Region Week: 5A playoff implications

For all intents and purposes, playoff baseball in Georgia has arrived. Sure, technically, a week from today is when the first round of the GHSA postseason commences, but there’s still so much left to decide until then.

We’re outlining what’s on the line throughout the rest of this week in this post below.

5A MATCH-UPS

+ In Region 1, Harris County has the No. 1 seed squared away. Thomas County Central has that No. 2 seed on lock. Though, no one’s going to want to play TCC, considering they’ve won 22 games this spring. Bainbridge and Veterans are going to finish at No. 3 and No. 4 – likely in that order. Though, a Veterans two-game sweep of the Bearcats would swap the order.

+ There’s a traffic jam at the top of Region 2. South Effingham is 8-2 and has two games against Wayne County to close regional play, and they’ll need to win both if they want to take the No. 1 seed because No. 2 Statesboro owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. At 9-3, Statesboro is finished with regional play, so they’ll await the result of the series between South Effingham and Wayne. As for the Yellow Jackets, they’re 7-3 but if they’re the ones to take these last two games against the Mustangs, then they’ll hop over Statesboro for No. 2. The 3-8 Ware County program is locked into the No. 4 seed.

+ GA Power 25 No. 16-ranked Starr’s Mill is Region 3’s No. 1 seed currently, and one win over Whitewater will make it official – though they did lose the series opener on Tuesday. McIntosh and Whitewater are both 12-3 now, but the Wildcats have the challenge of playing the Panthers twice more, while McIntosh has Fayette County on the schedule – the Chiefs own the tiebreak over Whitewater, too. As for Fayette County, one more win or a Griffin loss ensures them the No. 4 seed.

+ Five teams are fighting over four spots in Region 4: Ola (9-3), Locust Grove (9-3), Jones County (8-4), Union Grove (7-5), and Stockbridge (7-5). Each team has just one regional game left on the calendar, too. Ola plays 2-10 Eagle’s Landing on Thursday, so they have a good chance to cling to the No. 1 spot. Locust Grove takes on Stockbridge, so even a loss from Grove will keep them in the playoff picture. Jones County plays a struggling Dutchtown team, one they just beat earlier in the week. So, if those goes how we expect, it’ll come down to how Union Grove fares against Woodland and the result in the Stockbridge-Locust Grove game to determine who takes the No. 4 spot.

+ In Region 5, current No. 1 seed Southwest DeKalb just dropped their first regional game of the spring (9-1), but just one more regional win will clinch them the top spot. Chamblee is 8-2, but they’re taking on the current No. 3 Lithonia (7-3) this evening and again on Friday. At 8-4, Arabia Mountain is finished with regional play and could jump into the No. 3 seed if the Lithonia Bulldogs drop both of their games to the other ‘Dogs.

+ Region 6 contains two of the state’s best 5A programs this spring: Decatur and Riverwood. The Bulldogs swept the Raiders in two games last week, which sealed the regional crown for Decatur, at a perfect 14-0. Riverwood officially claimed the No. 2 spot after defeating Lithia Springs on Tuesday, while North Springs is locked into the No. 3 seed. Jackson is also Region 6’s No. 4 seed. Nothing more to see here this week in Region 6, as the programs here prepare for their first round opponents from Region 7.

+ The aforementioned teams know which four teams from Region 7 are advancing to the postseason, they’re just not sure who they’ll play. Kell and East Paulding are tied at the top with 12-2 records – the Longhorns have Woodland-Cartersville on the schedule today and again later this week, while the Raiders will play a scrappy Rome (11-3) team, in the hunt themselves. The Wolves split their last series against Kell and they’ll need a two-game sweep next to take the No. 2 spot, but they’d need Carrollton (11-3) to drop at least one of their two games with the Trojans.

+ Loganville and Walnut Grove are playing each other twice this week, beginning tonight (right now), and that will most likely settle this region’s winner. Buford is playing Johnson-Gainesville twice this week and if the Red Devils are able to sweep Walnut Grove, the Wolves could leapfrog the Warriors for the No. 2 seed. Johnson and Clarke Central are duking it out over the No. 4 seed, and Johnson’s challenge with Buford will make things especially hard on them.

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