Pillow Academy’s baseball team made great strides for the second straight season under head coach Jud Thigpen, and that’s why for the second straight year, Thigpen has been named the Commonwealth Coach of the Year.
The Mustangs went 17-15, more than doubling their combined win total from the previous two seasons, and recorded their first playoff series victory since 2000.
It helped that Thigpen had an ace pitcher like Garrett Brown to lean on in key spots. The senior left-hander went 10-4 on the mound, accounting for 60 percent of his team’s victories. The East Mississippi Community College signee pitched a complete game in nearly every start.
“Garrett was the pure definiton of an ace,” Thigpen said. “Everytime he got the ball, we knew he was going to be consistently strong. He filled up the strike zone and kept batters off balance with three good pitches — a fastball and two breaking balls, one with a hard action and one with a slower break that really made his fastball more effective.”
Brown pitched 881/3 innings and finished with a 1.74 ERA. He had 71 strikeouts compared to just 19 walks and was named first-team All-North AAAA.
Brown was voted to the MAIS all-star game, which will be played at 10 a.m. Friday at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.
“Garrett just had an phenomenal year. He was so fun to watch when he was rolling up there on the mound,” Thigpen said. “He wasn’t going to overpower you with his fastball, but he did a great job of hitting his spots. He worked the ball on the corners and kept the ball down in the zone.
“He obvioulsy gave opposing hitters fits as evidenced by his numbers. Garrett meant so much to this team that it’s hard to put into words,” said Thigpen.
Brown also played left field when he wasn’t on the mound. He batted .250 with one double and one triple and scored 20 runs and drove in 16 runs.
Brown had a field percentage above .900 with 49 putouts and 17 assists.
Brown is one of five seniors who were sophomores when Thigpen took over the struggling program. The Mustangs won just five games that first season.
“I still remember how humbled I was that first year after learning how hard it is to win in this league,” said the third-year PA head coach. “But this senior class back then really bought in to what we were doing even though the wins didn’t come like we wanted that first year.
“Hopefully, these seniors started a new standard for Pillow Academy baseball.”
