Two of the four high school baseball teams from Fayette County have advanced to the sweet 16 in their respective classifications of the state baseball tournaments.

Whitewater’s varsity baseball team hosted the defending state champion Henry County Warhawks on Friday. The Wildcats (18-9) won the first game 5-4 and then defeated Henry County 11-3 in the second game. In the first game, Nick Rosa hit a bases loaded single in the bottom the seventh to score Heine Rivera for the win. Kevin Lewallen struck out seven batters and picked up the win, while Nick Nieves earned the save. In the second game, Joanthan Sholar hit a three run home run, what Coach Frank Dixon called a tape measure shot, and the Wildcats cruised to a victory. Whitewater has gone 7-3 over their last 10 games.

The win set up a match with Greenbrier (27-0) in the second round, which starts today. Greenbrier is the top ranked team in AAAA, according to a coaches poll on GaSports.com. The Wolf Pack has dramatically out scored their opponents this season, driving in 296 runs and giving up only 43. They advanced to the second round by beating Bainbridge 2-1 in the first game and 14-7 in the second game.

The winner of this series will face the winner of the North Forsyth and Ringgold series in the quarterfinals next Tuesday.

The Starr’s Mill Panthers, top ranked in AAAAA, according to the GaSports.com poll, (27-0) faced Groves on Friday and won the first game 9-1 and won the second game 14-0. Andrew Robinson got the start and the win and also went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Luke Harp hit a two run home run in the sixth inning, an inning which saw the Panthers bat around the order and score a total of six runs. In the second game, Bryan Daniels picked up the win, while T.J. Stillwell hit two home runs, driving in five RBIs, and Joey Lewis hit a home run and drove in four runs. Harp drove in two more runs in that game as well.

The win puts Starr’s Mill in the second round against Tift County (18-5). The Blue Devils have won eight of their last nine games, have pitched eight shutouts this season and have scored in double digits eight times.

The winner of this series will face the winner of the Parkview and Kell series in the state quarterfinals next Tuesday.

The season has ended for the Fayette County Tigers, the Sandy Creek Patriots and the Landmark Christian School War Eagles. Fayette County (16-12) traveled to take on the Brunswick Pirates. They lost the first game 6-1 and fell in the second game 9-0. Josh Brock scored the lone run for the Tigers in the series. Sandy Creek (17-10) traveled to play Hardaway. The Patriots played tough but lost the first game 8-5 before falling in the second game 3-2. Landmark Christian (22-6) lost their first game against the Bowdon Red Devils 10-2 before falling in the second game 20-12.

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