Longtime Cartersville baseball coach Stuart Chester will board a plane bound for San Diego today, en route to the site of the Perfect Game All-American Classic presented by Rawlins.
Chester, who has led the Purple Hurricanes to five state titles during his illustrious career, was selected as head coach of the East team for Sunday’s game.
The Cartersville skipper found out who he would be coaching last month when players for both teams were announced.
Of the 23 players on the East roster, five of those seniors are from Georgia — Skye Bolt (Holy Innocent’s School/Woodstock), Matthew Crownover (Ringgold), Clate Schmidt (Allatoona/Acworth), Lucas Sims (Brookwood/Lawrenceville) and Duane Underwood (Pope/Marietta).
Chester, Crownover and Schmidt should have some lively conversations. Their three respective teams tied atop Region 7-AAA last spring, with the Canes winning the region title based on tiebreakers.
That battle, however, will resume next spring when the next Georgia high school baseball season begins. For now, the three are on the same side as the East team looks to defeat a West team led by Bishop Amat (Calif.) coach Andrew Nieto.
Nieto, who will get to coach one of his players in Rio Ruiz, will be joined on the West coaching staff by Cecil Espy and Manny Hermosillo.
Chester’s assistant coaches on the East squad are Kevin Maris and Omar Washington.
Last year’s game was won by the East, 5-3, with game MVP Tyler Marlette launching a long-two run homer in the third inning. The East holds a slight advantage in the overall series at 4-3-1.
This year’s Perfect Game All-American Classic will be held at PETCO Park, home of the San Diego Padres, for the third straight year. The game begins at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network. AT&T U-verse TV subscribers can watch the game on channels 643 or 1643; Comcast Corporation subscribers can tune in by clicking to channels 109, 259 or 822; and DIRECTV subscribers will be able to watch it on channels 613 or 613HD.
The game also will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 1700 AM San Diego. Listeners with an Internet connection can go online, at www.sandiego1700.com, to hear the broadcast of the game.
For more information, visit www.perfectgame.org/allamerican.