MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The baseball state playoffs begin Thursday, and the GMC Prep Bulldogs (16-12) have earned the right to not only be among the final 24 teams but also to host their first-round matchup.

The Bulldogs will welcome the Pelham High School Hornets (14-8) to Milledgeville for a best-of-three series that will determine who moves on to the second round. The teams will play a doubleheader Thursday (3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.) and Game 3 will take place Friday at 5:30 p.m., if necessary.

The Bulldogs and Hornets shared no common opponents during the 2018 season. Pelham is located way down in the southwest corner of Georgia, which is about a three-hour bus ride from Milledgeville so GMC Prep getting to play on its own field should be an advantage.

GMC Prep easily made it into the state playoffs, but just did make the cut to get the opportunity to host. The GHSA uses power ratings to determine what schools get into the postseason, and teams ranked 1 through 24 receive the nod. The top eight seeds receive first round byes and teams 9 through 16 are first round hosts. The Bulldogs landed at No. 16 in the final rankings while the Hornets were placed in the 17th slot. The winner of the series matchup will have no easy task ahead of them with top-ranked Schley County waiting in the second round. 

Making things a little difficult for the Bulldogs when they take the field Thursday is the fact they may be without senior Cory Bivins who leads the team in pretty much every major hitting category (batting average, runs scored, hits, RBIs, and home runs). Bivins suffered an ankle injury recently and GMC Prep head coach Rusty Courson called the shortstop a game-time decision adding he would likely serve as the team’s designated hitter due to limited mobility.

First pitch for Game 1 is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday with Game 2 to follow. Admission will be $10 Thursday, as dictated by the GHSA, and $7 Friday if the third game is necessary.