturday afternoon would go a long way towards affirming the Mustangs’ spot at the head table. This provides an opportunity to face teams from out of state which is almost always good for an elite ballclub.
“(This tournament is) beneficial because it’s always good to see some people that you don’t see every single day; you get to see different brands of baseball from different parts of the country,” Hansen said. “The other thing is, at least this our philosophy, we think of Kennesaw Mountain as being on a larger stage than just local.”
It’s important for everyone involved with the program to be respected both on the state and national level, and Kennesaw Mountain certainly attained a measure of respect when it started out the season ranked No. 16 in PG’s National Top-50 Rankings after a 24-8 campaign in 2014. It is a program that has never won a Georgia Class AAAAAA state championship, although it reached the final four in 2005, the elite eight in 2006 and the was the 2007 state runner-up.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have some really good players come through and have some success,” Hansen said, noting that the only time the program experienced a losing season was in its first year of existence in 2001 when he was playing freshmen against juniors and seniors from other schools. “We’ve been able to attract some really good talent.”
Hansen understands that in order to gain that national respect he must schedule his team to play in national-caliber events, like the PG High School Showdown. “You have to put yourself out there, you have to make the trips, you have to be willing to fund those things and as high school baseball begins to buy in that travel baseball isn’t the enemy ... going to events like this shows that the two of them can sort of work in tandem with one another,” he said.
All of Kennesaw Mountain’s top prospects are actively involved with summer travel ball programs, most with top-tier organizations like East Cobb Baseball and Team Elite Baseball. Those summertime competitions pit the best against the best on a daily basis but while these elite players love the thrill of that level of competition, there’s something to be said about slipping on your high school team’s uniform.
“It is more special to get on the field with these guys because these are the guys you see every day in class and at practice after school,” Pruitt said. “It definitely means a lot more to me because we have a whole school backing us up. I will always be a Mustang at heart.”
Added Stephenson: “It’s just the kids we have here, and going out and enjoying the game. These are going to be lifelong friends so we’re just going to go out and enjoy playing baseball; you can’t really beat it.”
It was obvious the Mustangs were really enjoying themselves Thursday afternoon, smacking the ball all over Field 16 at Perfect Game Park South and circling the bases seemingly at will.
That run-producing bombardment was led by Clark, who doubled twice and drove in four runs; Pruitt, was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two stolen bases; Stephenson, who doubled and drove in two; Norman, who counted a triple among his two hits; Cole, who doubled and scored three runs, and Garrett Blinkhorn, who counted a home run among his two hits.
Kennesaw Mountain will try to maintain that momentum when it faces 2013 PG HS Showdown champion Venice (Fla.) Senior High School in a quarterfinal Friday at 8:30 p.m. Hansen really likes the group he’s bringing to round two of the dance.
“We’ve got great kids, great families, and they play really hard for me,” he said. “I think they enjoy our brand of baseball. We try to teach the fundamentals but when the game is on we let them have fun. We turn them loose and if there’s something to work on we’ll work on it during practice, but the game is yours, go have a good time; they buy into that.
“We always want them to think about Kennesaw Mountain no matter where they go, that this is their home,” he concluded. “We’ve had kids play at all over the country at SEC and ACC schools and they always come back and they always contribute. They always come back and say, ‘The best four years of baseball of my life was the four years I played at Kennesaw Mountain High School’.”
The 13-team PG HS Showdown continues through Saturday and is running concurrently with the 11-team PG High School Showdown-Academies, which also concludes Saturday.