Four local

baseball teams are still alive in three classifications of the state playoffs,

and all of them are scheduled to take the field this afternoon for the

second round.

Fayette

County

The Tigers,

ranked sixth in the state in AAAAA last week, moved to 23-4 on the season

with a two-game sweep of Effingham County last Friday. They will now host

Eagle's Landing in a doubleheader today at 5 p.m. If the two teams split,

the third game is tomorrow at 6 p.m.

The first game

against Effingham was a 13-2 win, with Joseph Edens getting the win with

a complete game (shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule). The second

game was a bit less smooth, as Fayette County needed some extra-inning

dramatics to pull out a 10-7 victory.

Effingham County

capitalized on errors to pick up five unearned runs in a single inning

and tie the game in regulation. The Tigers then went up 7-5 before a two-run

homer by Effingham County tied the game in the seventh. Since this was

game two, Effingham County was the home team and batted in the bottom

of the inning.

Fayette County

went ahead in the top of the tenth and hung on for the win, as Lee Hyde

came in to pitch an inning of relief. Nursing a sore arm after being hit

in batting practice, he walked three and struck out three to close out

the game after solid work by Justin White and Austin Wilkes, who combined

to give up only two earned runs on the seventh-inning homer.

As for the

Tigers' next opponent, Eagle's Landing was a region opponent last season,

and Fayette County won 5-4 in their only meeting. They have not faced

each other so far in 2003.

McIntosh

The Chiefs

boarded a bus last Wednesday and rode all the way to Jesup, where they

faced Wayne County in a doubleheader. After winning their own region,

Wayne County may not have known what to expect from McIntosh, seeded fourth

in Region 4-AAAAA, but what they got was a 19-hit explosion in the first

game and a 13-10 Chiefs win in eight innings.

McIntosh climbed

back from a 10-4 deficit to force the extra inning, with Brett Boron hitting

a two-run double in the seventh to tie. Tim Battle capped off a superb

all-around game by launching a three-run homer in the top of the eighth.

He then picked up the win on the mound, pitching the seventh and eighth

innings.

The game-winning

homer was the second of the game for Battle, who was 4-for-6 at the plate

with a double and five RBI, scoring three times. Boron was 3-for-5 with

two RBI and two runs scored, while J.T. Thompson hit a pair of doubles

and drove in a run, going 3-for-4.

John King started

on the mound, with relief help from Ryan Schwartz.

The nightcap

was the polar opposite of a slugfest, with the Chiefs winning 4-1 as Drew

Grant pitched six innings and struck out six before giving way to Schwartz.

McIntosh is

on the road again, with a doubleheader today at Colquitt County beginning

at 5 p.m.

Sandy Creek

After putting

together an impressive run the final few weeks of the season, which they

needed just to make the playoffs, the Patriots came back from Augusta

last weekend with a satisfying first-round win over Cross Creek.

The home team

prevailed 2-1 in the first game Friday despite a fine pitching effort

complete-game shutout by Eric Williams to win 5-0 and force a third game

the next day.

After Cross

Creek jumped out on top with a pair of homers to lead 3-0, Dusty Bennett

drove in Sandy Creek's first run in the third game with a double in the

top of the fifth. Bennett got to the plate that inning when Josh Haney

hustled to first on a dropped third strike that would have ended the inning.

Eli Williams

drove home Haney and Bennett to tie the game, and after a rain delay of

more than an hour, Griffin Hall doubled home Eric Williams in the sixth

for the game-winning run. Eric Williams also relieved Hall on the mound

after the rain stopped and struck out five in the last three innings.

The Patriots

now travel to Cordele for a doubleheader today against Crisp County.

Landmark

The War Eagles

came back from the brink of elimination to advance, winning two out of

three from Lakeview Academy.

David Yates

pitched a complete-game shutout to lead Landmark to a 7-0 win in the first

game, but Lakeview came roaring back with a 12-1 win in the second game.

Lakeview then went up 6-2 in the deciding game before Landmark rallied

to win a game in which they hit five home runs, two by catcher Kurt Swigert.

Now 14-7-2

on the season, Landmark hosts Temple in a doubleheader today beginning

at 2:30 p.m.

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