Panthers and War Eagles in second round of baseball playoffs today

Starr’s Mill’s varsity baseball team (19-7) took on Chamblee in the opening round of the Class AAAA state playoffs and won 5-3 and 12-4.

Drew Johnson won the first game with six strong innings of four hit ball. He walked one batter and struck out nine. Kevin Koziol, Danny Beadling and Terrion Pope each had two hits, while Ken Jackson, Jesse Baker and Myles Jaye each drove in runs. Jackson earned the win in the second game with nine strikeouts, four walks and four hits over five innings. Beadling pitched the final two innings and struck out four batters. Jackson and Paul Patterson hit home runs in the win, while Beadling, Norman, Pope and Baker also drove in runs. Jackson was 4-for-5 at the plate and Koziol added two hits in the win.

The Winder Barrow Bulldoggs (not misspelled) are 19-9 this year. They beat Dalton in the first round of the state playoffs, losing the first game 11-10 and winning the next two 13-3 and 8-5. They are 9-2 over their last 11 games. Starr’s Mill has scored more runs (204-181) but the teams are nearly identical in runs allowed (104 for Starr’s Mill to 102).
The Panthers will host Winder-Barrow at 4 p.m. today.

Sandy Creek’s boys (21-8) lost the opening round series of the Class AAAA state playoffs, falling to Lakeside, DeKalb in three games. The Patriots lost the first game 4-1, won the second game 8-4 and lost the third and final game 3-2. Chris Triplett homered for the Patriots in game one. He and Russell Bonner each had two hits. Hunter Parrott pitched well for Sandy Creek, giving up two earned runs on seven hits, while striking out five.

Christian Gaston pitched four brilliant innings of relief in game two to earn the win. He allowed two hits and struck out three batters. Andrew Toles hit two home runs, while Alex Green and Matt Evans each added one. Evans hit a two run home run in the final game, accounting for all of Sandy Creek’s runs.

Whitewater (17-9) led Marist in both games on Friday and lost both games, falling 11-9 in the first game and 9-7 in the second game. Miles Head hit two home runs, including a grand slam, but the War Eagles were able to score late and advance in the playoffs. Jeffrey Ashley drove in three runs and Tanner Dingler drove in two in the first game, while Head's six RBIs came in the second game. Dingler drove in the other run in the loss. Others with RBIs in the first game were Joel Van Asch, Zach Mann and Demonte Grissom.

In the Class A playoffs, Landmark Christian (18-7-1) defeated Bowdon 3-2 and 5-1 to make the second round. The War Eagles will play at Providence Christian today. The Providence Christian Stars (21-7-1) lost six of their first 12 games and have been on a roll since. They lost the first game of their opening round state playoff series with Athens Academy (11-4) but won the next two games easily (10-0 and 11-0 both in five innings).

The Stars have scored more runs (245-214) and allowed less (106-107) in three more games than the War Eagles. The teams faced each other twice this year. The first game ended in a 0-0 tie and the second game went to the Stars (5-3). Landmark won both meetings last year.