The second round of the state baseball tournament starts Wednesday with 40 best-of-three series in five classifications.
The first round largely went as expected as 36 of 40 region champions advanced. Here are five of the more intriguing matchups in the second round:
-- Brookwood at Lassiter (AAAAA): Both are ranked in the coaches' poll, Lassiter (21-8) at No. 5, Brookwood (21-7-1) at No. 6. Both struggled in the first round but won in three games, Lassiter overcoming Peachtree Ridge and Brookwood eliminating North Forsyth. Lassiter has won 10 games in which it trailed, including the deciding Game 3 last week. Brookwood, the Region 8 runner-up, has beaten region champs Parkview, Mill Creek, Hillgrove and Columbus.
-- North Gwinnett at Parkview (AAAAA) – North Gwinnett (16-13) reached the semifinals last year by winning three series on the road. Last week, North Gwinnett won at No. 5 Etowah, including a 3-2 victory in the deciding Game 3, the winning run scoring on a bases-loaded walk. Parkview (21-7), ranked No. 1, ties to avoid its fate of 2010, when it won Region 8 but was upset in the second round. Junior Matt Olson (11 HR, 6 pitching wins) is Parkview's marquee player.
-- Ringgold at Columbus (AAA) – This is a rematch of the 2010 Class AAA final which Columbus won. Ringgold, 23-2 and ranked No. 5, played for the first time last week since tornadoes heavily damaged the school and baseball field April 30. The team swept Riverwood 13-3 and 10-1. Caleb Jones had two homers, five hits and seven RBI. Columbus, led by former Little League World Series heroes Kyle Carter and J.T. Phillips, is 22-6 and ranked No. 6.
-- Calhoun at Buford (AA) – They've played each of the past three seasons for the state title in football, Buford winning all three. Calhoun, ranked No. 6, has the better baseball tradition with three state titles and two runner-up finishes since 2000. Buford, ranked No. 3, has two Georgia Tech-bound pitchers in Jake Burnette and Josh Heddinger. Burnette threw a no-hitter and Heddingger threw a one-hitter in the 10-0, 13-1 sweep of Fannin County in the first round.
-- King's Ridge at Mount Paran (A) – King's Ridge, the school that John Smoltz helped found, upended 2010 runner-up and second-ranked Aquinas in the first round. Mount Paran, a team with only one senior on the roster, is in the second round for the first time since 2005. The team is coached by Harvey Cochran, whose first head coaching job was at North Cobb in 1971.
About the Author
