May 28, 2026 — The Pope Greyhounds arrived in the 2026 Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Class 5A Baseball State Championship series having lost only twice all season (36-2), setting a program record for regular season wins in the process (28). With that success, it seemed unlikely the Greyhounds would lose twice more in any best-of-three playoff series. Through the first four rounds of the baseball tournament, Pope had given up less than two runs per game, scored over nine runs per game, and swept each opponent. They entered the finals on a 25-game winning streak.
“We had a great year, lots of wins,” Pope baseball head coach Chris Turco acknowledged. “This is one of the winningest senior classes we've ever had. I can't say enough about those guys. They led the way the whole time.”
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The 5A Finals featured a matchup of two prep baseball titans meeting at Gwinnett Field, the home park of the Atlanta Braves’ AAA Gwinnett Stripers. Pope was making their ninth appearance in the finals over the last 13 championship tournaments, bringing home the title four times. They had won five state championships overall. The Greyhounds would face the Red Devils of Loganville High School (34-4), who brought hardware and elite credentials of their own. The Devils had won eight state championships since 2008 and six of the last eight 5A titles. This 2026 matchup promised to be a hard-fought series.
Game One of the championship was played a full week after Pope’s seniors graduated. Despite any post-graduation haze, the Greyhounds scored immediately in the first inning. However, Loganville scored twice in the bottom of the inning and led 2-1 after the first. It remained that way until the top of the sixth. With two outs and runners at the corners, senior Ben Hill scorched a line drive that the third baseman gloved but dropped. Unable to throw out Hill, the score was tied. Soon after, the grounds crew brought out the tarp as storms approached the area.
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After the rain delay, and with momentum squelched by the weather, the ‘Hounds were unable to add to the scoreboard. Loganville answered Pope’s tying run by scoring in the bottom half of the sixth to retake the lead, 3-2. A scoreless seventh inning solidified the Greyhounds’ third loss of the season, ending their win streak and giving the Red Devils the 1-0 series lead.
Game Two, normally played as the second game of a doubleheader, was postponed until 11:00 a.m. the next morning. Pope sent eight men to the plate in the bottom of the first and scored four runs on four hits. Loganville never quit, though, scoring two runs in both the second and fourth innings to tie the score. The Greyhounds retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth after two wild pitches allowed junior Luke Winbush to score the go-ahead run. Senior pitcher Jacob Israel went five innings to earn the win to improve to 12-0 on the year. Junior Jensen Morneau earned the save with a scoreless seventh for the 5-4 win, and the series was tied 1-1 to send the Greyhounds to a deciding Game Three.
Game Three got underway after a two-hour rain delay. In the bottom of the first, Loganville had runners at first and third with only one out. The Red Devils attempted a safety squeeze, but Pope sophomore second baseman Kingston Jones came flying towards the bunted ball, not typically the second baseman’s role, fielded it, and, in one motion, flipped to senior catcher Drew Abney to nail the runner trying to score. It was a fantastic play to douse the threat.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the third inning, when Morneau came up with the bases loaded and two outs and delivered a two-run single for a 2-0 Pope lead. With senior starting pitcher Davis Smith having not allowed a run, the biggest enemy of the championship series reared its ugly head when another weather delay brought out the tarp again.
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After a three-hour delay, Pope couldn’t send Smith back to the mound despite his having only surrendered two hits in the game. The championship would be turned over to both bullpens. Each team added a run against a reliever to make the score 3-1. The Greyhounds held that lead entering the bottom of the seventh. Pope needed just three outs to hoist the champions' trophy.
The bottom of the seventh began harmlessly with a Loganville flyout to rightfield. A triple and a wild pitch brought the Red Devils within one, 3-2. Then, with the bases loaded and still only one out, Loganville managed a single to plate two runs, earning the win and the championship title in walk-off fashion.
It was a devastating end to an amazing Greyhounds season.
“It stinks to end that way,” coach Turco lamented. “It’s really hard. I hate that we couldn’t win for our seniors. I feel terrible for them. I wish we could’ve gotten one done for them.”
Despite the tough finish, the Pope baseball program is Built for Beyond — beyond a single season, beyond one championship series, and beyond one senior class.
The Pope baseball program has reached the Finals in four of the last five seasons and finished as the Runner-Up in their last three. Still, the future is bright for this baseball powerhouse.
“I feel like we're going to be really good next year,” Turco said optimistically. “We played a lot of sophomores and juniors this year. We have talented freshmen, and we have talented ninth graders coming in. I think we're going to be competitive, so hopefully we can make it back and finish the job.”
As the Cobb Schools diamond squad with the most state titles, no one would be surprised to see Pope back in this spot again next season.
