Starr’s Mill’s varsity baseball team (5-0), ranked seventh in Class AAAAA in a GaSports.com coaches poll, had two big games over the weekend. On Friday, the Panthers defeated Thomas County Central 16-6. Ryan Haynie was the winning pitcher and the offense was clicking, batting around in the third and fourth innings, scoring five in the third and seven in the fourth. Jimmy Tanner went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and Joey Lewis went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Spencer Shelton went 3-for-4 at the plate and T.J. Stillwell went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

On Saturday, the Panthers played a 10 inning game against Lee County, ranked second in AAAA, and won 7-4. Lee County took a lead in the second inning but Brian Fletcher and Lewis each hit a solo home run in the fourth to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. Lee County socred three in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-2 lead but Tanner tied the game with a two run home run in the sixth. The score remained deadlocked until the top of the 10th when Lewis drove in Scooter Houston and Tanner hit his second two run home run of the game. Lee Jones, who had pitched a scoreless ninth, did it again in the 10th for the win, getting two strikeouts in two inning. Lewis pitched four scoreless innings with two strikeouts and Bryan Daniels pitched the first four innings of the game with three strikeouts and a walk.

Starr’s Mill plays at Riverdale this afternoon at 5;30 p.m. and will host Milton on Friday at 7 p.m. and McIntosh on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Our Lady of Mercy (1-0) started off their season last Friday afternoon on a positive note, defeating Hebron Christian Academy 11-1 in six innings. The Bobcats were led by the hitting of seniors Brett Bartles and David Bridier, who each had two hits and two RBIs, and the pitching of Jarrod Boccella who threw four scoreless innings, striking out six and scattering four hits.

The game started out as a pitching battle as both teams stranded runners in each of the first three innings. Mercy led 1-0 going into the fourth, but broke it open with a seven run outburst. Bridier started the scoring off with a two run double to right. Later in the inning, Bartles and junior left fielder Brett Thomas hit back to back two run singles. Freshman Tommy Kearns topped off the scoring by drawing a bases loaded walk.

Bridier pitched two effective innings to finish the game for the Bobcats. Mercy ended the game after six innings by delivering three more runs to close out the scoring. Freshman William Pearl lined a single to center to score Bartles and Boccella. Catcher Neil Renfroe ended the game with an RBI single.

The Bobcats will host Yeshiva today at 4 p.m. and will host Athens Christian in a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon.

Sandy Creek’s Patriots (3-0) kept up their winning streak by defeating Lovejoy 14-4. Sophomore Duncan Midkiff picked up his second win of the season in the game. The Patriots scored in every inning of the game. They only trailed by one run at the top of the third inning. After that Sandy Creek scored two in the bottom of the third, three in the fourth, two in the fifth and five in the sixth. They scored all 14 runs on six hits and only commited one error to the Wildcats six. Tyler Betsill and Derrick Pugh both had two singles a piece in the game. The Patriots walked 18 times in the win.

Sandy Creek will host East Coweta today at 5:30 p.m.

Landmark Christian (5-0) , ranked fifth in Class A in a GaSports.com coaches poll, also traveled over the weekend, playing in the Georgia/Alabama Challenge and handing losses to Heard County, 13-2 and Randolph County, Ala., 22-0. On Monday, the War Eagles fell behind Creekside but stormed back to win 16-6.

Landmark hosted Brookstone yesterday and will host Paideia at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

The McIntosh Chiefs (2-0) took on Riverdale on Monday and won 22-1. The Chiefs will host Lovejoy today at 5;30 and will play at Fayette County at 7 p.m on Monday.

Fayette County (2-1) picked up two wins in south Georgia over the weekend, defeating Brunswick 6-4 and then beating Benedictine 16-7.

The Tigers took on Whitewater yesterday after the paper went to press.

Whitewater’s Wildcats (0-3) fell to East Coweta on Monday, 11-5, after a 6-3 loss to Union Grove on Friday. Kevin Lewallen got the start against Union Grove, striking out four batters, and also went 4-for-4 at the the plate. Whitewater had a three run lead but gave up five runs in the bottom of the third inning and couldn’t mount a comeback.