The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 214

GWINNETT EXTRA, APRIL 24, 1986 Generals giving their new coach gray hair, but he loves it they kept telling me, 'we told you we could the season. the Generals pounded out 14 hits for a David the Generals pounded out 14 hits for a By Johnson 12-11 win. A few games later, Shiloh managed only three hits but got solid pitching to defeat "Looking at the caliber of our ballplayers coming in to the season, I felt we were very capable," George said. "It hasn't been a surprise to me and I don't think our players are." George said he had ho long term building plan heading into his first year at Shiloh. "My goal is simply to build the best program in Gwinnett and in the state," George said.

"I don't have any time limit set on it. If the players are good enough to win now then that's great. We're off to a pretty good start now." The head General said the keys to his teams success this year is its balance. The hitting, pitching and defense have all been solid, and when one phase falls down, another always seems to pick the team up. For instance, in an earlier win against Habersham-Central the pitching fell down, but come from behind," George said.

Close calls and comebacks have become somewhat of a trademark of this young team, which improved its record to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the subregion with a win over Winder-Barrow this past Friday. Seven of the Generals 12 wins have been one-run decisions. "I've never seen a season like this before," George said. "Sometimes it's like they wait until the end to pull it out on purpose. It really scares you, but as long as we win I don't mind.

This has really been the most relaxing season I've had as a head coach. Shiloh has surprised many outsiders this, season with its showing in 8-AAA South. The Generals are currently a solid second behind North Hall with the top two finishers getting a bid to the region playoffs. But George and his players are not shocked to be in the running at this point in Spwts Editor Heading into his first regular season game as head baseball coach at Shiloh, Glenn George found that he knew more about his opponent than his own team. The Generals were scheduled to face Newton County, where George had coached for the previous six years.

To remedy the situation, the new General coach called a team meeting the night before the opener to talk about the ensuing season and to try and become better acquainted with his team. "I asked them what they felt their strong-point was and they told me that they could come from behind," George said. To prove its point, the second-year team, losing to Newton 4-2 in the seventh, rallied for three runs to win 5-4. "On the bus ride back after the game North Gwinnett 4-3. "The key for us is we know what we have to do to win and we do it," George said.

Keith Chaney leads the -generals at the plate, batting around .450. Ron Walsh has been a great leadoff batter, leading the team in base-on-balls and stolen bases. Ken Holloway is the Generals ace at 4-0. He is also hitting around .420. Brian Mudhall is the No.

2 pitcher at 4-2. "Everybody keeps saying we're a young team and how they are so surprised at how well we're doing," George said. "That really bothers the guys sometimes because they knew they could do it all along." And if the players said it, George knows he better believe it. North in drivers seat with perfect subregion mark 8-AA Central Gwinnett close to securing playoff spot after eight-year drought yam- mm 't Kill By David Johnson Sports Editor 8-AAA A North Gwinnett will close out its regular season Friday with an 8-AA South subregion battle at Jefferson while Duluth will finish subregion play tomorrow at Jackson County before ending the season Monday against Norcross. With a win over Loganville this past Friday, the Bulldogs improved their unblimished subregion mark to 7-0 heading into the final week of play.

North was scheduled to meet subregion foes Oconee County Monday and Jackson County Wednesday before closing out its regular season Friday against Jefferson. "Right now, we're in the drivers seat," said North coach Bill Petty. "If we continue to win, our position only gets better. But if we get down, we could slip." Pitching has been the key to North's success this season. Discounting a one-out relief appearance against Shiloh, the Bulldogs have gotten 10 straight complete games from their starting pitchers.

Leading the staff is Derrick Mullins (3-1) followed by John Kelly (2-1). Anthony Boggs is the Bulldogs top hitter at .550. DAVID JOHNSONStaff With a 9-1 win over South Gwinnett last Tuesday, the Central Gwinnett baseball team took a big step in breaking an eight-year playoff drought The Black Knights had already beaten the Comets in their first 8-XX A A East showdown, a "very emotional win" according to first year Central coach Mark Kimbro which gave his team a lot of confidence. But the second win over the Comets last week almost assured the Knights of a berth in the region playoffs. With a win over Newton County 'last Friday, Central confirmed its post-season plans.

"I'm not happy with our overall record (10-7)," Kimbro said. "But we've won when we needed to. There are only eight games during thg.year that are important (subregion games) and so far we've won five out of six." The Knights will take on the other playoff entry from the East, Brookwood, Friday at the Broncos field at 6 p.m. With wins over Newton County, Parkview and Norcross last week, Brookwood improved its record to 21-1 and 5-0 in the subregion. In their first meeting of the year, the Broncos blasted the Knights 16-1, and Brookwood bats are still smoking.

Tom Green leads the Broncos with a .506 batting average followed by Scott Moseley at .500 and Ricky Halama in the high "If they are hitting they may be unbeatable," Kimbro said. "But you've got to figure when a team goes through a season, they've got toihave one or two off games. Hopefully they'll have one of those against us." Bronco coach Rob English said the key to his teams success this season is that he hasn't had to rely an any one person. "Everyone has contributed in one way or another," English said. "It hasn't been just one or two people doing it all.

We've had good hitting, good pitching, good defense and we've had people come off the bench and do some things we needed." In the West, Parkview rebounded from a slow start and was tied with Clarke Central for first in the subregion after weekend play at 5-2. The Panthers were 1-2 after their first three subregion games but have won their past four, including wins over Clarke Central and Berkmar, to propel them into contention. "We're doing things much better now and playing like I thought we could," said Parkview coach Hugh Buchanan. "We're getting timely hits, playing better defense and our pitching, is getting into form." A key to the Panthers success has been the play of Steve Scarborough. He leads the team in hitting at .490 with five homeruns and is the ace pitcher with a 5-0 record.

Jimmy Cannon has also performed will in the Parkview turnaround, batting .330 and picking up five saves out of the bullpen. Andy Sumpter is the Panthers second leading hitter at .340 and is 3-0 on the mound. He had a big ho-mcrun which put Parkview ahead in their win over Berkmar. The Panthers will face one of their biggest test of the season Friday as they travel to Athens to take on Clarke Central COSnSNQ HOmS: Parkviews Andy Sumpter is congratulated by his teammates after a third-inning homerun against Berkmar put the Panthers ahead. Parkview went on to win the game 7-4 to keep them tied for first with Clarke Central in the West Buford stays in title chase with win over Dacula down for the region championship, but either way both teams would be assured of a playoff berth.

In the event of a tie, a coin toss would decide the top seed from the subregion. Leading the Wolves at the plate is Tony Stowe who, after last week's play, was hitting .405 and had two homeruns. Chris Noles is second, hitting .380 followed by Marty Pugh at Jimmy Lynn has been the lone star on the mound for the Wolves this year. He is currently 5-2 and has been the only really consistent starter for Buford. After him, the Wolves have had to rely largely on defense.

"We are a defensive club and we've played pretty solid all year," said Buford coach Ronnie Edwards. "That's just the way we have to win." The loss to Buford. ended any post-season hopes for the Falcons With a 9-7 win over cross-county rival Dacula this past Friday, Buford solidified its No. 2 spot in 8-A South behind front runner Social Circle. The win improved the Wolves subregion mark to 3-1 (10-6 overall) heading into a showdown with Social Friday.

This past Tuesday, Buford was scheduled to face subregion foe Athens Academy. If the. Wolves beat Athens, then tomorrow's game could be a show.