JMA baseball advances to 2nd round
May 5—Before Monday's deluge, the John Milledge Academy baseball team dominated Game 1 of its playoff best-of-three series versus Notre Dame Academy, 15-0 in three innings.
Patrick McDonel and Caleb Haines had three hits apiece while Grayson Hopkins and Haines combined to pitch a three-inning no-hitter in the Game 1 win.
Then the rains came.
With similar weather in the forecast for Tuesday, the visiting Irish from Duluth (5-13) saw the writing on the wall in the No. 1 versus 16-seed matchup. Notre Dame opted to forfeit Game 2 and end its season.
The 21-3 JMA baseball team now moves on to the second round of the GISA AAA state playoffs where it will host Westfield in a best-of-three series slated to start Friday. The Trojans took both regular season meetings against the Hornets from Perry 14-4 and 7-6. Tensions reportedly ran real high in that one-run ballgame played in Perry on April 9, thus adding an added layer of drama to the upcoming series. Westfield, the ninth-seeded team in the 16-team bracket, swept No. 8 Trinity 6-4 and 10-0 Monday to earn a return trip to Milledgeville.
Game 1 between John Milledge and Westfield is set for noon Friday with Game 2 scheduled to follow at 2 p.m. Game 3 will be played 3 p.m. Saturday, if necessary. All games will take place at JMA.
