Statesboro - The Statesboro High faithful cheered the baseball team on as they left for Decatur for the first round of the GHSA State Baseball Championships on Tuesday morning. The Blue Devils left from Mill Creek Park where they play their home games.
The Blue Devils will take on the Decatur Bulldogs at Decatur High School on Tuesday with the first game starting at 4:00 p.m. Statesboro enters the playoffs with a 12-17 record and are facing a tough Bulldogs team. The Bulldogs made it all the way to the Elite 8 in last season's tournament.
Junior Bruce Yawn will start for the first game against Decatur and senior Aiden Lewis will pitch the second game.
Statesboro Interim Head Coach, Jacob Lord, believes that his team is prepared for the state tournament and says that their record shows how good they are. "We purposely scheduled a lot of hard teams out of region to prepare us for this moment," Lord said. "Earlier in this season we struggled a little but, but we kinda got hot lately."
"The morale and excitement is high," Lord said. "Our guys are confident in themselves and they are confident in their teammates. We have been preaching an 'Us versus Them' mentality."
Coach Lord said that his team wants to have a "Closed Fist" mentality. The mentality preaches working together as a team to take down your opposition. "Individually, we may not be as good as the other team's players, but collectively we are," Lord said.
Last season, the Blue Devils lost in the first round of the State Championships to Locust Grove. They are looking to advance further in this year's tournament.
Go Blue Devils!
