Athens head coach Chuck Smith has Athens baseball team back in the state baseball playoffs. Athens hosts Minor this evening in a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m.

What a difference a year makes for the Athens baseball team.

Athens has doubled its win total from a year ago and is having its best season since 2011, the last time the team hosted a first-round playoff game.

That team made a deep run in the Class 5A playoffs, reaching the state semifinals. The current Athens team is hoping to make another playoff run starting tonight when the team hosts Minor in a first-round playoffs series beginning at 5 p.m.

“I talked to them yesterday about not taking the playoffs for granted,” said head coach Chuck Smith. “I told the younger guys yesterday, ‘You are not guaranteed to make it next year or the next, so don’t look past these games on Friday. If they play like they are supposed to, they have a chance to make a pretty good run.”

In his second season as Athens head coach, Smith has the team poised to win its first home playoff series in six years. Smith says the turnaround began at the team’s summer camp at the University of Alabama-Birmingham in June.

“We got a whole summer together this time and I could see light bulbs go on when we were at team camp,” said Smith. “I could see it right then and ever since then everyone’s been on the same page. We’ve built a family mentality and they’ve really bought into that. Everyone of these guys from the freshmen to the seniors, they all like each other.”

Following a tournament in Gulf Shores over spring break, Athens has been on a tear. The Golden Eagles won eight of nine games immediately after the tournament and have gone 13-5 over the second half of the season.

“That (tournament) added another bonding experience for us,” said Smith. “For four days, it was just us and they learned more about one another. It all added to the family atmosphere and we’ve been rolling ever since then. We played some pretty quality teams at the beach.”

Bryson Kirk, Dalton Pack, Major Reeves, Kade McHalffey and Jacob McNairy are a big reason for the team’s dramatic turnaround. Kirk has a team-high 32 hits and 25 runs scored to go along with his team-best .390 batting average. He also leads the team with nine stolen bases.

“I’m trying not to worry about the stats,” said Kirk . “I’m focused more on having fun and winning ballgames as a team. After the Hazel Green series, we knew. We were down in the third game going into the sixth inning and we came back and won it. That was the turning point in the season.”

Reeves has been the big bat for the Golden Eagles this year, driving in a team-high 19 runs with two home runs while Pack has a team-high seven doubles and is the team leader.

“Everybody is buying into the process and just becoming like a family,” said senior Dalton Pack. “Just being together more this year. We are more like a team.”

McNairy will be the first one on the mound against Minor tonight. He has a team-best 2.24 earned run average and has a 2-1 record in eight appearances this season. Jack Garvin is another pitcher that has made an impact for the Golden Eagles with a 2.40 ERA in 12 appearances.

If a third game is needed Saturday or throughout the playoffs, Kirk would start on the mound. Smith said he was also confident in his bullpen, which features pitchers Julian Revaz, Lars Stanford and Jonathan Owsley.

Favorable draw

Unlike previous years when Athens was drawn into an area with perennial powers Hartselle and Cullman, the Golden Eagles avoided both those teams in area play. Not only that, Athens won’t have to play any of those teams in the first two rounds.

Should Athens win this weekend, the team would play the winner of Albertville and Hueytown in the second round. After that, No. 8 Hartselle is a possible opponent in the third round while No. 1 Cullman and No. 3 Decatur are possible semifinal opponents.

But Athens players aren’t getting ahead of themselves. They are eager to take the field for the first home-field playoff series any of these players have been involved with.

“We’re extremely excited,” said Pack. “Everybody thought that we weren’t going to be good this year. Everyone was counting us out. Then we went from not winning an area game last year to winning it and hosting it.”