TIFTON — Devil Diamond opens back up for business Wednesday afternoon with the start of the Class 6A state baseball playoffs.

Tift County (21-9) hosts North Paulding (23-7) in a doubleheader that begins at 4:30 p.m. A third game, if needed would be Thursday afternoon.

The Blue Devils get a home series after earning the No. 2 seed in Region 1. North Paulding is Region 5’s No. 3 seed. Both teams had quite a challenge at the top as the region champion of both conferences is a defending state champion.

Likewise, North Paulding and Tift each won one of the three in the series against defending champs Etowah and Lowndes, respectively. Walton is the second seed from Region 5. Colquitt County travels to Marietta to face the Raiders.

Tift head coach Greg Williams said pitching is a strength for North Paulding, which hails from Dallas.

In their 1-0 nine-inning win over Marietta last week, Yenli Nolasco and Zac Parker combined to allow only four hits. Nolasco struck out eight.

The team also hits quite well. In a 13-0 region pounding of North Cobb earlier this year, Nolasco, Cade Cox, Nathan Rowland, Bryce Davis and Lawson Sheffield all homered. Eight of their 11 hits on the day were for extra bases.

Pitching depth is also a calling card for the Blue Devils in 2025. Six different pitchers have earned a win, including six for Ryan Whitley and five each for John Davis and Tyler VanSumeren.

Whitley is this season’s ERA leader among usual starters. He is currently sporting an earned run average of 1.92 with 58 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings. Davis has fanned 65 in 43 innings thrown as the No. 1 starter.

Davis and Whitley will likely be penciled in as the doubleheader starters on the hill. If the series goes to a third game, VanSumeren could be the one toeing the rubber.

Landon Parrish, Jace Long, Jake Spurlin and Graysan Del Toro are the top bullpen options. Parrish, however, could be a game three starter instead of VanSumeren. Tift has had to reshuffle its pitching some after injuries to Will Pridgen.

At the dish, Davis leads Tift with a .473 average and is tied with VanSumeren at 43 hits apiece. VanSumeren is hitting .439. Drew Hembree and Parrish sport averages over .300.

Besides average, Davis has the most runs scored at 35, though VanSumeren leads in RBIs at 40.

Mac Brooks, Davis, Parrish, Spurlin and VanSumeren have all scored 20 or more runs. Brooks, Davis, Parrish and VanSumeren have all driven in 20 or more.

As a team, Tift has slugged 19 homers. VanSumeren has six, Parrish has five and Davis has four. The other four are split between Brooks, Spurlin and Ean Weldon.