Newnan finally has a second round opponent

Brandon Dawson had his normal game Friday night against the Newton County Rams as the senior allowed one hit over five innings and was 3-for-3 at the plate. He will pitch one of the games Thursday afternoon against Tift County at Joe Pope Field.

The Newnan Cougars may have been uttering the saying "Rain, rain go away" over the last five days since sweeping the Newton County Rams in the first round of the AAAAAA state baseball playoffs.
The McEachern Indians and Tift County Blue Devils met Friday in a first round matchup in Cobb County with the two teams splitting games and having to play a deciding contest on Saturday.
The problem was that Mother Nature did not get the memo as rain hit the Atlanta area and since GHSA sanctioned games cannot be played in Georgia on Sunday, the next available day was Monday.
Somebody stop the bus in Tifton as the field in Powder Springs was too wet to play on and the game had to be postponed to Tuesday evening at 5:00.
After a 90-minute delay, the two teams managed to begin the game with the Indians expected to win with their number one ranking against the fourth-ranked visitors from Region 1-AAAAAA who made the over 200 mile trip north to Powder Springs.
The scenario did not play out that way as McEachern's defense or lack of it ended the season for the Indians when they made five errors during the game and were defeated 2-1.
Expecting to need a bus for the series at McEachern Wednesday, the Cougars will get to stay home for a second round series at Joe Pope Field with the Blue Devils on Thursday at 4:00 as the Georgia High School Association allowed a one day delay in the series.
When the series begins Thursday, the Cougars, the number two seed from Region 3-AAAAAA will bring a record of 22-5 with them including a five-game winning streak and an 8-2 record in their last 10 games while Tift County enters the series with a 16-13 record and are 6-4 in their last 10 games.
The Cougars will benefit to a degree in the erratic scheduling as they will be able to use pitchers Brandon Dawson and Thomas Sumner on five days rest while the Blue Devils will be unable to use junior Zack Bullard who won both games in the series with the Indians.
In Tift's win on Tuesday, Bullard allowed four hits and recorded one strikeout on a night in which his defense did the work while in his other start he allowed only three hits in a 4-1 win.
Meanwhile, the Cougars are coming off a series in which they won games over the Rams by scores of 15-9 and 11-0.
In game one, the work of Tanner Snellgrove was the story as he recorded seven strikeouts in three innings as the Rams scored six in the frame to mount a rally.
Dawson was the star of game two as he was 3-for-3 at the plate and limiting the Rams to a single hit in the five-inning contest.