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Tift County trio take top honors in Region 1-6A

becky taylor, the tifton gazette, ga.
·6 min read

May 21—TIFTON — Tift County was Region 1-6A's best in baseball in 2024, and the Blue Devils reaped the rewards of that achievement with the conference's end-of-season awards. Tift was the home of Region 1-6A's Player of the Year in John Davis, the Offensive Player of the Year in Brady Moretz and Coach of the Year in Greg Williams. It was quite the all-around season for Davis, a junior committed to Georgia Southern. Davis won all five of his region starts and saved another game. He surrendered only one earned run in 31 innings pitched against region opponents for a cool 0.23 ERA. Davis ended the year with 19 consecutive scoreless region frames. A major reason for the run prevention were his 43 strikeouts in 31 innings. At the dish, Davis batted .422 in region games, scoring 14 runs and driving in seven over the 15 games. He had five multi-hit games and three extra-base hits, including a homer against Houston County. For the year, Davis won nine games with a 1.40 ERA, sporting a .333 average with 18 RBIs and 24 runs scored. Moretz, the Offensive Player of the Year, had an unreal .511 average against the rest of 1-6A, including going 6-for-9 against Lee County, 7-of-10 against Northside and 7-of-11 versus Veterans. Four of Moretz's hits went for extra bases and seven of his 15 games were multi-hit. He drove in 15 runs and scored 15, all while playing stellar defense at third base and shortstop. For the year, Moretz had 37 runs scored and 27 RBIs, sporting a .351 average. Williams led the Blue Devils to a 27-9 mark this season, 13-2 in 1-6 to capture their first flag since 2015. Tift's made the elite eight for the second consecutive year, their first back-to-back appearances since 1983 and 1984. Beyond the two big awards, Tift landed five more players on Region 1-6A's first team: first baseman Tyler VanSumeren, infielder Tyler Holmes, right fielder Landon Parrish and pitchers Ryan Whitley and John Dorman. Dorman, always solid on the hill, won four games before missing the last series against Veterans because of an injury. Whitley won three region games and had the honor of being Tift's No. 1 starter for each series. He had a 2.19 region ERA. Holmes had two monster region home runs against Veterans, a major reason in the Blue Devils clinching the championship. All three of Parrish's homers for the year came against region opponents. VanSumeren also played centerfield for Tift and pitched the region clincher against Veterans filling in for Dorman. Second team picks for the Devils were designated hitter Mac Brooks, catcher Cam Smith and Dorman as a third baseman. Earning honorable mention were outfielder Luke Ellerbee, utility players Jake Spurlin and Drew Hembree and pitchers Will Pridgen, VanSumeren and Parrish. Other big 1-6A honors saw Houston County's Ethan Buffone merit Defensive Player of the Year, along with Lee County's Josh Barnes. Houston had Pitcher of the Year in Will Allen. Freshman Player of the Year went to Dom McCann of Thomas County Central and Bradley Lentz of Veterans.

TIFTON — Tift County was Region 1-6A's best in baseball in 2024, and the Blue Devils reaped the rewards of that achievement with the conference's end-of-season awards.

Tift was the home of Region 1-6A's Player of the Year in John Davis, the Offensive Player of the Year in Brady Moretz and Coach of the Year in Greg Williams.

It was quite the all-around season for Davis, a junior committed to Georgia Southern.

Davis won all five of his region starts and saved another game. He surrendered only one earned run in 31 innings pitched against region opponents for a cool 0.23 ERA. Davis ended the year with 19 consecutive scoreless region frames. A major reason for the run prevention were his 43 strikeouts in 31 innings.

At the dish, Davis batted .422 in region games, scoring 14 runs and driving in seven over the 15 games. He had five multi-hit games and three extra-base hits, including a homer against Houston County.

For the year, Davis won nine games with a 1.40 ERA, sporting a .333 average with 18 RBIs and 24 runs scored.

Moretz, the Offensive Player of the Year, had an unreal .511 average against the rest of 1-6A, including going 6-for-9 against Lee County, 7-of-10 against Northside and 7-of-11 versus Veterans. Four of Moretz's hits went for extra bases and seven of his 15 games were multi-hit.

He drove in 15 runs and scored 15, all while playing stellar defense at third base and shortstop. For the year, Moretz had 37 runs scored and 27 RBIs, sporting a .351 average.

Williams led the Blue Devils to a 27-9 mark this season, 13-2 in 1-6 to capture their first flag since 2015. Tift's made the elite eight for the second consecutive year, their first back-to-back appearances since 1983 and 1984.

Beyond the two big awards, Tift landed five more players on Region 1-6A's first team: first baseman Tyler VanSumeren, infielder Tyler Holmes, right fielder Landon Parrish and pitchers Ryan Whitley and John Dorman.

Dorman, always solid on the hill, won four games before missing the last series against Veterans because of an injury. Whitley won three region games and had the honor of being Tift's No. 1 starter for each series. He had a 2.19 region ERA.

Holmes had two monster region home runs against Veterans, a major reason in the Blue Devils clinching the championship. All three of Parrish's homers for the year came against region opponents.

VanSumeren also played centerfield for Tift and pitched the region clincher against Veterans filling in for Dorman.

Second team picks for the Devils were designated hitter Mac Brooks, catcher Cam Smith and Dorman as a third baseman. Earning honorable mention were outfielder Luke Ellerbee, utility players Jake Spurlin and Drew Hembree and pitchers Will Pridgen, VanSumeren and Parrish.

Other big 1-6A honors saw Houston County's Ethan Buffone merit Defensive Player of the Year, along with Lee County's Josh Barnes. Houston had Pitcher of the Year in Will Allen. Freshman Player of the Year went to Dom McCann of Thomas County Central and Bradley Lentz of Veterans.