Members past and present of Columbia American Legion Post 19 baseball paid honor to former player Bobby Bratton Tuesday at Columbia State’s Dave Hall Field. Bratton a former standout player for Post 19 and Columbia Central passed away in 2017 following a courageous battle with cancer.
A graduate of Central High Bratton excelled on the field. Bratton was a four-year starter at Columbia Central for former Blue Raider Mark Pickle and was voted All-State by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association his final three seasons. He batted .434 with seven homers and 48 RBIs as a sophomore, earning All-District honors.
The shortstop came back with a .451 average, 13 home runs and 49 RBIs as a junior, garnering All-District honors and All-Midstate accolades from The Tennessean in the process.
As a senior, Bratton led the Lions to the Class AAA State Tournament, batting .370 with 10 homers, 12 doubles and 40 RBIs, earning All-Midstate accolades for a second straight season. He missed two weeks of his senior campaign because of an appendectomy.
Bratton earned National Junior College Athletic Association Third Team All-America honors as a freshman at Motlow State Community College after batting .388 with 13 doubles, 20 home runs and 57 RBIs for the 38-18 Bucks. He tied for the national lead in home runs and led and Tennessee Junior and Community College Athletic Association in runs scored with 70 while ranking fifth in RBIs. He also tied for third in the TJCCAA in triples, was first in slugging percentage (.831) and ranked seventh in on-base percentage (.463).
For his efforts the 6-foot-1, 190-pound infielder was voted TJCCAA Freshman and Player of the Year as well as First Team All-TJCCAA.(HSBaseballWeb)
Mickey McKeel with the Columbia American Legion spoke on behalf of the Bratton family making a scholarship announcement. Here’s the ceremony from Tuesday night at CSCC as caught by TSNSports:
Tuesday’s action on the field consisted of the American Legion Post 19 17U team taking on Columbia Central and Post 19 Sr. team vs Charleston, Mo. Fighting Squirrels. Post 19 17’s defeated the Lions 6-1 and the seniors came from behind down 4-1 to plate 4 in the 7th and 8th innings to beat the Fighting Squirrels 9-4. TSNSports caught some of the action in these TSNImages.
Wednesday’s doubleheader got rained out.
Next action for the 17U squad will be:
June 14, 2018
Thursday @ McGavock HS
G1) 5pm Post 281 vs. MJ Grizzlies
G3) 7pm Post 19 vs. H’villeShooters
Thursday @ Hillwood
G2) 5pm Hillwood A’s vs. Music City Saints
Friday @ McGavock HS
G4) 4pm Winner G1 vs. Winner G2
G5) 6pm Loser G1 vs. Loser G2
G7) 8pm Post 88 vs. Maroons
Friday @ BSAA in Bellevue
G6) 6pm Post 5 vs. Post 17
G8) 8pm Winner G3 vs. Winner G6
Post 19 Seniors travels to and will play Troy Alabama Post 70 Saturday June 16 9AM at the University of Troy. They’ll play Fayette at 11:30AM.