Baseball: Pairings for state tournament; begins Thursday

Lowndes players celebrate their 5-2 win against Parkview in game two to win the GHSA baseball 7A state championship at Truist Park, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in Atlanta. Lowndes won the GHSA baseball 7A state championship series 2-0. (Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Lowndes players celebrate their 5-2 win against Parkview in game two to win the GHSA baseball 7A state championship at Truist Park, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in Atlanta. Lowndes won the GHSA baseball 7A state championship series 2-0. (Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com)

The state baseball tournament begins Thursday with the first of five rounds across eight classifications. Each round is a best-of-three series that begins with a doubleheader with a third game played the next day if necessary.

The No. 1 ranked teams are Parkview (Class 7A), Houston County (6A), Cartersville (5A), Starr’s Mill (4A), Harlem (3A), North Cobb Christian (2A), Prince Avenue Christian (A Division I) and Charlton County (A Division II).

All of those are defending champions except Parkview, Cartersville and Starr’s Mill. Champions in those classes were Lowndes (7A), Loganville (5A) and North Oconee (4A). Loganville and North Oconee are the only two-time defending champions.

Parkview and Lowndes are ranked 1-2 in the highest class, but they’re on the same side of the bracket this time.

Houston County retained its No. 1 ranking in Class 6A despite finishing second in its region to second-ranked Tift County. Houston County won the season series between the two 2-1.

Below are the first-round matchups. The teams’ state rankings are in brackets and bold. Region and region seeding are on the left of each team.

The eight championship series will be played May 16-21 at Coolray Field in Gwinnett County, AdventHealth Stadium in Rome and J.I. Clements Field in Statesboro. The schedule and stadium announcements won’t be announced until the quarterfinals.

Class 7A

R4 #3 Grayson at R1 #2 Richmond Hill

R3 #4 Marietta at R2 #1 East Coweta

R7 #3 Norcross at R6 #2 Forsyth Central

R8 #4 Mountain View at R5 #1 Walton [No. 5]

R1 #3 Colquitt County at R4 #2 Brookwood [No. 4]

R2 #4 Westlake at R3 #1 Hillgrove [No. 7]

R6 #3 West Forsyth at R7 #2 Peachtree Ridge

R5 #4 Kennesaw Mountain at R8 #1 Buford [No. 6]

R5 #3 Cherokee at R8 #2 Mill Creek [No. 9]

R6 #4 Lambert at R7 #1 North Gwinnett [No. 3]

R2 #3 Campbell at R3 #2 North Paulding [No. 8]

R1 #4 Camden County at R4 #1 Parkview [No. 1]

R8 #3 Dacula at R5 #2 North Cobb

R7 #4 Duluth at R6 #1 South Forsyth

R3 #3 Harrison at R2 #2 Carrollton [No. 10]

R4 #4 Newton at R1 #1 Lowndes [No. 2]

Class 6A

R4 #3 North Atlanta at R1 #2 Houston County [No. 1]

R3 #4 Alcovy at R2 #1 Evans [No. 8]

R7 #3 Lassiter at R6 #2 River Ridge

R8 #4 Gainesville at R5 #1 Newnan [No. 5]

R1 #3 Thomas County Central at R4 #2 St. Pius

R2 #4 South Effingham at R3 #1 Woodward Academy

R6 #3 Allatoona at R7 #2 Pope

R5 #4 East Paulding at R8 #1 Apalachee

R5 #3 Alexander at R8 #2 North Forsyth [No. 10]

R6 #4 Sequoyah at R7 #1 Blessed Trinity [No. 6]

R2 #3 Glynn Academy [No. 7] at R3 #2 Rockdale County

R1 #4 Lee County at R4 #1 Marist [No. 3]

R8 #3 Habersham Central at R5 #2 South Paulding

R7 #4 Roswell at R6 #1 Etowah [No. 4]

R3 #3 Mundy’s Mill at R2 #2 Brunswick [No. 9]

R4 #4 Dunwoody at R1 #1 Tift County [No. 2]

Class 5A

R4 #3 M.L. King at R1 #2 Greenbrier [No. 5]

R3 #4 Northside-Columbus at R2 #1 Ola [No. 3]

R7 #3 Cass at R6 #2 Kell [No. 10]

R8 #4 Eastside at R5 #1 Villa Rica [No. 4]

R1 #3 Coffee [No. 7] at R4 #2 Chamblee

R2 #4 Jones County at R3 #1 McIntosh [No. 8]

R6 #3 Cambridge at R7 #2 Woodland-Cartersville

R5 #4 Chapel Hill at R8 #1 Loganville

R5 #3 Midtown at R8 #2 Jefferson

R6 #4 Chattahoochee at R7 #1 Cartersville [No. 1]

R2 #3 Locust Grove at R3 #2 Harris County

R1 #4 Statesboro at R4 #1 Decatur

R8 #3 Flowery Branch at R5 #2 Jackson-Atlanta

R7 #4 Dalton at R6 #1 Greater Atlanta Christian [No. 2]

R3 #3 Northgate at R2 #2 Union Grove [No. 9]

R4 #4 Tucker at R1 #1 Ware County [No. 6]

Class 4A

R4 #3 Troup at R1 #2 Shaw

R3 #4 Islands at R2 #1 West Laurens

R7 #3 Central-Carroll at R6 #2 Holy Innocents’

R8 #4 Walnut Grove at R5 #1 Lovett [No. 6]

R1 #3 Bainbridge at R4 #2 LaGrange [No. 8]

R2 #4 Howard at R3 #1 Wayne County [No. 3]

R6 #3 Druid Hills at R7 #2 Cedartown

R5 #4 Woodland-Stockbridge at R8 #1 Cherokee Bluff [No. 2]

R5 #3 Pace Academy at R8 #2 Seckinger [No. 9]

R6 #4 Southwest DeKalb at R7 #1 Heritage-Conyers

R2 #3 Baldwin at R3 #2 Benedictine

R1 #4 Hardaway at R4 #1 Starr’s Mill [No. 1]

R8 #3 North Oconee [No. 5] at R5 #2 Stockbridge

R7 #4 Northwest Whitfield at R6 #1 Westminster

R3 #3 Southeast Bulloch at R2 #2 Perry [No. 3]

R4 #4 Whitewater at R1 #1 Cairo

Class 3A

R4 #3 Richmond Academy at R1 #2 Columbus

R3 #4 Long County [No. 8] at R2 #1 Mary Persons [No. 7]

R7 #3 Wesleyan at R6 #2 Gordon Lee [No. 9]

R8 #4 Hart County at R5 #1 Sandy Creek

R1 #3 Crisp County at R4 #2 Morgan County [No. 5]

R2 #4 Jackson at R3 #1 Calvary Day [No. 3]

R6 #3 Bremen at R7 #2 Dawson County

R5 #4 Douglass at R8 #1 Franklin County [No. 6]

R5 #3 Cedar Grove at R8 #2 Hebron Christian

R6 #4 Adairsville at R7 #1 Pickens [No. 2]

R2 #3 Peach County at R3 #2 Savannah Country Day

R1 #4 Dougherty at R4 #1 Harlem [No. 1]

R8 #3 Oconee County at R5 #2 Carver-Atlanta

R7 #4 Gilmer at R6 #1 Ringgold [No. 4]

R3 #3 Savannah Christian [No. 10] at R2 #2 Pike County

R4 #4 Cross Creek at R1 #1 Thomasville

Class 2A

R4 #3 Putnam County at R1 #2 Worth County [No. 6]

R3 #4 Brantley County at R2 #1 ACE Charter

R7 #3 Haralson County at R6 #2 Mount Paran Christian [No. 2]

R8 #4 Fellowship Christian at R5 #1 Redan [No. 4]

R1 #3 Cook at R4 #2 Thomson

R2 #4 Southwest at R3 #1 Appling County [No. 10]

R6 #3 Walker at R7 #2 Model [No. 5]

R5 #4 ELCA at R8 #1 Banks County

R5 #3 Landmark Christian at R8 #2 Providence Christian

R6 #4 Drew Charter at R7 #1 Rockmart [No. 8]

R2 #3 Jordan at R3 #2 Toombs County

R1 #4 Dodge County at R4 #1 Washington County [No. 9]

R8 #3 East Jackson at R5 #2 Callaway [No. 7]

R7 #4 Fannin County at R6 #1 North Cobb Christian [No. 1]

R3 #3 Pierce County at R2 #2 Rutland

R4 #4 Westside-Augusta at R1 #1 Jeff Davis [No. 3]

Class A Division I

R4 #3 Temple at R1 #2 Bacon County

R3 #4 Claxton at R2 #1 Bleckley County [No. 5]

R7 #3 Trion at R6 #2 Whitefield Academy [No. 6]

R8 #4 Commerce at R5 #1 Prince Avenue Christian [No. 1]

R1 #3 Pelham at R4 #2 Crawford County [No. 7]

R2 #4 Jefferson County at R3 #1 Metter

R6 #3 Weber at R7 #2 Darlington

R5 #4 Jasper County at R8 #1 Athens Christian [No. 9]

R5 #3 Oglethorpe County at R8 #2 Tallulah Falls [No. 4]

R6 #4 St. Francis at R7 #1 Pepperell [No. 3]

R2 #3 Swainsboro at R3 #2 Bryan County

R1 #4 Brooks County at R4 #1 Heard County

R8 #3 Elbert County [No. 10] at R5 #2 Social Circle

R7 #4 Armuchee at R6 #1 King’s Ridge Christian [No. 8]

R3 #3 Screven County at R2 #2 Dublin

R4 #4 Lamar County at R1 #1 Irwin County [No. 2]

Class A Division II

R4 #3 Hawkinsville at R1 #2 Miller County

R3 #4 Montgomery County at R2 #1 Charlton County [No. 1]

R7 #3 Mount Zion at R6 #2 Marion County

R8 #4 GSIC at R5 #1 Johnson County [No. 9]

R1 #3 Seminole County at R4 #2 Wheeler County

R2 #4 Atkinson County at R3 #1 ECI [No. 5]

R6 #3 Taylor County at R7 #2 Christian Heritage

R5 #4 Wilkinson County at R8 #1 Lake Oconee Academy [No. 7]

R5 #3 GMC Prep at R8 #2 Washington-Wilkes [No. 8]

R6 #4 Chattahoochee County at R7 #1 Bowdon [No. 6]

R2 #3 Clinch County at R3 #2 Jenkins County

R1 #4 Early County at R4 #1 Wilcox County [No. 4]

R8 #3 Towns County at R5 #2 Glascock County

R7 #4 BYE at R6 #1 Schley County [No. 2]

R3 #3 McIntosh County Academy at R2 #2 Lanier County [No. 10]

R4 #4 Treutlen at R1 #1 Baconton [No. 3]