Houston Co. baseball seniors Profit, Moore, Phillips join together for signing ceremony

The senior core of Houston County High’s 2014 state championship run earned their chances to play college baseball.

The senior core of what Jason Brett and Bear supporters hope are a return to that glory in the spring of 2015 also have bright futures as college players ahead of them.

Three of those seniors signed national letters-of-intent with three different colleges Friday. Two of them are outfielders, Josh Profit with North Georgia University and Andy Moore with Georgia Southwestern State. Pitcher/infielder Hunter Phillips found a place at the Division I level, signing with Georgia Southern University.

Brett said these respective universities are receiving players who will excel both on the field and the classroom.

In 2014, Profit hit .339 with three home runs, 22 RBI and 40 runs scored.

“Something you can’t put on a stat sheet is the numerous outstanding plays in the outfield Josh made,” said Brett. “Bending backwards. Falling over. One of the plays in the playoffs, a bending, twisting, turning play showed his athleticism.”

“It all started when I was 4,” said Profit. “My dad made me pick up a bat. He said I had too much energy, and they wanted to get me out of the house.”

Profit’s played the game all over the country, and through coaching he said he’s developed instincts in placing the baseball anywhere and getting good jumps in the outfield. Athleticism runs in the family, for instance mother Sonja competed in track and field in the Junior Olympics and at Michigan State University.

“My dad was fast, too. That’s where I guess I get my speed,” said Profit. “Speed is a big part of my game.”

The North Georgia Saints in Dahlonega has a strong recent tradition in baseball, though the last winning season was in 2011. But under coach Tom Cantrell (539-340 career record), North Georgia has three conference championships and two runners-up since 2000.

“I like the coaches and how they made me feel so at home away from home,” said Profit. “How I know I can turn to them. All the guys I met on the team seemed like good guys, like the guys here. That’s what I wanted, a home away from home.”

In school, Profit wants to major in economics and business law. He is looking to earn an MBA degree and become a financial analyst or advisor.

“(Moore) really came into his own as a hitter and an outfielder this past year,” said Brett. Looking at the state finals vs. Whitewater, Brett remembered how Moore came through when the team was down big by hitting a home run that made everybody believe they could win it all.

Moore had a .336 average with four homers and 26 RBI.

“He’s a verbal leader and an emotional leader,” said Brett. “The kids rally around him.”

“I’ve built myself around this, around the game,” said Moore, son of Perry Middle principal Thomas Moore and Jan Moore. “I’m so glad I’m going where I’m going.

“I love a small town (GSW located in Americus). I love their work ethic, that they work out early in the morning. We have a pipeline through this county going there.”

In fact, Hunt Smith from the Class of 2014 signed with the Hurricanes last spring, as did Jordan McIlwain. Ethan Broome of Northside and Jarrod Crum of Warner Robins are also in the GSW freshman class of 2015.

“I need to work on my mentality,” said Moore. “I always have swing issues. Primarily, I’m an outfielder, but (GSW) wants me as a first baseman. I might catch and pitch a little bit.”

Moore’s academic goals are to major in education and become a physics teacher.

“We are probably going to be better than we were last year,” said Moore looking towards the Bear spring season. “We’re not going to have the big numbers in the middle, but we’ll be evenly distributed. We’ll all contribute a great amount.”

“(Phillips) has been talking about Georgia Southern as long as I can remember,” said Brett. “He played first base as a sophomore and second base as a junior. The place he really makes his mark is on the mound. He’s got some serious velocity.”

From the plate, Phillips batted .377 as a junior with 10 doubles and 31 RBI. He won seven games pitching in 11 appearances. In 49 innings, he struck out 35.

“(Georgia Southern) just felt right,” said Phillips. “When I go there to pitch and step on the mound, emotionally and physically it feels right. I’ve been to bigger schools, but it just clicked there.”

The big schools do like the Bear program, for Georgia Tech signed Blake Jackson and Georgia State Justin Jones.

“There’s no such thing as a bad player in this program,” said Phillips. “When you are around so much talent, you only get better. We create competition within each other. That pushes us to do as good as we did last year.”

Phillips said his pitching plan is to attack with the fastball and hold off on the change-up unless it’s necessary. He said he needs to work on his strength, especially in the lower body.

“It takes a lot of hard work, and you are going to go through rough patches,” said Phillips. “Every player (on the Bears) has gone through a rough patch, but you have 20 others you know will pick you up.”

Phillips would love to keep playing baseball beyond college. Otherwise, athletics are still in his future plans as he will study sports management in college and become an agent. He may even try in engineering studies.

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