The 2025 GHSA State Playoffs kicked off last week. Playoff baseball in Georgia is some of the best baseball in the entire country and we are lucky enough to get to cover it. We have covered the state of Georgia from as south as Lowndes to as north as Gordon Lee and everything in between. Our staff has watched over 200 baseball games this year and can’t wait to cover playoff baseball.

To kick off the season we highlighted over 80 teams in our “Team Preview” articles if you want to check out any of those before the playoffs they can be found HERE.

If you missed anything from the season we have you covered with our weekly scout blogs with hundreds of players mentioned with notes and video that can be found HERE.

We also highlight players weekly in our Diamond Notes articles that can be found HERE. Top players in our Diamond Notes piece are announced at Player Of the Week, and they can be found HERE.

Here we are going to do a quick recap of the round of 16 to see how each team punched their elite 8 bid. 

3A

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Harlem faced their biggest test of the year vs a talented Whitewater team. Harlem took the 6-0 win in game 1, but Whitewater bounced back against Will Holder and squeaked out 2-1 victory to force a deciding game 3. Harlem would end up getting the best of them in the final game 5-2. The Bulldog offense was led by Walker Spivey and Steven Harshbarger. Spivey went 3 for 8 at the dish and pitched a gem on the mound going 7 innings of shutout ball, striking out 3. Harshbarger supplied the power going 4 for 7 with a home run and double. They will now take on Pickens for a rematch from 2024. After a big round one sweep over Dougherty, Pickens kept the hot streak rolling against one of the more battle-tested teams in 3A with yet another sweep over Lagrange. Christian Starks set the tone in GM 1 with a great outing on the mound alongside timely hits from Cade Sutton, Kam Jenkins, among others. GM 2 saw an incredible pitching performance from AJ Rice while working around a weather delay in the process. 17 strikeouts in 7.0 of one-run baseball for the junior and now sets the stage for what will be an excellent series in Harlem.

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Jefferson and Oconee County squared off in the round of 16. These were 2 teams that squared off in region play where Jefferson got the upper hand winning 2 of 3 games. Eston Simpson set the tone for the Dragons. They ended up getting the 2 game sweep with scores of 6-3 and 5-4. The offense was led by Ryan Reed and Eli Primm. Both these guys have been on a tear in the playoffs and the round of 16 was no different. Primm was 4 for 5 with a HR and accounted for 7 runs. Reed went 5 for 7 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. They will now take on Troup County, and match up well with a chance to make a splash into the final four. Troup County and Dawson County squared off in the bottom half of this quad. These were 2 teams that matched up well and played 2 tight games where Troup ended up getting the sweep with scores of 5-4 and 8-5.

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We see one of the more anticipated match ups of the bracket in North Hall and Cherokee Bluff in the elite 8. North Hall had the quick 2 game sweep over Heritage with scores of 10-0 and 6-2. Branson Crawford led the offense and pitched a gem on the mound. Cherokee Bluff took on Northwest Whitfield and had 2 tight games despite the sweep. They pulled it out with scores of 6-4 and 6-5. Cody Bridger and Ethan England played big roles in the DH.

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In this part of the bracket we see Mary Persons that has been on a role to start the playoffs. The round of 16 was no different. They put up 27 runs in the DH sweep with scores of 13-2 and 14-1. Their offense is really rolling, led by Brady Christman that had 2 home runs and accounted for 11 runs. On the other side we see one of the top seeds in Peach County. They completed the sweep of Bainbridge, similar to Mary Person with 24 runs scored. They were led by Jackson Peavy on the mound and DJ Hudson at the plate going 6 for 7 with 2 HR, 2 2B and 5 RBI.

2A

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Morgan County and Ringgold had a tough 1 run contest in game 1, where Morgan County got the upper hand 5-4. Ty Tillery stepped up in game 2 and tossed 7 innings of shutout ball, striking out 10. He also went 4 for 6 at the dish in the DH. The offense went on to score 8 runs to punch their ticket to the elite 8, led by Hudson Reed going 3 for 6 with a HR and 3 RBI. Appling County has been really impressive since the opening round of the playoffs. The offense continued to roll, scoring 22 runs in the DH. Jarrod Deen stepped up on the mound, pitching a shutout. Nathan Nance and Ethan Baltazar supplied the offense. Nance went 3 for 6 and Baltazar went 3 for 6 as well with a home run.

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Franklin County carried some momentum headed into the sweet 16 round after a big game 3 win. Their offense exploded in the DH scoring 23 runs and winning by scores of 13-0 and 10-0. Hudson Huff has been a great addition to the line up and continues to show up in our playoff performers articles. Parker Moorhead had a big start on the mound. Going 5 innings, striking out 9 for the shutout. The Stephens County and Redan series was one of the bigger ones in this bracket. Redan had a really strong season and Stephens County stacked up well in a strong region. They played 2 tight ball games where Stephens County got the sweep 4-2 and 2-1.

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Pierce County had a hard fought game against Cook in game 1. They ended up getting the win 8-7 and would go on to take game 2, 3-0. Jaxon Harris was outstanding on the mound in game 2 throwing 6.1 innings, only allowing 1 hit, 0 runs and striking out 15. Crispy County took on an experienced Columbus club that was the 6 seed coming into the tournament. They split the DH and Crisp County would take game 3 by a score of 10-6. Braiden Rouse led the Crisp offense, hitting .500 with a double and 3 RBI.

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One of the more anticipated match ups has taken shape between Callaway and Rockmart now. Callaway was firing on all cylinders against Drew Charter, sweeping the DH 10-2 and 8-0. Slade Hunt pitched a 7 innings no-hitter and Luke Taylor supplied the offense going 5 for 7 with a HR, 2 2B and 4 RBI. The 2 seed Rockmart also swept the DH against Pike County by scores of 7-5 and 11-1. Rob Yagyu led the offense going 5 for 7 with 2 2B and accounted for 8 runs.

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Prince Ave put up 22-runs to advance past Christian Heritage in a 2-game series sweep. With a big series performance from Eli Attaway (5-for-6, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 3 R, 2BB at the plate as well as massive pitching performance from Cole Broxton (5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K). North Cobb Christian would come away on top after a hard fought three game series against Holy Innocents where the final game ended after 11-innings. JD Aufderheide paced the NCC offense with 3-bombs of his own across the series.

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Big-time pitching performances from Owen Harris (5.0 IP, 10K, W) and AJ Cantrell (6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 8 K, W) would lead Providence Christian to a 2-game series sweep over Kings Ridge (7-3, 7-1). Calvary Day exploded on offense and produced 27-runs (12-5, 15-6) to sweep the series and advance to the Elite 8.

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Lovett moved past Trinity Christian in a 2-game series sweep (10-5, 7-5) behind a big day at the dish from Joe Crenshaw ( 3-for-7, HR, 4 RBI, 3 R). Brice Gillis powered Wesleyan to a 2-game series sweep (12-0, 8-1) as he would go 3-for-6 across the DH with 3 HR in GM2.

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Savannah Christian moves past Mount Vernon in a 2-game series sweep ( 8-5, 4-3). Backed by a big offensive performance from Weston Hughes (4-for-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R). GAC wins a hard fought 3-game series by a score of 9-7 in GM3. As there were strong offensive performances across the board in the series. Pierce Wilson (GAC) -4 for 10, 2 HR, 4 RBI, Jakobi Bowens (GAC) -5 for 13, 2B, Matthew Lazarus (GAC) - 3 for 8, HR, 4 RBI, Ian Cobbs (GAC) -3 for 9 2 2B, 6 RBI, Jared Givins (GAC)-3 for 10, 2 HR, 4 RBI.

1A-I

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After a tough three-game series in round one for Gordon Lee, the Trojans take down ACE Charter in a two-game sweep 7-1, 7-2 behind excellent pitching that was highlighted by Aiden Goodwin, who threw a CGSHO with 11 K and just 1 walk. Another sweep for Washington County in the Sweet 16, this time over a very good Banks County team by wins of 7-4 and 4-2. Ty Mobley was a big factor in the series with multiple RBI paired with a complete game on the bump with 2 ER allowed and 10 K.

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Toombs County would get everything they could handle in a three-game series with Haralson County. After two close games to open the series, the offense for Toombs would explode for 10 runs in GM 3 led by Lawton Toole and his 3-for-3, 2 RBI day. Veer Patel would put Vidalia on his back in a big Sweet 16 upset sweep over Social Circle with wins of 6-2 and 2-0. The junior would go 6-for-7 with 3 2B, RBI, BB alongside a 10 K no-hitter, and now carries tremendous momentum into the Elite 8.

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Pepperell would handle the first round, three game scare from Thomasville by stifling Bremen in a series sweep by the tune of 2-0 and 11-1. Cade Middleton would put on a show in GM 2 with 13 K CGSHO, and also added 4 RBI in GM 1 at the plate. After the offense carried Bleckley County to a big first round sweep, it was the starting pitching in the Sweet 16 that would pace the Royals to the Elite 8. Braegen Cravey and Clayton Beck would go the distance in both outings and earn wins of 2-1 and 3-0 respectively.

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Model would generate double-digit runs in both games of their second straight sweep, this time over Fannin County with wins of 10-8 and 14-4, behind an outrageous combined performance from Cooper Dean and Reece Grodeman (12-for-14, 2 HR, 3 2B, 3B, 12 RBI, 8 R, 4 BB). The 2nd overall seed in the bracket continues to look the part as Jeff Davis earned a Sweet 16 sweep over Worth County, 14-5 and 8-1 behind a great performance from Treyton Webster who added 5 hits and 6 RBI.

1A-II

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Baconton continues to roll as they open up the Sweet 16 with wins of 7-3 and 9-2 over Irwin County behind a strong two-way showing from Hudson Coronati (6.0 IP, 9 K; 4-for-6, 5 RBI, 2 R). Another all-around performance from Wilcox County as they earned a sweep over Schley County, 4-1 and 11-6. Jake Howell would pace the lineup with a monster series (5-for-6, 2 HR, 2B, 5 RBI) and Johnny Nutt masterclass on the mound (7.0 IP, 0 H, 5 BB, 15 K).

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Great hitting from the entire lineup paired with a quality start from Griffin Thomas (6.0 IP, 1 ER, 9 K) would help lead Charlton County in an impressive sweep over Pelham with wins of 10-0 and 14-1. The ECI/Trion series was as competitive as you'll find in the round, going three games with the first two being decided by 2 runs or less and game three needed a 6-run 6th inning from ECI to finally clinch the series. A combined 5 hits and 5 RBI from Jud Underwood and James Parker would be the deciding factor.

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Metter would battle over three games to earn a huge Sweet 16 upset over one seed Crawford County after taking a 10 run loss in game one of the series. The duo of Caelen Vernon and Carter Gainous would x-factors in a game three 8-5 win, combining for 6 H, 6 RBI, and 3 R for the Tigers. Lanier County would showcase another impressive all-around team win in their Sweet 16 sweep over Seminole County, 10-0, 13-1. Stone Carey added 3 HR in the series alongside Kendrick Noble would also add a HR and 4 RBI while Lanier County has also only allowed 3 total runs in 4 games.

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Behind the offense of Korbin Dietrich (4-for-6, 2 HR, 2B, 5 RBI, 4 R, 2 BB), Bowdon would earn their second straight sweep with wins of Screven County, 12-1 and 7-3. After surviving a three-game series in round one, Lake Oconee Academy bounced back with a big sweep over Miller County, 14-1, 6-1 to move to the Elite 8 against Bowdon. William King showed the two-way prowess from LCA with a big series on both sides (4-for-6, HR, 2B, 5 RBI, 2 R; 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K).

UPCOMING EVENTS