GHSA announces state championship venues

Posted 4/18/19

SunTrust Park will serve as one of the Georgia High School Association's state championship venues in May.

(Special Photo: atlantabraves.com)

 

State championship sites announced

The Georgia High School Association announced its state championship venues Thursday morning and the 2019 championships will include three new locations -- SunTrust Park, Coolray Field and Luther Williams Field in Macon.

SunTrust Park is the home of Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves, while Coolray Field in Gwinnett County is the home of the Braves' Class AAA minor league affiliate, the Gwinnett Stripers. Luther Williams Field will serve as the host site in Macon after the championships were held last year at Mercer University's OrthoGeorgia Park at Claude Smith Field.

Two other venues -- Rome's State Mutual Stadium and Savannah's Grayson Stadium -- will continue to host GHSA state baseball championships, which are scheduled for May 20-23, 2019.

This will be the first time SunTrust Park and CoolRay have hosted state championships. State Mutual Stadium and Grayson Stadium have hosted championships since the GHSA went to neutral sites two years ago.

“This new partnership with the Braves is much appreciated and very important to the Georgia High School Association,” Dr. Robin Hines, GHSA Executive Director, said in a statement. “We are excited for the opportunity the Braves organization is providing for our schools to have a genuine professional baseball experience in the championship series. This has been months in the planning and we are very grateful for the Braves’ efforts in making this dream come true for our student-athletes and fans.”  

The best-of-three Class 7A state championship series will be played on May 20 at SunTrust Park. with a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. If a third and deciding game is needed, it would be played at 5 p.m. on May 21.

Coolray Field will play host to one state championship series on May 20. If a third game is needed, the series would move to SunTrust Park and be played on May 21.

Rome will play host to state championship series in two classifications on May 21 and May 22, with a third and deciding games set for May 23.

With the exception of SunTrust Park which will play host to the Class 7A state championship series, the venues are unknown for the remaining seven classifications (note Class 1A is divided into a public and private classification). The GHSA won't make decisions on where the remaining classes will play until after the quarterfinal round of the state baseball playoffs.