High school baseball coach a chilly job - if you're winning
It was a cold ride back to Augusta on Tuesday night. I was returning from Columbia, S.C., where I watched the Augusta Christian baseball team move into dynasty mode by clinching a third straight state championship.
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The temperature wasn't what made it cold. The Gatorade shower did.
Used as an inadvertent decoy, I was caught in the icy crossfire of the traditional water-cooler dumping of head coach Craig Johnson as I interviewed him after the 12-5 win.
I'll never be a state championship coach, but at least I know what it would feel like to be one - cold and wet.
Congratulations to the Lions baseball program.
Big Brother Belcher
Speaking of Augusta Christian, a former Lion has returned to the professional ranks for the 2007 season. Jordan Belcher, brother of Greenbrier junior Nolan Belcher and an ACS alumnus, has landed a spot on the El Paso Diablos - an Independent League team in Texas.
Now at 6 foot 2 inches, 205 pounds, Belcher went 3-for-4 with a double in the season opener for the Diablos. After the team's first six games, he's batting .304 with three doubles and five RBI.
Minor League deal
Former Greenbrier star Rafael Parks was drafted by the Houston Astros last season but went on to sign with USC-Salkehatchie. Parks never did suit up for the junior college team, but after a year of individual workouts and practice he signed a minor league deal with the Astros organization last Friday.
The speedy outfielder will play for the Tri-City ValleyCats in Troy, N.Y.- a suburb of Albany.
Parks said he'll report to the team in June for the team's opener on June 19.