Columbia St. signs Cascade's Brown

Cascade's Josh Brown is joined at his signing with Columbia State by parents Yvonne and Roger Brown with, back from left, former Cascade coach Chris Parker and current Cascade coach Brandon Bassham. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"(Columbia State) was closer to home than the other schools I was going to go to and have more money out of them and plus it'd be a good place for me to go," said Brown, who chose the Chargers over Tusculum and Walters State.

"It feels pretty good to just be able to go some place else and play more ball."

The 5-foot-10, 152-pound southpaw finished off a five-year career at Cascade by helping them go further than any team in school history, finishing tied for third in the Class A state tournament.

Brown went 10-0 with two saves en route to being named All-State by both the Tennessee Baesball Report and Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association. He struck out 105 in just 67 innings pitched, while giving up only 43 hits and 20 walks.

"When your strikeout-to-walk ratio is over 5-1 then that's outstanding," Cascade coach Brandon Bassham said. "He was outstanding his whole career here playing against him and then, once I came, pitching for me."

Brown earned District 9-A pitcher of the year honors as a junior after going 9-1 with 81 strikeouts in 55 2/3 innings. He shared the award his senior campaign with teammate Kyle Mullins.

"When you have a No. 1 and 2 that threw as well as they did all year long, it makes it easy to have the record we did. We just kind of put the district schedule on their shoulders and they rode us through it," said Bassham, whose team went 36-3-1 this year.

During Brown's five-year stint with the Orange and Black under Bassham and former coach Chris Parker, they boasted a combined record of 133-47-1.

Brown joins Mullins as Champs to receive a scholarship from the '09 class. Six players -- Kyle Clanton, Nick Batts, Justin Bryant, Zack Hill, Corey Mullins and MoMo Stewart -- from the '08 class either signed a letter of intent or played college baseball.

The last two seasons combined, Brown went 19-1 with 186 strikeouts in 122 2/3 innings pitched. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"It speaks a lot," Bassham said. "You have to give Chris a lot of the credit for the last three years Josh. A lot of (the credit) goes to the kids themselves with the amount of work they put in, a lot of extra time. Even in basketball, they would hit, run or throw on their own."

Brown recently returned from Sumter, S.C., where his Senior American Legion team played a pair of games in the Southeast Regional. He helped Shelbyville Post 23 win the Tennessee state tournament by holding down defending champ Columbia Post 19 and future Columbia State teammates.

The 18-year-old Wartrace resident played the last few months with Coffee County's Sam Davis, who will also be a Charger this fall. They head to campus in Columbia for their first year with new coach Mike Corn, the former University of Tennessee Director of Baseball Operations Mike Corn.

Brown said he plans on majoring in general education.