THOMASVILLE – It has been nearly four weeks since Thomasville’s loss in the Class AA championship. Baseball coach Erik McDougald shared his thoughts about his team’s superb season that ended with a 30-7 record, a Region 1 championship and one win shy of another baseball title.

“So many things have to go according to plan. A lot of things that aren’t planned have to go your way, too,” he said. “At the end of the day, looking back over it, it was the mentality of the guys and how they went about their business. 

“I just can’t say enough how good these guys were at handling the individual moments that make up the season. It was 15 weeks of playing baseball, not to mention the weeks leading up to your first game, the practices, everything that goes along with that. They did such a good job of handling the next moment.”

There was so many moments that the Bulldogs conquered en route to the state championship series. Anderson Everett pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout in Thomasville’s 3-0 win over Jeff Davis in the winner-take-all game three in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. Thomasville won a pair of games at Pace Academy in the Final Four.

The Bulldogs also rallied for a 10-3 rout of Vidalia in game two of the championship series following a 14-4 loss in the opener.

More than anything last season, the Bulldogs left everything on the field. That’s what McDougald will remember most.

“Obviously, you don’t want to finish second, but you also know at the same time that you walk away from it knowing that you gave it everything that you had,” he said. “You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, for sure.”

Now comes the next challenge; preparing for next season following the graduation of seven seniors, including Gabe Duncan, Ben Rawlings and Witt Wetherington.

“What you’ve got to do is find guys that can be who they are, fill those roles in their own way. It’s going to be different,” McDougald said. “While it is going to be different, it doesn’t take away from the fact that we feel really good going into next year that we’ve got some guys that can get the job done.”