The best teams from Guilford County for this upcoming high school baseball season do appear to be Northern Guilford, Southeast Guilford and Southwest Guilford….The two Guys(Justin and Jaylen) along with Ryan Douglas and others at SEG, Josh Pike, Cameron Cotter and John Clark Ouzts on the pitching staff at Northern with Logan King catching them, then you JT Jarrett at short and there’s Joe Millwee at third and NG should be the #1 ranked 3-A team in the state and that pitching staff alone, with Pike, Cotter and JC Ouzts is one of the tops ever in Guilford County and there is no doubt about that…
Jacob Edwards on the hill and a load of other kids will be back for SWG….Edwards will just be junior….SEG will also have back Thorn Alley, Tyler Alley and Devin Bartley and Bartley could turn out to be one of the best power hitters in the state…..If our reading numbers stats are correct Kyle Blendinger(P) is also back for Southwest and after what he and Jacob Edwards did last year on the mound for SWG, this could take SWG all the way for their second school title in baseball…They won a 2-A Title in baseball back around 1997 and Kyle Blendinger has already committed to attend North Carolina and join the young men from Guilford County on the Tar Heels’ pitching staff that we listed below…Paul Bullock and Mason Chu, among others also back for SWG….
All three of these Guilford County teams, SWG, SEG and NG, are State Title contending teams….Kyle Blendinger made the final cut for the USA U18 All Star team that traveled and tried out in Houston, this past fall….
?????These teams will have some other returning players too(Especially SWG), but most of the rosters from last year, did not have the class the kids were in….?????
Last crack for now, for a 4-A Title for SWG and SEG, as they will return to 3-A ball next year/season…
Interesting looking at HS Baseball title history, Grimsley won 4-A titles in 1960, 1964, 1971 and 1981….Western Guilford won the 3-A Title in 1984 and 1985, Southeast won the 3-A Title in 1969, Northeast Guilford won the 2-A Title in baseball, in 1964 and 1965 and Southwest won the 2-A Title in 1997, while now defunct Bessemer High School won the 3-A Title in 1963 and that means Bessemer was a bigger school than Northeast, back in the 60’s and it is sort of hard to think back to NEG as a 2-A school, but they were, according to history and the records….
*****Three Guilford County players on the UNC Tar Heels’ pitching staff/roster in right handers:
#25 Taylor Sugg R/R RHP 6-1 169 So. Greensboro, N.C. (Southern Guilford) #29 Trevor Gay R/R RHP 6-3 196 So. High Point, N.C. (Charlotte) (High Point Central) #44 Cole Aker R/R RHP 6-2 195 So. Kernersville, N.C. (Northwest Guilford)
*****Kyle Blendinger(SWG) to join them next season.*****
Don’t forget Players To Watch : Grimsley’s CJ Neese – NC State commit as a Sophomore.
I do believe you omitted one state champion from back in 1998…Northwest Guilford went on a heck of a run and won the 4-A title….beating Josh Hamilton and Athens Drive HS….Vikings had a core group of guys and we’re lead by John Gann…Jason Walker and Jamie Hemingway…mid to late 90s in the area was REALLY good baseball and I wouldn’t want you to forget about anybody….Western in 95 made finals in 2-A….Rockingham County won the 3-A title in 96…Asheboro made the championship series 1 or 2 years around 94-95….
Yes, Northwest won it all on 1998 and that was their first year as a 4-A School and I think it was coach Sandy Gann’s last year as head coach….NWG had Jamie Hemmingway back in that day and he was a very productive player….
Asheboro won it all in 1986, right after Western’s run in 1984 and 1985 and then Rockingham Country took the 3-A Title in 1996….McMichael grabbed a 2-A Title in baseball in 2009….
That NWG was a very good one and they had a great run to get it all done vs. Josh Hamilton and Raleigh Athens Drive….
Some great baseball memories from over the past 50 years or so, in and around Guilford County and still hard to think back to NEG as a 2-A school….
One of the best players to ever come through here for sure was Ronnie Rudd and they didn’t make them any better than Terry Clapp and who can forget Mike Dempsey, Larry Dempsey, Jerry Russell, Scott Muscat, Jimmy Duncan, Shorty Rickman, Ronnie Collins and all of those guys too…
Funny thing is though, Wil Myers, the kid from Wesleyan Christian Academy, may be the best that ever came through here, you never know, but will know that for sure in the next 5-7 years….