AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Augusta Green Jackets are one of the hottest
teams in professional baseball.

And one of their more torrid bats is that of Bradford’s own Benj
Copeland.

A leadoff hitter and starting leftfielder, Copeland, 22,
continues his quest to join the major league roster of the San
Francisco Giants. His next stop could be the Class AA Connecticut
Defenders.

Entering Monday’s game, he was batting .301 and leading the
entire South Atlantic League in hits with 104. He is second in the
league in runs scored (59) and triples (9). Copeland is also among
the league’s top base-stealers with 21 swipes.

Augusta is on a roll, riding an 11-game win streak. They have
won 14 of their last 15 games and are 16-3 in the second half of
the South Atlantic League season.

San Francisco took Copeland with their first-round draft pack
last summer, after scouting him at the University of Pittsburgh.
Following an injury-plagued athletic career at Bradford High School
(Class of 2002), he came into his own at Pitt.

“I gained 20 pounds from my freshman year and didn’t try to hit
home runs,” Copeland, who is now six-foot-one, 195 pounds. “I
became a gap hitter with some power. A lot of it was confidence,
with the coaches helping my approach at the plate.”

He tore apart Big East pitching and was a terror on the
basepaths. Copeland ranks among the Pitt’s career leaders in
doubles, triples, runs scored, stolen bases, hits, RBI, and
walks.

Copeland batted over .300 during abbreviated stints in 2005 for
the Scottsdale Giants in the Arizona Rookie League and the
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in the short-season Class A Northwest
League.

Salem-Keizer manager Steve Decker said Copeland reminds him of
Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon: “He uses the whole field well and
shows the ability to drive the gaps for extra bases. His line-drive
swing, strength and speed mean he should pile up plenty of doubles
and triples. Copeland’s speed, instincts and solid arm all play
well.”

Dick Tidrow, the Giants’ vice president of player personnel,
sees major league potential in Copeland: “Ben is an all-around
player – a good defensive outfielder with speed, a left-handed
batter with pop, and definitely a base-stealing threat.”

Baseball America magazine forecasts Copeland’s arrival in the
major leagues in 2008.

But Copeland is not in any hurry.

“I still have a lot to learn and plenty of room for
improvement,” he told the Era as he prepared for the current
season. “I’ve got a good three or four years before I reach my peak
as a player.”

While he is at Augusta, Copeland is part of a baseball tradition
dating back more than a century. The Augusta franchise became a
charter member of the South Atlantic League in 1904. Ty Cobb,
referred to as the “Georgia Peach,” started his professional career
there.