Whitefield sweeps Athens Academy, bound for first state quarterfinal

MABLETON — Whitefield Academy earned a spot in the Class A Private state quarterfinals with a two-game sweep of Athens Academy in a second-round series Wednesday.

The Wolfpack won the first game 7-0, then took the nightcap 13-7 to complete the sweep and advance to a matchup at home against 2021 state runner-up Wesleyan in a best-of-three series beginning Tuesday.

The Wolves, who lost the state title to Mount Paran Christian last year, are led by potential top draft pick Druw Jones, the son of former Atlanta Braves great Andruw Jones.

“It’s really exciting,” Whitefield coach Mike Shaheen said. “We’re hosting arguably the best team in the state, so it will be a tough, tough task.”

It will be the first time for Whitefield (22-8) in the third round of the state playoffs in the program’s history. The Wolfpack made it to the final eight in 2015, but that is when the bracket was limited to four rounds and not the current five-round format.

Against Athens Academy, Whitefield took control of the first game immediately with three runs in the first inning and four more in the second.

Brayden May had 13 strikeouts on his way to a three-hit shutout.

After Cole Peterson led off the bottom of the first with a walk, May singled and Caleb LaVallee walked to load the bases and set up Conrad Walker’s three-run single to give the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead.

Whitefield further boosted its lead 7-0 on LaVallee’s three-run triple and the run that he scored on a wild pitch.

Meanwhile, May did his part on the mound as he struck out the first four Athens Academy hitters that he faced, as well as eight of the first 11.

“He had a great game,” Shaheen said. “Any time you start a playoff series with four strikeouts — for him to set the tone from the mound is huge. What that does then is, when we come in to hit, we can be free and easy, knowing that he is going to shut them down. They’re not going to get a whole lot off of him.

“Maybe they can get a couple of runs, but we can be relaxed and know that we have seven innings to put up some runs.”

In the second game, Athens Academy (21-10) led 4-2 after three innings, but Whitefield outscored the Spartans 11-3 the rest of the way to take the win.

“It was just a great performance,” Shaheen said. “I keep telling the guys that we haven’t played our best baseball. I think we can play even better, but we played well. We made some great defensive plays — just really, really good defense, some good catches — and timely hits. We ran the bases well, and we had timely hits.

“We have yet to really crush it with our bats, which I think we can, but again, timely hits and good defense and guys that are throwing strikes not giving away bases. That’s the difference from the beginning of the season this year.

Walker went 2-for-3 with five RBIs and Nick Olson hit a solo homer in the top if the fifth to lead the Wolfpack’s offensive attack, while Athens Academy’s Sam Jordan hit a three-run home run in the top of the third inning in Game 2.