Starr’s Mill (25-0) vs. Groves (11-11)

The Panthers open the state playoffs at home once again and they are hoping to make quick work of the Groves Rebels. Ranked first in the GaSports.com baseball coaches poll, the Panthers scored 258 runs this season and allowed 75, while posting seven shutouts. Starr’s Mill has a balanced offense that seems to produce 1-9, with Joey Lewis and Brian Fletcher crushing home runs throughout the season. They also have a stable of good pitching led by Andrew Robinson, who was on the mound for four shutouts, and Bryan Daniels, who pitched in three shutouts.

Groves has had an uneven season, splitting series with playoff bound teams such as Brunswick and Camden County. That either means that the region is very even or that Groves can rise to the level of better competition.

Fayette County (15-10) @ Brunswick (18-8)

The Tigers started the season by going 7-2 but followed it with .500 play. They took care of business in the region, sweeping Lovejoy, Mundy’s Mill and Newnan and stole a game from Union Grove with a walk-off grand slam from Matt Burns. Matt Clark and John Lees have done well on the mound and Kevin Finn, Burns and Josh Brock have come up with some big hits this season. Fayette County defeated Brunswick 6-4 on March 3.

The Pirates have only lost three times since March 28 and six of their last seven wins have been by double digits. In fact, Brunswick has scored in double digits in 15 of their 18 wins this year, so Fayette County will have their hands full trying to keep the score down.

Whitewater (16-9) vs. Henry County (12-14)

The Wildcats will send Woodward Academy a thank you card as their upset of Alexander in the region playoffs paved the way for Whitewater to open the state playoffs at home. Whitewater heated up quickly after opening the season with four straight losses. They have gone 8-3 in their last 11 games and are getting production throughout their line-up with freshman catcher Miles Head leading the way in the region playoffs. There is a chance that pitcher Justin Carpenter may not be available for this series due to a turned ankle and that will put some added pressure on the Wildcats as Carpenter has been the team’s ace this season.

Henry County is the defending state champions and after starting the season with a miserable 0-8 record, started to play some good baseball. Those first eight losses are very deceptive though. Four of those losses were 1-0 and another loss was by one run. In their last 10 games of the season, the Warhawks went 7-3.

Sandy Creek (17-8) at Hardaway (17-5)

The Patriots opened the season with three straight wins and followed it up with one run losses to playof bound Starr’s Mill and East Coweta. After that was a 10-1 run that had many believing that Sandy Creek could win the region. The Patriots stumbled a bit in the second half of the season but they bounced back by winning four of their last five games. One of the team’s greatest assets is that they keep games close and are in almost every ball game. Seven of their eight losses were by two runs or less. If the Patriots win, watch for big games from Brent Brewer, Kel Cudsik and Tyler Betsill among others.

Hardaway went undefeated in sub-region play but fell short of capturing the top seed in the region. The Golden Hawks should match up very well with Sandy Creek as they have played in a lot of close games and had mixed results, while also picking up some very big wins.

Landmark Christian (22-4) @ Bowdon (19-6)

The War Eagles didn’t stumble often this season but when they did it was to the same two teams; Mt. Paran and Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy. The team can score though. Landmark was only held below double digits in runs seven times. They went 8-2 in their last 10 games and have had good games all year from Tommy Kinney and Trey Strickland.

Bowdon also went 8-2 over their last 10 games but they need to hope that the games aren’t close because they are 0-3 in one run games this season. They too can score a lot of runs in a game and keep their foes off the board. The Red Devils have scored over 10 runs 11 times this season and have held opponents to two runs or fewer 11 times this season as well.
All of these games will be doubleheaders on Friday with games starting at 5 p.m. The “if” game will be played on Saturday. Visit www.thecitizen.com for updates throughout the weekend.

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