Baseball finals preview - Starr's Mill @ Northgate, Landmark @ Wesleyan

When each baseball season starts, in those raw days of February, the thought of possibly playing for a state title late in May keeps players, coaches and fans warm. Three local teams have a shot at a state title this weekend.

Northgate Vikings (30-4) vs. Starr’s Mill Panthers (25-7), 1 p.m. Saturday

The state championship series in Class AAAA is a rematch between the top two teams from region 5-AAAA. During the regular season Northgate was the top team, defeating Starr’s Mill 5-2 in the first meeting and 9-0 in the second meeting. Last year, the two teams split. Northgate started the 2009 campaign with two three game winning streaks broken up by losses, one to Troup (6-3) and one to Whitewater (7-6). The Vikings then went on a 14 game winning streak before losing to Sandy Creek in the final game of the regular season. Since then, Northgate is 10-1. Their only loss in that span came in the AAAA semfinals against Marist. The War Eagles topped Northgate 7-2 in the opening game of that series. Northgate won game two 11-8 and won game three on Wednesday 1-0.

Catlan Kendrick is the ace of the Northgate staff, but brother, Conner, was on the hill in the deciding game of the semifinals. Paul Rojas is the team’s number two pitcher. At the plate, Northgate has a ton of weapons including Derek Hooper, Weston Perry and Kyle LaChance, who drove in the winning run Wednesday, among a number of others, including both Kendricks.

Starr’s Mill took out Loganville, the reigning AAAA state champs, on Monday in a two game sweep. The Panthers scored a come from behind, extra innings 6-5 victory in game one, behind a dazzling relief pitching performance from Michael Jeanes and a game winning hit from Jesse Baker. Game two featured a one-hitter from pitcher Ken Jackson and a two run home run from Baker in the bottom of the first inning.

Other big hitters for the Panthers this season include Danny Beadling, Drew Johnson, Jackson, Jeanes and Kevin Koziol.
The Panthers won six of their first seven games this year and six of the next eight before suffering a three game losing streak capped with the 9-0 loss to Northgate. Since then, Starr’s Mill is 13-1 (the loss against Newnan in the regular season finale) and in seven of those wins the Panthers have held their opponents to two runs or less. Perhaps more importantly, in nine of their last 14 games, Starr’s Mill has scored six or more runs.

Landmark Christian War Eagles (24-8-1) @ Wesleyan Wolves (25-7), Friday, 5 p.m.

Landmark has been here before. Well, not Norcross, home of Wesleyan, but the state finals. Last year, the War Eagles hosted Pacelli in the championship series and lost in three games. This year, Landmark dispatched the Vikings and followed it up with a two game sweep of Calvary Day’s Cavaliers in Savannah. Now, they are back in the final with all but two starters from last year’s squad. Jonathan Roberts and Tanner Bryant are coming up big both on the mound and at the plate and the Wren brothers, Colby and Kyle, are just part of a tough lineup 1-9.

Wesleyan has played one more game than Landmark this year and they have scored less runs (254-270) and allowed less runs (123-137). These two teams have not met recently, if at all, but seem to match up very well. Landmark hit a bit of a rough patch in the middle of April losing three of four games, giving up 34 runs in that span and scoring 30 (although 18 of those came in the one win in that stretch). Since then, Landmark has gone 12-2 with double digit runs in seven of those wins. They also have three one run wins in that span, so the War Eagles are winning them close and by a landslide.

Wesleyan started the season with a 5-5 record and has gone 20-4 since. In the state playoffs, the Wolves have gone 8-1 with the loss coming against Holy Innocents, 3-2, in the opening game of the second round. Wesleyan reached the final with wins over Brookstone, 14-4 in game one and 5-0 in game two. The Wolves have scored in double digits in 13 of their wins and gave allowed one run or less in 12 games.