UPDATED Region Week: 6A 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.

6A MATCH-UPS

+ Starting with Region 1, Houston County has earned the No. 1 seed in this group with their 10-2 record. Valdosta and Lee County are both 5-4 in the region and Coffee is one game behind them at 4-5. The Wildcats have a three-game series this week against Lee that began with a Valdosta victory on Tuesday. Another Wildcats win grabs them the two spot while the Coffee Trojans have two more games against a Northside team winless in the region. If Coffee completes the sweep and finishes tied with Lee on record, they own the head-to-head tiebreaker and would take over the No. 3 slot, leaving the Lee Trojans with the No. 4 seed.

+ In Region 2, Richmond Hill wrapped up regional play with a 10-2 record but aren’t guaranteed the No. 1 seed. In fact, with 8-2 Effingham County playing a scuffling Bradwell Institute team two more times, while owning the tiebreaker over the Wildcats, you might even call the Rebels the favorite to take over the No. 1 seed. Either way, one of those two teams will be the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds. Glynn Academy and Brunswick will be the other two playoff teams from this region. Tied at 4-6, they play each other twice to determine the rest of the group’s seeding.

+ Heritage has clinched the No. 1 seed in Region 3, and effectively did so with their three-game sweep of Greenbrier a couple weeks back. The Wolfpack are 9-3, so they’ll take the No. 2 spot. Grovetown, Lakeside-Evans, and Evans are all 5-7. The Grovetown Warriors just defeated Evans on Tuesday and play them twice more this week. As for Lakeside, they have the tiebreaker over Grovetown, though they have a tough Greenbrier team on the schedule twice more this week to finish regional action. It’ll be a dogfight to determine who’s in and who’s out amongst these three.

+ The top spots in Region 4 are still pretty messy. At 11-3-1, Tucker is all finished with regional play. The 10-2 Stephenson Jaguars still plays twice more against a 2-11 Mundy’s Hill team, meaning they’re the odds-on pick to come away with the regional title. For M.L. King, they have two regional games left against Drew, but even if they tie Tucker on record, the Tigers own the tiebreaker, giving King the No. 3 seed, in all likelihood. Mt. Zion (8-4) and King are grappling over that No. 3 seed, but Zion would need a loss from King and two wins over Morrow to open the door to it. Stephenson, Tucker, M.L. King, and Mt. Zion will all be in the postseason, it just remains to be seen which order.

+ If Alexander can beat a winless-in-regionals Tri-Cities team twice in the next three days, they’ll clinch the Region 5 crown – one loss in two games would bring them even with South Paulding on record, and they split their regional match-ups this spring, too, which would make classification win percentage the tiebreaker. Meanwhile, Northgate’s clinched the No. 3 seed, and Creekside, Mays, and Douglas County have to battle over the final playoff spot in the group. Douglas County would need a lot to break their way to sneak in, while Mays and Creekside both have two more regional games left. If they finish the regular season tied on record, they’ll also need classification win percentage to break their tie.

+ We know which four teams are going to represent Region 6 in the playoffs, just not the order. The Harrison Hoyas are the present No. 1 with their 12-1 regional record and they have Sprayberry on the calendar twice more. Two wins seals the deal there. Creekview is 11-3 and second in the standings currently, but they have two games left with a sound Allatoona team. The Buccaneers are actually tied with River Ridge on the standings as well, at 10-4. River Ridge plays South Cobb twice to close out regional play. Any of these three could finish as high as No. 2 or as low as No. 4, so we’ll see how it shakes out.

+ Friday is when we learn which team is going to be crowned the Region 7 champ: Cambridge or Pope. The heavyweight Greyhounds, the No. 4-ranked team in the state, are the back-to-back champs but are currently a game back of Cambridge on the standings. A Pope win would tie the two on record, but the Greyhounds will have swept the season series in that case, edging them past the Bears for the title. Obviously, a win for Cambridge nets them the regional championship and a No. 1 seed. Now, as for the Nos. 3 and 4 slots, things are really messy. Five teams will fight over those last two spots: Dunwoody (9-5), Alpharetta (8-6), North Atlanta (7-7), Johns Creek (7-7). The Wildcats have two tough games left, against the Bears and Johns Creek. The Raiders play Chattahoochee and North Atlanta. North Atlanta plays Johns Creek and Alpharetta. And Johns Creek plays Dunwoody and North Atlanta… whew. This is going to come down to some wild tiebreakers, and it’s no use projecting who’s likely headed through – though the 9-6 Wildcats certainly have the edge, and Alpharetta has an edge, too.

+ Finally, in Region 8, Winder-Barrow has been one of the best teams in the entire state all spring long. They cruised through their region and are undefeated (13-0) inside it. That leaves four teams with genuine playoff hopes left. At 7-6, Dacula has the upper hand, with two more games against Apalachee on the calendar, who need to collect at least a win themselves to keep their hopes up. Lanier (5-8) and Habersham Central (6-7) are the other two teams bidding for playoff spots. The two have a three-game series against one another this week, of which Lanier took the first game on Monday. It continues this evening and again on Friday.

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