AJC > Sports > Highschools > Blog > Archives > 2006 > May > 24 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USKell’s Fuller back where he belongs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The home Nick Fuller found this year was a familiar one: the pitching mound. In the last year Fuller went from Kell to Lassiter and back to Kell, all the while never feeling completely lost.
The only time Fuller was out of place was when he did not have a baseball team to play for, which was for all but nine games this season as the GHSA sorted through the nagging complexities of his situation.
And the situation was this: the best pitcher in Georgia — shoot, perhaps the country — transferred from Kell before last year to join Lassiter. However, the abridged version of Fuller’s odyssey says he did not fit in at Lassiter, was so upset at one point he shattered a glass window and eventually transferred back to Kell.
This back-and-forth facilitated an investigation that kept Fuller on the sideline much of the year. “We didn’t play him until we got the approval of the state,” Kell coach Donnie English said. “His family kept a home in our area.”
Which brings us all the way to Tuesday night. English trotted out Fuller, who is so highly regarded that he could be the first pitcher selected in next month’s Major League Baseball Draft — for Game 1 of the quarterfinal series against Tift County.
He went head-to-head against Blue Devils stud Scott Shuman. It had the makings of a classic, but ended up being a classic walkover. So dominating was Fuller — and so potent the Longhorns’ bats — that the game did not even go the distance.
Kell romped 12-0 in five innings. Shuman was shelled for seven runs in the first two innings — including a three-run homer by senior Clint Roques — in an outing no one has ever seen out of him.
Shuman hit two batters and served up fat pitches over the plate that Kell obliterated. Meanwhile, Fuller was, well, Fuller. That is to say he was brilliant.
He gave up just one hit — an infield single to sophomore catcher Christian Glisson in the first — in a power performance that has marked his career. He brings it to the plate upwards of 95 mph, which, for a batter, turns the visual of a baseball into a Tic Tac.
Fuller blew pitches by Tift County with the usual ease, but it was his mixing of pitches that really made him so effective. He has a curveball with as much movement as a butterfly. And he has the confidence in it to throw it in harried situations.
Even behind in the count with runners in scoring position, Fuller called on a virtually unhittable breaking ball as his out pitch and ended the second and third innings with strikeouts with Blue Devils on second base.
“He has great speed on his ball, but he’s a smart pitcher,” English said.
It was smart of English to accept Fuller back after the transfer mumbo jumbo. “At one time he transferred to another school and it just didn’t work out and came back,” the coach said, trying to simplify the matter.
Was there any concern about accepting him? “No. He’s a good pitcher and a good kid,” English said.
Better than good, actually. Lassiter seems to have gotten along just fine without Fuller, and Fuller swimmingly without Lassiter. The kid has a home — the pitching mound — and he owns it when he’s on it, whether it was at Lassiter or at Kell.
But it would be interesting if both schools advanced to the finals, wouldn’t it?
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Curtis Bunn, Curtis Bunn
Services »
Comments