South Georgia - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Valdosta High School is primarily known as a football school. The gridiron Wildcats’ region, state and national championships have been written about ad nauseam. Everyone recognizes the black and gold and immediately thinks of Wright Bazemore, Nick Hyder and the ghosts of Death Valley, but quietly tucked away within the same halls is the VHS baseball team—a squad that has been winning games and going to the playoffs for many, many years.

The baseball Wildcats don’t get the press that the football team does. It seems as though one storyline has followed another with regards to the football program, most of it revolving around the instability that has plagued Valdosta since the untimely death of Nick Hyder in 1996. The Wildcats recently hired their fourth head coach since 1996, and he will succeed Rick Tomberlin during the 2010 season. The baseball team hasn’t had to deal with that kind of controversy. For the last 13 years, Bart Shuman has served as Valdosta High’s head baseball coach. Shuman graduated from Aucilla (Florida) High School, where he played football, basketball and baseball. He attended Valdosta State University and played shortstop for the Blazers’ baseball team. Shuman coached at VSU for three years as an assistant, then headed to Hahira Middle School. His next stop was Valdosta High, where he took over as head baseball coach. He also coaches special teams and tight ends for the football team. His career spans 28 years, with 13 of those years with the Wildcats. “I always knew I wanted to be a coach. I’ve stayed here at Valdosta because of my kids and family. I have never cared to go anywhere else, and I don’t know anywhere else I’d rather be,” he says.

One might think that baseball would fly under the radar at a big football school like Valdosta, but that’s not the case at all. A successful football program raises the expectations of every sport in a school’s program. Many of the same athletes that help the football team be successful in the fall are also on the baseball diamond in the spring, and the winning tradition that has been synonymous with the Wildcats all these years carries over into baseball. “We’re not in the shadow of the football team at all. We do the best we can, and our kids give their heart and soul to the program. We put a great deal of pressure on ourselves to win,” says Coach Shuman. Valdosta has won one baseball state championship, which came in 1978. That team was anchored by Valdosta High legend Buck Belue, who may be best remembered as the quarterback of the 1980 Georgia Bulldogs team that won the national championship. Buck was also an accomplished baseball player and enjoyed a great baseball career at the University of Georgia. After graduation, he played a few years of minor league baseball with the Montreal Expos organization.

Despite not winning a state title since 1978, the Valdosta High baseball program has been very competitive within both the region and the state. During Coach Shuman’s 13-year tenure the Wildcats have won two region championships and made the playoffs eight times, including two Final Fours and two Elite Eights.

While Shuman has been coaching, the baseball talent in Georgia – and in Region I-AAAAA – has increased logarithmically. Georgia, specifically the Atlanta area, has been a hotbed of major league talent over the last several years, but the metro area isn’t the only place that has seen a surge in baseball aptitude. Baseball players all over the state are specializing in their chosen sport and often play year-round in the various school and travel leagues. Camps, combines and tournaments are popular, and more players than ever are focusing on college scholarships or pro contracts. The end result is a better pool of talent from which to pull. “Travel ball accelerates the players. We have better players now and better coaching. Everyone has better equipment; players have batting cages in their back yards. There’s just more talent,” he says.

At the same time, year-round baseball can be a double-edged sword. Pitchers have to be careful not to overextend their arms. After a full spring and summer of playing, the kids could use a little time off to rest, recover and begin preparing for the next season. “I’m not a big fan of fall baseball, especially for pitchers,” says Coach Shuman.

Travel teams, better equipment and access to better instruction may have altered the baseball landscape in some ways, but the way players learn the game has remained constant. “The fundamentals haven’t changed at all,” says Coach Shuman. Motivating the players isn’t any different than it was 28 years ago when Shuman began coaching. His players understand the stage upon which they play and they all have a strong will to win. Coach Shuman believes in old-fashioned hard work and discipline, and basing his coaching philosophy on those qualities has molded a program that brings out the best in its players. “You won’t sell a lot of motivational tapes with that kind of philosophy. The kids have to be coachable and learn the fundamentals. After that, the work and discipline take over,” he says.

One of the biggest challenges Coach Shuman has faced during his career came during his son’s senior year. Scott Shuman, a pitcher/shortstop, loved football almost as much as he loved baseball. He was a quarterback, but football wasn’t working out for him at Valdosta High.  In order to play football, he wanted to transfer to another school. Scott ended up a few miles up I-75 at region rival Tift County High. The 2005-2006 school year was an awkward situation at best, gut-wrenching at worst. Coach Shuman’s wife, Becky, is a teacher at Hahira Elementary. When Scott transferred, the Shumans sold their house in Lowndes County and moved to Tifton. They kept their jobs and commuted each day. “We bought a house there and I didn’t coach football that fall. Those two baseball games we played that year were sickening. It was no-win situation for me,” he recalls. Scott quarterbacked the Blue Devils in 2005, and played pitcher and shortstop the following spring for the baseball team. He ended up 8-2 with a 1.72 ERA and three saves during his senior season. He also hit .318 with seven home runs and 29 RBIs.

In that 2006 season, Shuman coached against his son twice—once in Tifton and once in Valdosta. The teams split the series, with each team winning at home. “That worked out about as well as it could have,” he remembers, “but it was sickening having to compete against my own son. You want to see your child do well, but you also have a team full of kids who want to win.”  When Valdosta hosted Tift, Scott hit a home run but the Wildcats went on to win the game. “I was happy for him when he homered, but it was bittersweet because it hurt our team. It was good for him to hit the home run. We went on to win the game, which was good for us. I don’t know if it could have turned out a better way,” he says.

Last season, the Wildcats went into the final game of the season as the second seed in the region. By night’s end they were in fourth, which resulted in a road trip to Augusta to play Greenbrier in the first round. Greenbrier defeated the Wildcats, and Valdosta’s season ended in the first round.

Four starters are returning from last year’s team: Chad Prain (pitcher/shortstop), Harrison Waller (second base), Brent Robison (shortstop/third base) and Tyler Yelito (right field). Coach Shuman has 10 juniors but only four sophomores, which has him worried about what might happen in the years to come. “You’ve got to have five or six really good players in each class to be good consistently,” he says. For this year at least, the aforementioned starters will provide proven leadership and the big junior class will play a pivotal role in the Wildcats’ success as well. In particular, Chad Prain will be called upon to anchor the staff. He was 4-2 with a 3.40 ERA in 2009. He struck out 42 batters in 41 innings. Chad is also a good hitter; he hit .295 and drove in 29 runs last season. Ross McCloud could also find himself in some big-game situations. “Ross could really be a sleeper for us this year,” says Coach Shuman.

Shuman expects the region to be very tough in 2010. He cites Lowndes, Northside and Coffee as the teams to watch, but is also quick to point out that the region is very strong from top to bottom. Players in Region I-AAAAA play a gritty, determined kind of baseball. The kids are also very close to each other, with many of them having played together for years before they reached high school. The players are stubborn and refuse to give up, which means anything can happen when region play begins. “Our region is going be very competitive this year,” he says.

Over the course of his career, Coach Shuman has had one player reach the big leagues. Buck Coats, a 2000 Valdosta High graduate, signed with the Chicago Cubs after being selected in the 18th round of the 2000 draft.  He reached the Major Leagues in 2006 and has played 46 games with the Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Toronto Blue Jays. The outfielder has hit one big league home run and is currently with the Kansas City Royals organization.

When Coach Shuman isn’t on the sidelines or in the dugout, he enjoys spending time with his wife and their children. While Scott is chasing his dream of playing Major League Baseball, the Shumans still have two children at home: Sloan, a senior at Valdosta High, and Seth, a sixth-grader at Valdosta Middle. “Coaching football and baseball doesn’t leave time for much else. I’m a family guy—I’m either coaching or playing with my kids. Or paying bills,” he laughs. •

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Auburntigers.cstv.com and baseball-reference.com contributed to this story.