Blake Parrott takes helm of Pirates baseball

The Pirates baseball program was set on a strong course by coach Don Hanson who recently retired after 20 years of coaching the team and his assistant coach Blake Parrott will now take the helm. Coach Parrott is a Pike County High School and Pirates baseball alum who has been an assistant coach for seven seasons and helped the team as they earned six back-to-back region championships and two state championships.

“We all are committed to making each student athlete, not just the best player, but the best person they can be. We realize they all are not going to get drafted and become a professional athlete, but they will one day become husbands, fathers and contributors to society and that is what we want them to be most successful at. Baseball is a game of life and teaches us how to respond to failure. We say all the time that we either win or we learn. I just hope that we are teaching them what is the most important thing in life and that it isn’t winning a game, but winning at life is putting God first in all that we do,” said Blake.

Parrott excelled as a Pirates baseball player and earned the Rawlings Gold Glove award in 2009 while playing first base for Gordon State College. He later became a coach for the Highlanders baseball team and coached first base when they made it to the JUCO College World Series in 2012 and earned third place in the nation at the series in Grand Junction, CO. He became an assistant coach with the Pirates in 2016. As a Pirates coach, he earned the Georgia Dugout Club AAA Assistant Coach of the Year honor in 2020 and 2022.

“God is so good and I’m so thankful for all His wonderful blessings. I have been a Pirate my whole life. Even when I worked at other places, I still bled red and black. I am not a here today gone tomorrow guy that will look for the next best thing. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, its greener where you water it and I plan on pouring all I have not only into this program but also this community,” said coach Parrott. “I don’t know what God has for my future, but I would like to be here long enough that my name and Pike County baseball go hand and hand. My son (Grayson) and my future wife (Marley) are also invested in me taking on this opportunity. Marley is a Pike County High School alum and was a standout softball player. She will now get the opportunity to teach where she went to school as she took a position at Pike Primary as a second-grade teacher. The support from my family will make the transition from assistant to head coach a lot easier. There are two people though that I must give the most credit to for always supporting my dreams, my Mom and Dad. The Pike County baseball program is a large part of Pike County High School and this community. My time working for coach Hanson has been priceless. I believe one of my gifts with athletes is building relationships and getting a response from them because of that trust. They will know that I am there for them and care about them as a person first and athlete second.”