Justin Brown, a product of Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, signs scholarship papers to continue his baseball and academic career at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tenn. Shown with Brown are his parents, Sara and Darryl.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Only weeks after signing Red Bank's Jalen Moore to a scholarship, Hiwassee head baseball coach Shane Gardner was back in Chattanooga on Wednesday evening. This time he was in the Scenic City looking for a player he described as "a spark plug, someone who could boost our team and contribute right away."
He believes he's found that young man in former Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences' Justin Brown.
Brown believes he's found his niche, as well, saying, " I have a couple of summer league (Tennessee Express) teammates there and I immediately felt comfortable on the campus." Gardner hopes this is the case with even more Chattanooga-area players to come. With the recent signing of Moore and now Brown, Hiwassee currently has several local players on its roster.
"It used to be that Tennessee Temple, Covenant (College) or Cleveland State pretty much had this area locked down. It's amazing what developing a winning record will do for you," grinned the youthful Gardner. And that's one of the things that sold Brown on Gardner as his next coach.
"I like the fact that he's a younger guy," said Brown, "He knows more about kids today. Playing under him will be cool." Hiwassee's newest Tiger continued, "Went I went up to a camp to try out, he told me 'Do your best, don't try to impress me.'"
But, impress him he did. Gardner says that teams at their level must live with the two-way players, As for Brown, he feels that the center fielder/relief pitcher can contribute defensively right away. He will continue to play mostly in the outfield with use as a reliever in the cards.
At CSAS, according to stats provided by assistant coach Mark Bracher, Brown was 13-for-49 as a hitter, batting .265 his senior year. In his career for the Patriots, he went 62-for-219 with a .283 average and 32 Runs Batted In.
With the ball in his hand, Brown was 2-0 with one save his senior year for a .043 ERA. In four years he compiled a record of 9-6-1 on the mound.
Brown will major in physical therapy
Last season Hiwassee finished 12th in the nation (30-22) in the National Christian College Athletic Association and missed an appearance in that organization's World Series by mere percentage points.
(Email Dennis Norwood at sportsshooter614@gmail.com; follow him on Twitter at @DennisENorwood)