TIFTON — Tift County’ will be playing Dunwoody in the first round of the state Class 6A baseball tournament. The Georgia High School Association filled in most of the 6A brackets with an update Saturday.
Region champs for the first time since 2015, the Blue Devils have not announced specific times and dates for the games. The GHSA has the opening round series slated for Thursday and Friday, April 25-26.
Dunwoody, the No. 4 team from Region 4-6A, sports a 19-11 record. The Wildcats went 12-6, the same as No. 3 seed North Atlanta, but Dunwoody dropped two of three games in the season series between the two. They were 9-0 against Region 4’s 5-7 teams, but 3-6 against Marist, North Atlanta and St. Pius, winning one against each.
Tift was 13-2 in Region 1, 23-6 overall in the regular season.
Four regulars are hitting .300 or better: Mac Brooks, John Davis, Brady Moretz and Landon Parrish, with Tyler Holmes sitting at .299. Drew Hembree has brought in a strong bat in his late-season starts and the Blue Devils hit .307 as a team.
Moretz has 34 runs scored to lead the team, with seven of his teammates crossing home 17 times or more. RBI leader is a tie between Parrish and Moretz and seven Tift players have driven in at least 16. The lineup has almost 100 extra-base hits in 2024.
Pitching-wise, Tift has a team ERA of 2.13. Five players have wins, Davis leading the way at eight. He’s also the ERA and strikeouts leader and gave up one eared run in five region starts.
Elsewhere in clashes between Regions 1 and 4, Houston County hosts North Atlanta, Thomas County Central heads to St. Pius X and Lee County visits Marist. Marist won Region 4.
Should the Blue Devils advance to the second round, they would face the winner between Region 2’s No. 2 and Region 3’s No. 3. The GHSA has not filled in the teams from those regions. Based on schedules, Region 2’s team is Brunswick. Checks of GameChanger and MaxPreps indicate that three of Region 3’s teams have a game to go on their schedules with Alcovy, Forest Park and Mundy’s Mill all in the running for places 3-5.