 | | | 5/12/2008 12:01:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | High School Hardball: First round of playoffs not lacking drama
One round down, as many as four more to go in the state high school baseball playoffs.
And if the first round is any indication, the five remaining Gwinnett postseason teams should be in for quite a ride.
First, a look back.
This past weekend's first round was filled with drama and definitely demonstrated that "anything can happen in the playoffs" isn't just a mere cliche.
Brookwood entered as the No. 1 team in Georgia and the nation - in one poll, anyway - but the Broncos needed heroics by Jordan Erisman and Ross Heffley - especially the former - to rescue them from elimination.
But they were hardly alone as Class AAAAA's top-three ranked teams got more than they bargained for against No. 4-seeded opponents.
If fact, one of them - second-ranked Harrison, which also entered the playoffs nationally ranked, entered Friday with just one loss on the season but will spend the rest of the season at home after being bounced by South Forsyth in three games.
Local upstart South Gwinnett also pushed a top contender, No. 3 Kell, to the brink, leading late in the third and deciding game of its series before running out of gas.
With all that as a backdrop, here is a look at some of the local first-round superlatives.
MVP
Can there be any doubt this honor belongs to Erisman? The senior shortstop not only bounced back from seven strikeouts with two dramatic home runs - the former the first back-to-back shots with Heffley to tie the game and the latter the walk-off series-winner - he also turned in a clutch pitching performance for the win in his longest outing of the season.
Clutch Pitching Performance
This one is a tie. Mill Creek's Bradon Bast and Norcross' Taylor Rakes each turned in a big complete-game victory in their teams' respective series.
Bast set the tone for the Hawks' sweep of defending Class AAAAA runner-up Kennesaw Mountain with his 3-1 victory in Game 1, while Rakes struck out 12 hitters and clinched the Blue Devils' sweep of Woodstock with a 2-1 win in Game 2.
Unsung Hero
This one is also shared, this time by three players on the same team.
The lower third of the Providence Christian batting order - Philip Tuttle, Addison McDowell and David Frazier - scored all four of the team's runs and drove in two of them as Stars edged Monticello 4-2 in the first game of that series.
That performance allowed the Stars to gain early momentum and cruise to the series win in Game 2.
Best Performance in a Losing Cause
North Gwinnett's Nick Jones gave his team a fighting chance to tie its series with North Cobb by belting a pair of homers among his three hits and drove in seven of his team's nine runs in Game 2. He also pitched as solid as anyone from either team did in what turned out to be a 15-9 defeat that ended the Bulldogs' season.
Honorable mention goes to South Gwinnett's Nick Blount for his clutch win in Game 2 to help the Comets force Kell in to Game 3.
But now, it's on to Round 2, and there's plenty to look forward to.
After getting past the defending state runners-up, Mill Creek's reward is a meeting with defending champion Walton in what figures to be a classic series. After a battle with Kennesaw Mountain, do the Hawks have enough left in the tank to dethrone the Raiders?
Meanwhile, Brookwood faces another tough test in county-rival Norcross for a trip to the quarterfinals.
Will the Broncos be able to make the most of their reprieve - just as then-top-ranked Lassiter did after surviving a similar first-round scare by Brookwood before rolling to the state title in 2006? Or will the Blue Devils destroy those dreams?
And how will Wesleyan and Providence fare in their next challenges against Callaway and Bremen in Class AA and A respectively?
If the first round is any indication, it should be really fun to find out the answer to those questions.
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Saturday, August 02, 2008 
