The Starr’s Mill varsity baseball team captured a slice of the region title, along with Northgate and Woodward Academy, but more importantly they captured the second seed and will start the AAAA state playoffs this Friday at home.

The Panthers (15-9, 13-3 region) opened the season with six straight losses. They closed out the regular season with a 7-5 win over Whitewater and have won 10 of their last 11 games. Their opponent in the first round of the playoffs is the Brunswick Pirates (15-10, 7-3). The Pirates have gone 3-3 over their last six games and completed the regular season with a 5-3 win over Evans last Friday.

Whitewater’s Wildcats are the fourth seed out of region 2-AAAA and will travel to take on Greenbrier on Friday. The Wildcats (18-8, 12-4) won six of their last seven games and swept the number one seed from their region, Northgate, during the regular season. The Wolf Pack (21-4) defeated Effingham County 3-1 in the region title game last Friday.

Sandy Creek made the Class AAA state playoffs and will take on Gainesville on the road this Friday. The Patriots (15-11, 7-7) closed out the season with four straight wins and six wins in their last eight games, allowing one run or less in five of those games. Gainesville (21-5, 16-4) has gone 12-2 over their last 14 games and scored 12 runs or more in five of those games.

Landmark Christian earned the third seed in region 5-A and will travel to meet Athens Academy on Friday. Landmark (17-7, 11-5) closed out th regular season with four straight wins and six of their last eight wins saw the War Eagles score a lot of runs. Athens Academy (19-7, 15-3) went 10-1 in their last 11 games and held opponents below three runs six times in that span.

These teams will play two games on Friday afternoon with the “if” game scheduled for Saturday afternoon.