Wesleyan baseball wins state title

By Jeff Haws

For the AJC

AUGUSTA -- As the seventh inning began in Game 1 on Friday, Wesleyan and Aquinas stood even.

Five Wesleyan at-bats later, the Wolves were state champions.

Wesleyan scored five runs in the seventh to win 9-4 and poured it on in a five-inning, 13-0 victory in Game 2 to win its third consecutive Class A state title.

Wesleyan is the 10th school to win three consecutive baseball championships.

After Aquinas tied the first game with two runs in the sixth, the Wolves had two outs and two on with Gardner Heaner at the plate. He worked the count full before slapping a single to right that scored Adam Workman with what proved to be the game-winning run.

Wesleyan coach Mike Shaheen said that sort of clutch hitting is just what he has come to expect from the junior who couldn't crack the lineup last season.

"I'm not going to lie, he's done that eight times this year," Shaheen said. "If he's done it once, he's done it eight. I don't know what it is about two strikes with him, but it's almost like he's bad when he doesn't have two strikes."

Over three consecutive at-bats, spanning the seventh inning of Game 1 and the first two of Game 2, the Wolves outscored Aquinas 15-0 on nine hits. Two of those hits came off the bat of O'Leary, who entered the game three home runs shy of the state record of 25 in a season. He hit one more to finish at 23.

For the doubleheader, the senior was 5-for-7 with two doubles, a triple, a homer, three RBIs and five runs scored. To round out his day, he also pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh inning to earn the win in Game 1.

"He's the heart and soul of our team," Sheehan said. "He'll pitch; he'll play short; he'll hit homers; he'll hit singles. Whatever it takes. He's a warrior on the field. He loves the game."

He also might have enjoyed setting a state home-run record. He had a couple of near misses on balls that looked as if they would carry over the fence, but came up just short.

He said the record wasn't far from his thoughts, but there was something else he wanted a little more.

"The home-run record was on my mind the second game; I'm not going to lie," O'Leary said. "We were up five runs. But when it's a close game, I'd rather have a state championship."