The Flowery Branch baseball team crushed Arabia Mountain to move into the state quarterfinals on Friday, while North Hall saw its season ended in a marathon defeat to Lovett -- both in Game 3s.
The Falcons joined Buford and Jefferson in the third round of the postseason courtesy a 10-0, 5-inning win at Arabia Mountain.
Flowery Branch has already improved on last season's Sweet 16 appearance and will travel to face Veterans in the third round.
Veterans -- located in Kathleen in Houtson County -- was a Class 5A quarterfinalist last season.
Meanwhile, Buford found out that it will host a Class 5A quarterfinal series after No. 2 seed Ola defeated Wayne County in three games. The Wolves, also a 2 seed, will host virture the universal coin toss conducted earlier this spring. Buford was already through to the third round via a Thursday sweep of Decatur.
Jefferson too will host a quarterfinal series, as it takes on Woodward Academy at home in Class 4A. The Dragons and War Eagles both swept their second round series.
The only remaining question is Commerce. The Tigers will begin play in their Class A Public second round series at Emanuel County Institute on Monday after the GHSA settled an injuction filed by another Class A Public team that failed to alter the bracket in any way -- save to delay it.
SECOND ROUND STATE BASEBALL RESULTS
(Area teams in bold)
CLASS 6A
Allatoona 6, Gainesville 5
Allatoona 12, Gainesville 2
(Allatoona wins 2-0)
CLASS 5A
Buford 10, Decatur 2
Buford 5, Decatur 4
(Buford wins 2-0)
Flowery Branch 7, Arabia Mountain 6
Arabia Mountain 4, Flowery Branch 2
Flowery Branch 10, Arabia Mountain 0
(Flowery Branch wins 2-1)
CLASS 4A
Jefferson 3, Northwest Whitfield 0
Jefferson 5, Northwest Whitfield 1
(Jefferson wins 2-0)
CLASS 3A
Lovett 11, North Hall 1
North Hall 7, Lovett 6, 9 innings
Lovett 5, North Hall 4, 9 innings
(Lovett wins 2-1)
CLASS 2A
Callaway 3, Rabun County 0
Callaway 9, Rabun County 7
(Callaway wins series 2-0)
*CLASS A Public
Commerce series at ECI postponed to May 7-8
STATE QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS
May 9-10
CLASS 5A
Ola at Buford
Flowery Branch at Veterans
CLASS 4A
Woodward Academy at Jefferson
