By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
Paul Winland Jr. has had quite a college baseball journey since graduating from Beaufort High School, with stops at three schools.
Now he has arrived at one of the storied destinations in college baseball.
The former Eagle — and Missouri Tiger … and Northwest Florida Raider — is now starring for Georgia Gwinnett College, and the Grizzlies are in it to win it at the NAIA World Series, which started Saturday in Lewiston, Idaho.
Winland was an all-state standout at Beaufort and signed with Missouri out of high school, but he diverted to the junior college ranks in search of more opportunity and was a two-time all-conference pick at Northwest Florida State College, helping the Raiders win to conference titles.
He has been an equally pivotal piece of the Grizzlies’ success, hitting .353 with a .494 on-base percentage and .684 slugging percentage while starting 58 of the team’s 60 games. Winland has belted 14 home runs to go with 13 doubles and four triples and amassed 87 RBIs.
Georgia Gwinnett won its NAIA World Series opener 5-2 over Indiana Southeast on Saturday, with Winland going 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. The Grizzlies rallied for a 12-6 win over Tennessee Wesleyan on Monday, as Winland went 1-for-5 with another RBI.
Winland and the Grizzlies were slated to face Reinhardt (Ga.) on Tuesday night with the winner advancing within one win of the championship game.
