The Starr’s Mill Panthers and the Sandy Creek Patriots have advanced to the second round of the state baseball playoffs in their respective classifications.

The Panthers (17-9) hosted the Brunswick Pirates in the opening round and won in two games, 7-5 and 5-2. Starr’s Mill trailed the Brunswick Pirates 2-0 after the top of the first inning, but Trent Freeman drove in a run in the bottom of the first to put the Panthers on the board.
Brian Fletcher hit a home run in the bottom of the third and Tyler Claburn drove in two runs with a single in the inning to give Starr’s Mill a 4-2 lead. Brunswick tied the game but Freeman wasn’t done, driving in three runs with a double in the sixth and leading Starr’s Mill to a 7-5 win.

In the second game, Fletcher hit a two run home run in the first inning and the Panthers scored three more runs on a walk, an error and an RBI from Ryan Haynie.

Starr’s Mill will play at Jones County today and the winner will face the winner of the Heritage/Ringgold series.

Jones County (24-2) last lost on March 23. During their 18 game winning streak, the Greyhounds have held their opponents to two runs or less 16 times. To advance to the second round of the AAAA playoffs, Jones County defeated Americus-Sumter, 10-0 and 12-2.

Sandy Creek (17-11) finished the season and started the AAA playoffs on a strong note. The Patriots have gone 8-2 over their last 10 games and knocked off Gainesville, a region champion, in the first round of the playoffs last Friday. Sandy Creek won in two games 10-5 and 4-3. They will play at Riverwood today and the winner of this series will take on the winner of South Effingham and West Laurens.

In the first game against Gainesville, Craig Carroll and Jimmy Munson both hit home runs. Carroll’s was a solo shot and Munson’s drove in three runs. Robert Jaracz drove in four runs in the win. Brandon Swann was the winning pitcher.
In game two, the Patriots jumped out to a three run lead and Carroll, who went 5 for 9 in the series, drove in the winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.Others who hit the ball well for Sandy Creek were Nathan Bowen and Arthur Owens.

Swann had only pitched a total of eight innings prior to game one. His return gives the team a big boost.

Riverwood’s Raiders (23-5) have gone 16-1 in their last 17 games. They have scored in double digits 10 times in that span and have held opponents to two runs or less 10 times as well.
Whitewater’s Wildcats and Landmark Christian War Eagles were both knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. The Wildcats lost to Greenbrier 5-1 in the first game and 11-0 in the second game. Landmark fell to Athens Academy 6-5 in the first game and 7-3 in the second game.

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