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By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

⚾ ⚾ ⚾GHSA⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Class 7A
Lowndes 3, Parkview 2; Lowndes 5, Parkview 2; at Truist

Class 6A
Pope vs. Houston County, in Lawrenceville

Class 5A
McIntosh vs. Loganville

Class 4A
LaGrange vs. North Oconee

Class 3A
Harlem vs. Ringgold, in Rome

Class AA
Mt. Paran vs. North Cobb Christian, in Rome

Class A/Division I
In Statesboro

Class A/Division II
In Statesboro

⚾ ⚾ ⚾GIAA⚾ ⚾ ⚾
Class 4A
Strong Rock vs. Bethlehem Christian
Class 3A
John Milledge vs. Pinewood Christian
Class AA
Gatewood vs. SW Georgia Academy
Class A
Thomas Jefferson vs. First Prep Christian

Focus won’t be a problem.

Not for Pope, which is defending a championship.

And certainly not for Houston County, which isn’t.

The Greyhounds and Bears will go for the GHSA Class 6A state baseball championship with a best-of-three series starting Thursday at 5 p.m. at Lawrenceville’s Coolray Field, home to Atlanta Braves Class AAA team, the Gwinnett Stripers.

They hope. The overnight weather – from weather.com and accuweather.com – indicates rain Thursday, increasing as the day goes on, at least a 50 percent chance from 2 p.m. on.

There’s a little history between these two, not that anybody in uniform remembers.

Pope needed three games to get past Houston County in the 2018 quarterfinals, 5-1, 2-4, and 8-2. And a year earlier, the Greyhounds dismissed the Bears in the second round 10-0 and 11-2.

“Pope is a power year in and year out,” Houston County head coach Matt Hopkins said. “I believe this is seven straight years of making at least the Final Four. They are very talented and well-coached. They expect to win and will play with extreme confidence.”

That’s pretty much the same scouting report for Houston County.

Since Hopkins took over for Jason Brett after the 2018 season, the Bears have gone 125-37. They’re looking to cleanse the palate of last year’s loss at home to Buford, 4-2, 6-7, 11-1 in a battle of nationally ranked teams.

“It left a bad taste in everyone's mouth,” Hopkins said. “You could tell by the offseason effort we were going to have a good year.

Pope has won state titles in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018, and 2022, in 5A and 6A. Houston County brought home hardware in 2014 and 2016 in 5A and 2021 in 6A.

The Greyhounds are 31-9 after graduating a large portion from the title team. Eli Overstreet has some power, belting homers in one four-game stretch earlier this season. They were taken to three games in the opening round by Apalachee, which was only two games over .500 going into the series.

Pitchers Blythe Keisler and Dawson Jones, infielders Carson Kerce, Jack Myers, and Kent Schmidt, and outfielder John Stuetzer were first-team all-region in Region 7 for the second-place Greyhounds.

The Bears dispatched Region 7 champ Blessed Trinity in a three-game quarterfinal.

Houston County has had two three-game series, pulling away in the clincher in both.

Two years ago, Houston County went through the playoffs and outscored opponents 78-12 in nine games. Houston County has had to battle more this year, with a 75-36 margin in 10 games.

Pope has been challenged as well, with three-game series to start the playoffs, topping four opponents 83-27, the margin boosted by two major routs, 18-2 and 15-3.

The Bears’ biggest postseason win is 18-7 over Marist in the second-round clincher.

Houston County has three batting better than .400 (Eli Stephens, Drew Burress, and Andrew Dunford), and two more (Kai Decker and Vick Gann) above .350.

Burress has bombed away 13 times and has 56 RBI, touching up the program record books. Dunford is next with seven and 46.

First-game starter Ryker Chavis has fanned 86 with 10 walks in 70 innings and a 1.30 ERA en route to a 9-1 record. Carson Small is 9-0 and Dunford 7-2, Burress adding three saves in six games.

It all leads to a tested – and hungry - set of Bears.

“We have played arguably the program’s hardest schedule and found a way to set a school record for wins,” Hopkins said. “We are here now because of the legacy left by the players that have come through in the past and instilled a strong work ethic/expectations for the current team.”

⚾ ⚾ ⚾GIAA⚾ ⚾ ⚾
SRP Park, North Augusta, S.C.
Class AAA
John Milledge (19-7) vs. Pinewood Christian (21-11)

          Some of the same names that have made for rough nights on the football field are the same ones repeating the anguish on the baseball diamond.
          Briggs Eady leads JMA with a .480 average, followed by Brady Rollins at .383 and Bud Veal at .380, Eady and Veal tied for second with 21 steals. Kolt McMichael is 4-1 with a 1.71 ERA.
          Cooper Wilburn is batting .434 to go with a 6-0 record and 2.50 ERA, 53 strikeouts in 47.2 innings, with Jackson Thomas at .359 and a team-high seven homers, as well as a 4-3 record and 51
strikeouts in 32.2 innings.
          The Patriots and Trojans met in the 2021 semifinals, in Milledgeville, with Pinewood winning en route to the championship. Months later, they met in the state football championship, John Milledge getting some revenge.
          And in last year’s state baseball championship, John Milledge survived a tight three-game series, winning the opener 4-3 in eight before losing the second game 2-0, and taking home the title with a 6-5 eight-inning win.

Class AA
Gatewood (17-8) vs. SW Georgia Academy (14-11)

          The Warriors have gotten rolling in the playoffs, going 5-1, the lone loss to Piedmont in the second game of their semifinal series.
          The Gators responded from an opening loss to Edmund Burke to win two straight in the semifinal, getting going after losing 11-0 to AAA finalist Pinewood Christian in the regular-season finale.
          Gatewood has wins over Class AAA/AAAA teams FPD (9-2) and Stratford (5-1), plus a 10-0 loss to Stratford.
          Ames Johnson tops the Gators with a .356 average, while Walker Roberts is hitting .328 with a team-leading eight homers and 22 RBI. He is 5-1 with a 1.04 ERA.