Bryan County baseball players Gage Hagan and Brian Meyer started playing together in grade school and will continue as teammates after both signed Tuesday to play for West Georgia Technical College.
The middle infield duo — Meyer plays short stop while Hagan plays second — said they are looking forward to honing their skills for the Golden Knights.
“The coach there said he really liked our chemistry turning double plays together,” Hagan said. “We went up there for a visit and they made us an offer.”
Meyer said they both intend to compete for starting roster spots.
“The coach told us short and second are both up for grabs,” he said. “We just want to keep developing our skills and getting better.”
Both were first-team All-Region selections in Region 2-AA. Meyer led the Redskins in batting with a .449 average and had 12 RBIs. Hagan hit .338 and had 20 stolen bases in 21 attempts. Bryan County won 20 games this season for the first time in 35 years.
“Both of these guys will be missed and I hope they will take the time to come back and visit so the future Redskins can see the benefits of doing things the right way as these two young men always seemed to do,” Coach Jason Roundtree said.”
Hagan is just the second player to start every game on varsity all four years for Roundtree. The other is Dahlson Brown, who signed earlier this month to play at Limestone College.
“I will truly miss penciling in Gage Hagan’s name in the lineup, it has been an automatic for the last 4 years here,” Roundtree said. “He has done everything asked of him and has worked hard to earn everything that he has.”
Roundtree also said he thinks Meyer was the best player in the region this year, missing out on player of the year honors by one vote.
“My favorite memory of Brian is him getting his cast taken off on a Thursday morning (from an injury during basketball season), and taking batting practice for the first time Friday morning and then hitting a home run over the center field fence in just his third at bat of the season,” Roundtree recounted.
The Golden Knights went 18-36 this past spring, competing in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association. More than two dozen players have moved on from the program in recent years to four-year schools to continue playing baseball.
Hagan said he intends on studying engineering, while Meyer said he is considering physical therapy.