Big League Scouts Abound at GPC Scout Day

Monday, September 16, 2013

Jaguar Field never has hosted so many Major League scouts and others as it did Monday when the Georgia Perimeter College baseball team held its annual Scout Day.

With more than 40 professional and college scouts in attendance, Jaguar head coach Brett Campbell says it was the most attended scout day he has ever seen.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of many scout days throughout my career, and this is by far the most scouts I’ve seen present at a school,” Campbell said.

“We had 28 Major League Baseball scouts present, along with numerous cross checkers and national scouts, which is outstanding. It’s just a testament to the type of players we have coming to GPC.”

This is why student athletes decide to come to Georgia Perimeter, Campbell added, “to not only get a great education, but to also get the exposure needed to move on to the next level.”

Last spring GPC won the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association regular season championship and came just short of qualifying for the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament (the JUCO World Series) in Colorado.

In his first season as head coach, Campbell guided his team from a slow start in February, to a phenomenal 17-0 in April, probably the longest winning streak in the program’s history, which began in 1965.

The Jaguars, conference champions in 2011, won the 2013 Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association regular-season championship with a 25-6 record, bringing an automatic berth in the NJCAA East-Central District tournament in Tennessee.

GPC was knocked out of the tournament with an 8-7 loss to Columbia State Community College (Tenn.) that featured an exciting ninth-inning rally and a long, final-out fly ball that almost left the park with the tying run on third base.

Georgia Perimeter dominated the All-GCAA team and the Gold Glove team. Catcher Pierce Ressmeyer, who returns for the 2014 season, made the all-conference first team. First-team selection Sam Bragg added to the buzz about the Jaguars when he was drafted in June by the Oakland Athletics and had an exceptional summer pitching in the minor leagues.

Campbell was named Coach of the Year by the coaches of the GCAA, a remarkable achievement for a first-year coach.