Sports

Music series a practice test for final exam

• The Peanuts begins a three-game series today vs. the Music, the team South Georgia likely will face in the SCL title game.

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — Along with bats, gloves and gear, South Georgia catcher Nick Prosise plans on sliding an extra item into his bag for the Peanuts road trip to Macon today.

“I’ll be taking a notebook with me, trying to do a little extra homework this weekend,” he said.

No, Prosise isn’t working toward a degree in his spare time. This weekend he’ll be taking Macon Music 101. And with the final exam likely set for Aug. 31 in the South Coast League championship series, the Peanuts are staring down a three-day cram session.

“We got to start looking toward the playoffs, try to get a scouting report on hitters,” Prosise said. “Try to get more in-depth stuff on hitters, try to get those guys out. That is a big key.”

One game back of the Peanuts entering Wednesday’s games, the Music have been the lone team to forge a winning record against South Georgia this season, going 6-5 overall.

They have been particularly pesky at Luther Williams Field, where the Peanuts have won just once in six games. Not to mention today’s series marks the first time the two teams have met since an ugly brawl erupted in late July, resulting in multiple suspensions, most notably eight games for Peanuts manager Wally Backman.

Assuming the Music can hang on to their two-game lead over Bradenton, the Peanuts will have to find a solution to the Macon puzzle in order to win the SCL title in three weeks.

Backman began working the problem Tuesday night when he added former Charlotte County Redfish power-hitting first baseman Desi Wilson in exchange for speedy outfielder Chris Demons.

The move was made specifically to prepare the team for a championship series against Macon and their starting catcher Felipe Del Rosario.

Knowing the strong-armed Del Rosario will be behind the plate, even a speed specialist such as Backman believes swapping wheels for power will give them the best chance to beat the Music.

“I always said I wanted to build a team with speed, like the Cardinals teams under Whitey Herzog in the ’80s,” Backman said. “If everything works out like I like it to, it almost ends up like a Yankee team with all the pop. The moves we are making is more for the push to win the whole thing. That’s why I changed style.”

On top of the power surge, Backman knows the Peanuts will need to find a way to stop Ismael Castro and Scott Robinson.

Castro is hitting an unreal .500 in 42 at-bats against South Georgia with 16 RBI, nine doubles and three home runs. And Robinson has been equally potent.

He is hitting .357 with eight RBI in an identical 42 at bats.

“There’s two players I really want to study that have had success against us,” Backman said. “The other guys we’ve handled pretty easily. Thompson and Castro are two guys we have to find a way to contain.”

That means trying some alternative approaches this weekend as a test sample. Some changes may work, others won’t, but the Peanuts will learn.

“We are going to pitch them differently than have before,” Prosise said.

HOLDING BACK

Backman said he plans on throwing the one-two punch of Dumas Garcia and Jerome Gamble in the first two games of the championship series.

The rotation has been adjusted so the Music won’t see either of the two in any of the seven games the teams have against each other before the playoffs.

TAKE GOOD WITH BAD

Though the addition of Wilson brings a potent bat to the lineup, it unfortunately had to come at a price.

With the departure of Demons, the Peanuts lose a popular clubhouse figure and electric base-stealer.

“It’s tough to lose someone like Chris,” Prosise said. “He’s a good teammate, great person.”

Watching him leave was as tough as it was unexpected.

“It kind of hit a lot of us by surprise,” said Demons‚ roommate Tug Gillingham. “I was like, whoa, what just happened here? But Desi will make our lineup better with more experience, more power.”

BROOKS BACK

South Georgia’s leading run-producer, Doc Brooks, will return to the lineup today.

It will be his first game off a 10-game suspension for a diluted sample on a drug test.

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