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SPORTS
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17 - 23, 2019 • Page 14
Trash talk highlight of
baseball media day
BY CARLA PARKER
carla@dekalbchamp.com
The battle for Region 5-AAAAA baseball title expects
to be competitive this season.
Comments from a couple of coaches from the region
stirred up light-hearted trash talk during the annual DeKalb
County School District baseball media day Jan. 10 at
Tucker High School. A Chamblee coach boldly announced
that the team is coming for the region title, which Arabia
Mountain won last season.
Arabia Mountain won the title with a 14-1 region
record. Chamblee (11-3) finished second, Lithonia (9-5)
finished third and Southwest DeKalb finished a game
behind with an 8-6 record. Chamblee coach Brian Ely
was out of town but sent the message through his assistant
coach Alan Loper that the Bulldogs were coming for the
region crown.
“[Ely] wants to win the region,” Loper said. “So, heads
up Arabia Mountain, Miller Grove and the rest. It’s going
to be tough.”
Loper’s comments were met with mumbles and giggles.
Comments from Lithonia coach Samuel Marion also
roused the crowd.
“Just watch us again this year,” Marion said. “We got
something in store for you guys.”
Marion said he feels more confident about his team’s
chances this year because of the high number of players
returning from last year’s team.
“Confidence is not cockiness. It’s more believing in
[our] system,” he said. “I have good freshmen coming
in and I have two transfers. I had Bryson Suber come
from Arabia Mountain and Osiris Corker coming from
Woodland, and I expect them to do something really big
for [the team].”
Arabia Mountain coach Eric Hoxie said the trash talk
is all in fun.
“Everybody wants to talk this talk this year, but it’s
all good,” Hoxie said. “It’s all in fun and it’s making it
exciting and even better for the sport.”
Miller Grove’s new head coach Yancey Satterwhite
said he likes the competitiveness of the other teams.
“We will be competitive and I’m just trying to build
on that,” he said. “I’m trying to get us over the hump to
actually win the region. It’s going to be interesting.”
Miller Grove finished fifth in region 5-AAAAA at 7-7
and missed out on the playoffs. Satterwhite, who is also an
assistant football coach, is coaching baseball for the first
time and said he is excited about this new journey.
“It’s awesome. I asked for the job,” he said. “I know
some of these kids from football, so I’m excited about the
season. I’m excited about these kids and I’m ready.”
Columbia, another region 5-AAAAA team, is also
entering the 2019 season with a new head coach. Greg
Barnett, an alum of Columbia, was promoted from junior
varsity coach to varsity coach. He said it’s exciting to lead
the program this season.
“I’m an alum, so it definitely means something to me,”
he said. “We have a lot of expectations from our guys.”
Columbia also missed the playoffs last season and
finished the season under .500 (10-14). Barnett said he
expects his players to compete with the top teams in the
region.
“Nobody is really expecting anything much from
Columbia hopes to get back to the playoffs this season under new coach Greg Barnett, center.
Lithonia expects to compete in its tough region.
Stephenson is heading into the season with a new coach, Tim Jones, center.
Arabia Mountain hopes to repeat as region champions.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 15
