They did it.

The Starr’s Mill Panthers varsity baseball team went 25-0 in the regular season and will enter the playoffs as the number one ranked team in the state, according to a GaSports.com baseball coaches poll. In their last four games, all against region opponents, the Panthers got the job done. They defeated Mundy’s Mill 15-10 last Thursday, getting four RBIs from Jimmy Tanner, two RBIs from Joey Lewis and a home run from Brian Fletcher. Will Mathis picked up the win on the mound. Starr’s Mill followed that game with a 7-6 win over Fayette County. Lewis hit a home run and drove in two runs, Tanner drove in two runs as well and Spencer Shelton drove in another. Lewis was the winning pitcher in the game.

On Saturday, they made up their game against East Coweta, which was second in the region and nipping at their heels. The Panthers won 10-0 in five innings, getting a two run home run from Lewis, three RBIs from winning pitcher Andrew Robinson and an RBI a piece from Michael Huempfner and Lee Jones. On Monday, Starr’s Mill defeated Newnan 17-7 in six innings. Lewis hit another two run home run while driving in four runs on the day, Fletcher hit a home run and also drove in four runs and Robinson drove in three runs, while Huempfner and Scooter Houston each went 2-for-3 at the plate. Bryan Daniels got the win.

The Panthers will open the playoffs a week from Friday at home against the fourth seed from region 3-AAAAA, which, at the time this article was written, was Jenkins.

Fayette County (14-10, 6-5 region) has one game left in region play but appears to have locked up the third seed from the region. After their 7-6 loss to Starr’s Mill, the Tigers fell to Union Grove 10-9 on Monday. They will close out the regular season today with a home game against Mundy’s Mill at 7 p.m. The Tigers will be on the road to start the playoffs and will face the second seed out of region 3-AAAAA, which at this time is Brunswick. The Tigers defeated Brunswick 6-4 earlier this season.

In 4-AAAA, Whitewater hosted Sandy Creek on Friday night and won 3-1, despite two delays due to problems with the lights. Ryan Gilreath hit a single that drove in two runs in the bottom of the first. Sandy Creek struck back in the second inning when Jameil Chambers got to second base on an error and scored when an error was made on a hit from Braxton Lane. Whitewater scored once more when Gilreath hit a single and Dustin Davis scored on a throwing error to third base. The two teams would remain deadlocked at that score for the next two hours and three innings.

The win gave Whitewater (14-8) the second seed in the region 4-AAAA south sub-region and put Sandy Creek (15-8) in third. Whitewater will host Villa Rica in a double header on Thursday beginning at 4 p.m., while Sandy Creek will play a double header at Lithia Springs beginning at 4 p.m. Winning these series would guarantee a state playoff spot for both teams.

McIntosh ended their season with a heatbreaking 12-11 loss to Northgate in eight innings followed by an 19-3 win over Creekside on Friday. Chase Brinson knocked in five runs for the Chiefs in their game against the Vikings and McIntosh refused to quit, even when they were down 8-0 early. In the Creekside game, which was also senior night for McIntosh, the seniors shined. Brendan Hall got the win, striking out five batters, while fellow senior Brinson hit a home run and drove in three RBIs. Drew Webb, another senior, kicked things off with a three run blast in the first, while seniors Cameron Wallis and Alex Brown each drove in two runs and Ryan Galvin scored two runs. Underclassmen with a good night were Jake Tanis, who hit a home run and drove in two runs and John Riccitelli, who hit a home run, scored four runs and drove in four RBIS.

The 2006 season will leave many McIntosh players and fans wondering what could have been. They lost to Northgate, the top team in the sub-region, by one run twice, fell to Whitewater once in extra innings and lost four sub region games by two runs or less.

In 5-A baseball action, Landmark Christian (21-3) lost to Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy 6-0 on Saturday but defeated Brookstone 14-1 on Monday. Brad Miller threw a one hitter and Tommy Kinney and Trey Strickland each had two hits in the win. The War Eagles hosted Our Lady of Mercy yesterday after the paper went to press and will finish the regular season tomorrow at Paideia. Landmark is currently ranked second in Class A in a GaSports.com baseball coaches poll.

Landmark is tied for second in the region with Mt. Paran with one region game each remaining. Both are guaranteed a playoff spot and while the teams went 1-1 against each other, the War Eagles have a slight advantage in runs scored against Mt. Paran.

Our Lady of Mercy (8-12) got a 13-3 win over Galloway last Friday, snapping a three game losing streak. David Bridier got the win, throwing five innings of four hit ball, while Jarrod Boccella pitched the sixth inning. Brett Thomas went 3 for 3 at the plate and had four RBIs, while Neil Renfroe hit a three run triple. Bridier was 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

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