Redan Baseball Coaches, Player Garner Dugout Club Honors

By Mark Brock

Head Coach Marvin Pruitt, assistant coach Chris Hardnett and pitcher
Brandon Baker all recently picked up honors for the 2013 state championship season from the Georgia Dugout Club.

Pruitt, the all-time leader in wins for a DeKalb County baseball coach at 488-325-5 overall, and Hardnett were named Class AAAA Co-Coaches of the Year for leading the Raiders to their first state championship in 2013.

Pruitt was ill early in the season and turned the reigns over to Hardnett who along with Harry Sapp kept the Raiders rolling into the playoffs. Redan went 10-1 during the playoffs and finished the season with an 11-0, 4-3 sweep of 12-time champion Marist in the finals. Pruitt attended all the state playoff games in support of his players as they worked toward that elusive state title.

The Georgia Dugout Club named Baker, a left-handed pitcher, the Class AAAA Player of the Year for his performance during the season on the mound. Baker went 8-1 with a 1.41 earned run average during the regular season and was 4-1 in the postseason run to the title.

Baker was the winning pitcher in that 4-3 title clinching win for the Raiders and accepted a scholarship to the University of Missouri where he is currently enrolled.

The Redan Raiders made their mark on high school baseball not only as a school, but for the DeKalb County School District and the Atlanta Metro area with their Class AAAA state championship series sweep of the Marist War Eagles at Marist on Monday.

The 11-0 and 4-3 wins to sweep the best-of-three title series gave a storied baseball program its first ever baseball state title, the 10th for DeKalb County Schools, and the first ever for a team made up completely of African-Americans from metro Atlanta to win a Georgia High School Association baseball state title.

Redan's 10-1 record in the playoffs improved its overall in the state playoffs record to 48-41 and atop the DeKalb standings. The Raiders also set a new school record for wins with the 30-7 mark this season breaking the old mark of 26-7 set in 1982 and repeated in 1988.