Pope Cruises to State Baseball Title

After trailing early in the first game of their Georgia High School Association Class AAAAA state baseball championship series on Saturday, the Pope Greyhounds picked up some heavy bats and showed Greenbrier no mercy.

Literally.

A walkoff grand slam from Nathaniel Lowe in the eighth inning earned Pope an 11-7 win in the opener at the East Cobb School.

Greenbrier again led Pope 3-2 in the second game of the doubleheader when the Greyhounds came to the plate in the fourth inning. After it was over, Pope had scored 13 runs -- yes, 13 -- enroute to a 15-5 win that ended with the "mercy rule" after five innings. 

The title was the first for Pope since winning it all in 2009, and it sent out a strong group of seniors on a triumphant note.

“Once you get us on a roll, there is no way we can be stopped," Lowe told The Marietta Daily Journal. "We just tear through people, and it all came together at the right time."

Lowe, named earlier this week as one of metro Atlanta's top prep players by the Braves 400 booster club, has been at the center of it all for Pope.

A .400 hitter for most of the season, his walkoff single against Starr's Mill last week lifted the Greyhounds into the finals.

Pope's victory concludes the East Cobb high school sports season.

The final results are not official, but Pope is fourth in Class 5A in the Regions Directors Cup, an award for all-sports success by the Georgia Athletic Directors Assoiciation.