STATESBORO – Any number of storylines could have served the Calvary Day baseball team as added motivation in its quest for a state championship.
The Cavaliers were facing cross-town rival Savannah Christian in the best-of-three series for the GHSA Private School crown on Monday at Georgia Southern University's J.I. Clements Stadium.
Calvary Day was seeking a different finish than in 2024, when the squad was swept by Harlem in the Class 3A final.
Phillip Lee, the head baseball coach for 11 years at his alma mater, announced in April that this would be his final season with the Cavaliers.
Whether it was win it for Coach Lee or any combination of reasons, Calvary Day accomplished its goal by sweeping the doubleheader 9-1 and 4-3, completing a 10-0 run through the postseason with five series sweeps.
"They just stayed the course all season long," said Lee, whose squad finished 29-7 and won the program's third state crown, adding to the 2005 and 2007 Class A trophies. "We had some ups and downs. Something we talk about all the time is adversity is going to strike. It's inevitable, it's going to happen. But just how they responded time and time again that was the biggest sign for us that I knew we were ready to continue to compete."
The two games reflected the Cavaliers' ability to win in different ways. After Savannah Christian scored the series' first run, host team Calvary won Game 1 on the strength of a six-run opening inning.
The Cavaliers were the road team in Game 2 and quickly notched the initial run before the Raiders responded with two runs. The contest went back and forth before Calvary scored in the top of the seventh for the one-run edge and held on.
"That was Calvary Day baseball to a 'T' today," said SCPS coach Matt Oglesby, whose squad finished 26-14.
Calvary Day batters swung at a lot of first pitches, figuring that Savannah Christian had the pitching talent to aggressively throw strikes and try to get ahead in counts. Lee said the CDS batters were looking for their pitch and ready to "try to do damage (on) pitch one."
"They (The Cavaliers) jumped out on us; they had a good game plan," Oglesby said. "The first inning, you score a run and get a little momentum, and then they come back and score six. The way we play baseball, it's hard to come back from down by multiple runs.
"Our guys fought hard," he continued. "I'm super proud of what they were able to do. The second game, that's just baseball. They got the big hit when they needed it, and tonight we didn't. Kudos to them and happy for Phillip (Lee)."
Oglesby is good friends with Lee, 40, a married father of two children who is Calvary's athletic director as well as head of the baseball program. Desiring to spend more time with his family, Lee has accepted a job at nearby Benedictine, where he will serve as an assistant baseball coach as well as become Director of Athletic Development.
The task at hand
Lee said Monday night that his focus has remained on his responsibilities at Calvary.
"Honestly, I always just want to try to be where my feet are," he said. "I was the head coach for Calvary Day School for the 2025 season. Whenever that thing finished is when we can think about the next step, but not once did I ever think or talk about or really look into what that next journey is going to look like.
"I appreciate these guys understanding that as well," he continued. "That was a personal decision that was a really tough one, but I think they handled it to perfection. We just continued to stay the course and keep fighting."
The Cavaliers finished with 14 consecutive victories, going back to before Lee's announcement went public. Senior Ryan Wallace, the team's closer, said players discussed their coach's decision but didn't let it have a negative impact.
"I think it just added more life," Wallace said. "We started to make jokes out of it and not taking it so seriously and not letting it bring us down. Instead, it brought us up."
The Cavaliers were road warriors this season, with only a handful of games on their official home field of Grayson Stadium. Among the trips was an elite tournament in Las Vegas in mid-March.
Senior third baseman Brody Dawson said the season turned after that experience.
"The competition we played in Vegas, it really gave us the little extra 'oomph' to get over. I feel like that propelled us to continue," he said.
What happened in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas, Wallace agreed, with the Cavaliers gaining confidence from being able to produce offensively against talented pitchers.
"There was no arm that we saw after Vegas that was better than any arm we saw in Vegas," Wallace said. "All the arms in Vegas … were competing, they were filling up the (strike zone), and we hung four to six runs in every game -- the first game we hung 12 -- so we know we can punch anybody else in the face no matter who they throw on the mound."
Finding ways to win
In Game 1 on Monday, the Cavaliers counterpunched the Raiders' opening run with a six-run inning on two doubles, three singles, two hit batters, and one sacrifice bunt.
Dalton Kelley contributed two hits in the game with two RBIs and one run scored, and Waylan Heidik drove in three runs. Junior left-hander Quinn Johnson had more than enough run support as he allowed one run, five hits, and two walks with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Scottie Budrow came in for the final out after Johnson reached 102 pitches in what Lee called "a gem."
The Raiders put themselves in a better position to win Game 2 and force a third contest on Tuesday.
Trailing 1-0 at the bottom of the first, SCPS went up 2-1 on a Cardin Patrick's RBI single and Weston Hughes' RBI double. In between, senior slugger Harding Dennis pulled a ball to deep right where outfielder James Mobley made a leaping grab to save a potential run.
Every score was valuable as starters Dawson Kelly of SCPS (6 1/3 innings, six hits, four runs, three earned runs) and Cutter Powell of CDS (five innings, five hits, three runs, two earned) settled down in a tight contest.
Powell delivered an RBI single in the top of the third for 2-2, then the Raiders' Hughes drove in Patrick to restore a one-run advantage in the bottom of the stanza.
Johnson, playing first base in Game 2, drove in Calvary's third run on a two-out single up the middle in the fifth. CDS loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, and Johnson hit his first pitch from reliever Griffin Graham for a sacrifice fly to plate Heidik, who had hit an infield single, for the 4-3 final.
Savannah Christian, aiming to add to its 2017 Class A Private state title, didn't enter the season with the sameexpectations as the 2024 finalist Calvary. Oglesby said it was "very surprising" that the Raiders made the championship series despite a slew of injuries, including to senior pitchers/outfielders Dennis and Kelly as well as senior second baseman Jack Stahl.
"To actually get here was bigger than what some people might think," Dennis said. "Whether we lost both games, whether we won the state championship, actually getting here is a great enough accomplishment to complete."
He listed the Raiders' 3-0 win on Feb. 21 over state power Prince Avenue Christian as a major accomplishment and sign that SCPS could aim bigger this season. Stahl noted the Raiders' upset of favored host Wesleyan in the state semifinals as the biggest highlight.
"I'm really proud of the way our team fought this year, a lot of ups and downs," Stahl said. "I feel like we got really close as the season's gone on. We found that chemistry and got hot at the right time and we put some wins together. It was a really good season."
Kelly, the third senior on the otherwise young squad, said he was proud of how the upperclassmen stepped up.
"They have a very good chance at getting back here," Kelly said. "A really talented junior class. If they get back here, I feel the nerves that they have will be gone. They will be used to that circumstance, and I think they have a very good chance of winning."
| Game 1 | |||||||||||
| Calvary Day 9, Savannah Christian 1 | |||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| SCPS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | |
| CDS | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 9 | 8 | 0 | |
| Game 2 | |||||||||||
| Calvary Day 4, Savannah Christian 3 | |||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| CDS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2 | |
| SCPS | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | |
| Records—Calvary Day 29-7; Savannah Christian 26-15. |
Photo Credits: Courtesy Calvary Day School Communication Department
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