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 Welcome |
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| Cyclones Fall Team 2002
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Thursday, August 23
Chattanooga Cyclones
The Chattanooga Cyclones baseball program was founded in 1993, by George Koontz. The Cyclones have fielded select teams every Summer since 1993, and select Fall teams every Fall since 1994. The Cyclones program was founded to assist talented, dedicated, and disciplined student-athletes in developing their baseball skills to their full potential and to provide them with exposure to college programs at which they are capable of playing, and for the lucky few who have professional potential, to give maximum exposure to scouts. The program emphasizes player development; however, winning is certainly a goal of the program. This is exemplified by the 18 & under 2002 Fall team's 22-7 record, the 2003 Fall team's 26-6 record, the Summer of 2003 team's (32-8) inaugural regular season Southeastern Championship Series championship, Summer 2004 record 6 tournament championships and 37-9 overall record, the 2005 Summer SCS tournament championship and final 16 appearance at the 18 & under Perfect Game IN 2005 AND 2006, and the 2004 Collegiate team's second place finish in the Georgia Stan Musial State Tournament and third place finish in the Southeast Regional, and the 2005 and 2006 Collegiate team's regular season championship in the Georgia Wooden Bat League, Georgia State Stan Musial Championship and 2nd place finish in the Stan Musial Southeastern Regional. In the Fall of 2004, the Cyclones 18 & under team went 28-3-1 including wins over the South Carolina Diamond Devils, Dulins Dodgers and the East Cobb Astros and 4 tournament championships, and in the Fall of 2005 the 18U team was 28-6 with four tournament championships including the 2005 Southern Fall Wood Bat World Series. The Fall record for the 18U for the last 4 years is 93-22-1 and the Summer record is 106-30 for an overall record of 199-52-1 for the last 4 years. However, helping each player on each team maximize his potential as a player and a person is of primary importance.
In 2005 Michael Langston, a Florida Marlins Associate Scout, Dylan Paris, a Tampa Bay Devil Ray's Associate Scout, and Mark Hunter coached the Summer 18 & under Cyclones team which is a member of the Southeastern Championship Series and the 17 & under Summer team coached by former Rockies' and Cardinals' minor Leaguer Jamie Tricoglou, Tery Hicks and Andrew Smith. In 2005 there was also a Summer wooden bat collegiate team coached by George Koontz, and an 18 & under Fall team coached by George Koontz, Jamie Tricoglou, Dylan Paris and John Morrow, and a fall team coached by Mike Dunfee and Trey Hicks. In the summer of 2006 the Cyclones fielded, 19 & under, 17 & under, 14 & under and 12 & under teams as well as the Collegiate team and in the Fall of 2006 there was an 18U team coached by Koontz, Paris and Travis Simmons and a 17U coached by Hunter and former Rangers’ and Padres’ Minor Leaguer, David Mead . In the Fall of 2007 there will be one 18U, one 16U and one 15U team. The Cyclones are one of the few, if not the only, programs in the South which maintains a summer wooden bat team for its high school senior signees who have signed scholarships to 4 year schools and for college players.
The Cyclones have had 181 players who have played Summer and/or Fall baseball who have already played college baseball on scholarships, including players who have played in the SEC, ACC, Sunbelt Conference, Sun Atlantic Conference, OVC, Southern Conference, Peach Belt Conference, Gulf South Conference, South Atlantic Conference, Southern States Conference, Florida Sun Conference, Panhandle Conference ,TJCAA, FJCAA and AJCAA among others. All 13 of the fall 2004 senior Cyclones signed a baseball scholarship and 10 signed during the early signing period in the fall and the other 3 had at least 1 offer a piece, but chose to wait until spring. The Cyclones had 10 players sign D-1 scholarships in the Fall 2005 early signing period and another signed a D-1 offer in April and one signed with D-II powerhouse, Carson-Newman, one signed with Cleveland State C.C. , one signed with Chattanooga State, one signed with Spartanburg Methodist Community College offers In the early signing period in the fall of 2006 three signed D-I scholarships, one declined 2 D-1 offers, one signed a Junior College offer and 5 others declined JUCO, NAIA and/or D-II offers electing to wait until April. Over the last 5 years , 52 Cyclones have moved from the 18U and/or Collegiate teams on to either Professional and/or D-I baseball. In the last 10 years, 36 players who have played for the Cyclones have been drafted and/or played professional baseball with two being supplemental first-round picks, one a second rounder, several others going in the first eight rounds, and another who has already played in the major leagues. It is anticipated that several additional Cyclones will be drafted in the June 2008 draft.
Over the last several years, the Cyclones have played at some of the top college and professional facilities in the Southeast including University of Louisville, University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, University of Alabama, University of Kentucky, Troy University, Austin Peay University, Tennessee Tech, Georgia State University, UAB, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb University, College of Charleston, Lee University, Memphis University, Arkansas State University, Jacksonville State University, Birmingham Southern, Charleston Southern, Citadel, Western Kentucky, University Eastern Kentucky, Carson-Newman College, Tusculum College, Southern Polytech, Wallace State-Hanceville, Gulf Coast Community College, Jefferson State Community College, Cleveland State Community College, and Chattanooga State Community College. They have also played at several professional leaques including Historic Engel Stadium, Birmingham's Rickwood Field, Charleston's Joseph Riley Park, Chattanooga’s Bell South Park (now A&T Field), the Detroit Tigers spring training facility, the Tampa Bay Devil Ray’s spring training facility.
The 2007 Summer season will be an exciting and challenging year as the Cyclones' program expands to include younger age groups, the Southeastern Championship Series expands to 12 teams and the Collegiate team strives to take the next step by advancing to the World Series. The SCS will be an all-wooden bat league again in the summer of 2007 giving the SCS 18 & under Cyclones a chance to play the real game all summer like the and Collegiate team playing in the Georgia Wooden Bat League and the 16U team will play in 3 World Series/National Championship tournaments and play at least half their games against 18U teams and the majority of games with wood. In addition, Coach Bumper Reese joins the Cyclones' coaches with a talented 12U team in 2007.
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