Last week, Lake Oconee Academy’s baseball team secured its second consecutive region championship.
The Titans swept Towns County and won the first two contests of the three-game series to capture the league title. They defeated the Indians 11-2 in Hiawassee on April 1, and then took game two of the series 6-2 in Greensboro before closing out region play with a 16-0 win to cap off a doubleheader on April 4.
Lake Oconee Academy head coach Mark Miller and his team set a goal before the season of winning the region.
“Of course, it feels great, and that’s our number-one goal we always set for every year,” Miller told the Lake Oconee News. “So it was good to obtain that, which gives us the one seed going into the playoffs.”
Miller said his players were eager to meet their expectations, but after the game, they didn’t celebrate too much.
“It was neat that the boys were excited that they won the region championship, but unlike last year, when it was the first time we had done it, they weren’t overly excited,” Miller added. “I had a sense it was almost like they wanted more. So, that was cool. They were excited they won the region, but have bigger goals than that.”
LOA is 12-5 overall and has a perfect 9-0 record after finishing region play last week. Just like last season, the Titans are starting to peak at the right time, which worked out for them as they made it to the semifinals in 2024.
Miller believes his team has enough pitching to make a deep run in the state playoffs again.
The Titans have relied on players Jon Funderburke, William King, Ty Hiter, and Ike O’Neal this year. They’ve been consistent from the beginning and will be crucial to LOA’s success if it aims to go far in the playoffs.
“I think we’ve had a couple of injuries here and there, but we’ve got some guys healed up,” Miller said. “I feel like we’ve got a really strong pitching staff and our hitting’s also coming along really good, so we are peaking at the right time. We’re going to take this week off, get healthy, and refresh some arms.”
The Titans dropped out of the top 10 in Class A Division II midway through the season after facing a challenging non-region schedule, and believe they have something to prove. They aim to change their fortunes when the postseason begins. The players want to win a state title for the first time in school history.
“We never find ourselves in that top 10, which I now see as a blessing,” Miller noted. “People often overlook us, but I believe we have a solid baseball team. You have to beat everyone once you get in the tournament anyway, and I think we’ll make some noise. The bracket won’t be easy, but as long as we perform well, we’ll have a shot.”
LOA will close out the regular season next week with three tough non-region games against Thomas Jefferson Academy, ACE Charter, and Social Circle before the state playoffs begin later this month.