GC baseball is more than halfway through their season. The Bobcats are now ranked first in the Peach Belt Conference after this weekend’s sweep versus Flagler College. With only a little more than one month left, the team is looking unstoppable in the PBC so far.
This season had a lot of people wondering how this team was going to perform. Last season, while they were ranked fifth, was a little disappointing after the amazing season they had the year prior.
Coming into this season, the team lost 21 players from their 44-man roster, almost half of the team. From those lost, eight were starting field players, and seven were starting pitchers for the team. It was looking like head coach Nolan Belcher was going to have to start from scratch with the team this season, but with the addition of many transfers, the team is looking better than they did last year.
These new additions have given GC the experience they needed after losing many of their former star players. New players, such as Mason Poole, transfer infielder from South Georgia State College, Cam McNearney, transfer outfielder from Birmingham Southern College, Mitch Cowan, transfer infielder from Andrew College, and Matthew Mebane, transfer infielder from South Georgia State College, have been key players for the team so far this season.
Not only has GC noticed how well this team has been performing, but so has the whole PBC. GC has been recognized by the PBC the past three weeks due to outstanding performances from the players. Mebane won his first PBC Player of the Week on March 25. The week of March 18 Lex Kenny won his second PBC Pitcher of the Week award, the first being on Feb. 5. The week of March 11, Poole and John Raines both won awards, Poole for PBC Player of the Week and Raines for PBC Pitcher of the Week. Braeden Smith also stood out on the team, as he won PBC Freshman of the Week for the week of March 4.
With this new roster, the team has been able to work together to get some big wins, which has led them to their current ranking. The team currently has an overall record of 18-11 and a conference record of 9-3.
With how well the team has been performing, it has led them to be ranked No. 10 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Associations NCAA DII rankings for the Southeast region for the week of March 18. Other ranked PBC teams are the University of North Georgia and Georgia Southwestern State University; the Bobcats won two out of their three games against both.
While the team has been outstanding against higher-ranked teams, the team still has many conference games to close out the season that are crucial to win. The series against Lander University, Columbus State University and UNG are going to be the games to watch as the season ends, as they are all good teams.
With how the season has gone so far, I think it is safe to say that Coach Belcher was well-prepared to rebuild the team this year. With how the team is performing, you would never know that only two of the starting players this season were actually on the team last year. While this season is nowhere near over yet, with how they are performing individually and as a team, this team has shocked many with their successes and accomplishments so far.
