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GHSA Daily Round Up: Friday, March 14th

March 15, 2026
Prep Baseball Georgia
Staff

The high school baseball season is officially underway. This is our favorite time of the year and we can’t wait to cover the state from now until the state championship. Be sure to to be tuned in daily for content on the season.

Everything high school baseball related will be on the GHSA tab on our website. It can be found HERE. This will include the Power 25, Classification Rankings, weekly scout blogs and more.

Today, we are going to introduce a new piece of content called the “Daily Round Up”. Here we will take a look at the games our scouts went to from the previous day and highlight key moments, standout players and our takeaways from the game.

Friday 

Pope @ River Ridge (DH)

Score: GM1: Pope win, 7-1; GM2: Pope win 8-1

Standouts:

Ben Hill, OF, 2026, Pope

Nick Bobrowski, LHP, 2026, Pope

Kayden Campbell, 3B, 2026, Pope

Jensen Morneau, C, 2027, Pope

Brayden Slorahn, OF, 2027, Pope

Davis Smith, RHP, 2026, Pope

Josh Malucci, SS, 2026, River Ridge

Luke Donaldson, OF, 2027, River Ridge


Key moments:

GM1: Ben Hill paced the offense as he came through with a pair of doubles and 2 RBI. John Cook collected an RBI single as well. With other multi-hit games coming from Cal Pearson, Kayden Campbell, and Brayden Slorahn. A masterful performance from Nick Bobrowski would keep the Knights offense in check as he struck out 12 across 5.0 shutout innings. Davis Smith showed well out of the pen as he struck out 5 across the final 2.0 innings. The lone run for the Knights came from an RBI double by way of Hunter Hollier. Other base hits from the River Ridge offense came from Luke Donaldson and Josh Malucci.

GM 2: The Pope offense stayed hot as Ben Hill was on fire as he added 2 more hits in the second game. Kayden Campbell came through with a multi hit game including a pair of RBI knocks. Jensen Morneau lived on the barrel in the nightcap with a multi hit game as well. John Cook continued to show well as he added another RBI base-hit. Other base-hits came from Thomas Williams, Henry Bauer, and Kingston Jones. For River Ridge Josh Malucci continued to set the tone with a double out of the leadoff spot as Luke Donaldson came through with another base-hit as well. Jared Mathis added a single and showed well behind the plate.

Avery’s Takeaway: The Greyhounds look to stake their claim and continue the trend as one of the perennial powerhouses in the State this season. A deep playoff run appears to be on the horizon yet again behind a deep lineup and pitching staff to match. Coach Turco and staff run out an experienced blend of upperclass and underclass talent that gel extremely well amongst one another. If the pieces on the mound can continue to fall into place on a nightly basis this is a team that can hoist the 5 A State Title and one that we will want to check back on later this Spring. The River Ridge Knights are battling some early season injuries as they have opened the season at 4-10. They remain positive in their outlook on the season as they know what it takes to win down the stretch after a Final Four run a season ago. Upperclass names like Josh Malucci, Hunter Hollier, Jared Mathis, and Luke Donaldson power this offense along with a plethora of upperclass and underclass contributors. Young arms will have to step up in the absence of the veteran pitchers that are out, but if the staff can come together this will be a well-coached team to watch down the stretch in region play and so forth.

Grovetown @ Archer (DH)

Score: GM1: Grovetown win, 6-2; GM2: Archer wins 13-12

Standouts:

Boston Rowan, SS, 2026, Grovetown

Brodie Combs, 3B/RHP, 2027, Grovetown

Xavier Rodriguez, C, 2029, Archer

Garrett Parsons, SS, 2029, Archer

Jake Maldonado, 1B, 2026, Grovetown

Apollo Bailey, OF, 2026, Archer

Key Moments:

GM1: It was a pitching duel throughout this one with Brodie Combs and Apollo Bailey both working around a couple early inning runs to put together quality outings. It was a 2-2 game heading into the 7th before Grovetown would load the bases for Jake Maldonado, who would come through with the clutch 2-run backside knock then Noah Riggs would promptly follow with a sac fly giving the Warriors a commanding lead late and earning themselves the series win.

GM2: Scoreless game early before Grovetown jumped out to 4-0 lead in the 3rd thanks to a couple errors and three straight base hits that lead to a 2-run single from Coby Eckard. Archer would answer back in a hurry, matching the 4-run inning in the bottom half with big RBI hits from the freshman duo of Garrett Parsons and Xavier Rodriguez with the Tigers following with another 4-run inning in the 4th that was highlighted by a loud 2-run 2B from Apollo Bailey. Archer would add 5 more runs thanks to a four-hit 6th inning combined with some mental mistakes from the Warriors, and end up being extremely vital when Grovetown made an inspired comeback in the 7th with the first seven batters reaching base and nearly tying the game.

Ian’s Takeaway: This was a huge region series win for Grovetown, who has been off to a very strong start to the spring. Senior leadership paces the lineup with Boston Rowan really setting the tone for the entire roster. Infectious high energy that shines both in the leadoff spot and as the defensive leader in the dirt. Jake Maldonado was a constant threat at the plate and Noah Riggs always seemed to do a job and offer a leadoff type in the bottom half of the lineup. As for Archer, the young talent at the top was on display throughout the DH. Xavier Rodriguez showed why he’s the #1 freshman in the state, getting on-base six times across the two games while showing the immense defensive profile throughout. Former Junior future gamer Garrett Parsons has stepped into the 2 hole and showing advanced pitch recognition already with budding feel for the barrel. Senior talent is present with Sean Gates providing a power presence while filling multiple and Apollo Bailey is in the midst of a career year which leading the Tigers in every offensive category and the Wallace-Dothan commit is showing no signs of slowing down.

Walton @ Cherokee (Double Header)

Score: Game 1, Cherokee wins, 3-2 Game 2 Walton Wins, 9-3


Standouts:

Game 1
Rylin Lyemance, 3B, 2027, Walton


Ledger Jones, OF, 2028, Walton


Walker Killimett, OF, 2026, Walton


Huddy Will, OF, 2027, Cherokee



Game 2
Brandon Holstein, C, 2027, Cherokee


Devin Krohn, OF, 2026, Walton


Ledger Jones, OF, 2028, Walton


Drew Steinemann, C, 2028, Walton


Logan Wideman, 1B, 2026, Walton



Key Moments:
Game 1
It was a back and forth pitcher duel between Jacob Saboura and Daniel head the first couple of innings. Hudson Will did come up big with a put out from center field on a runner advancing to 3rd on a Ledger Jones 1B for the final out of the 2nd inning. Adrian Pulido would deliver the first run of the game on a perfectly executed hit and run. Walker Killimett then put down a perfect push bunt/safety squeeze to make it 2-0 Walton in the 4th. The Raiders had some momentum, but Daniel Head came up with a big strikeout with the bases loaded. The next big play came up in the 6th innings when Huddy Will hit a double down the line to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 0 out. Rylin Lyemance came up with a run(s) diving play to his left for the first out of the inning. The Raiders would get a strikeout and out to send it to the 7th. The Warriors trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of the 7th. After a walk and single by Mason Freedman, Caden McGhee put down a perfect bunt to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Adan Cifuentes would single to make it 2-1 then Andre Sweet fought off a tough pitch to score the tying run, 2-2. Walton intentionally walked Hudson Will to get to Daniel Head where he would put the ball into play and force an error to walk it off 3-2.

Game 2
The Raiders got things going in the 2nd inning with an RBI single by Drew Steinemann and then a SAC fly by Jack Childress. The Warriors fought back in the 4th when Daniel Head lead off the innings with a single then Brandon Holstein delivered the game tying double. The Raiders took away some momentum on an athletic play by Jacob Ellsworth on a passed ball that kicked back to him and he tossed to home to get the go ahead run out. Devin Krohn got the lead back in the 5th with a single then from there the Warriors got the tie back on a bases loaded walk. Westin Chen came up with a big strikeout to send it to the 6th. From there the Raiders offense capitalized on a couple mistakes and had some big swings by Ledger Jones and no doubt home run by Logan Wideman. They would go onto win 9-3 and clinch the series.

Huddy’s Takeaways:|

I got a chance to see 4 of the top 10 teams in 6A all in the same week. Cherokee and Walton are similar squads with hitters 1-9. They both need their arms to minimize free bases and big innings to give their offenses a chance. Both are well coached and have great culture that goes a long way come May. They will both have big series coming up with Etowah, fighting for position in those top 4 spots. Both teams have underclassmen that could be really big pieces down the road. Ledger Jones and Drew Steinemann have already stepped up for the Raiders. We got a brief look at freshman lefty, Brady Rogers for Cherokee and he could be a key arm in the pen if he can get some varsity experience. It will interesting to see things shake out in the region, as a imagine there could be some surprises before everything is all said and done.

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