Players catch a break in action

A weeklong break has now begun for most Columbia County high school teams. With students out of class for spring break, and the masses headed to the Masters Tournament, teams face a depleted fan base and seize the opportunity to rest.

For the Evans baseball team, the break couldn't come at a better time.

Entering the week, the Knights had played seven games during 11 days. Four of them were region games.

"This is a brutal stretch for us, but it gets us ready for the postseason," Evans coach Ricky Beale said. "We're going to give the kids about three days off. It'll be nice for them to get a break."

Because of the long stretch of games, Evans reliever Kyle Golden was moved to the starting role for a weekday game against Westside on Tuesday. Golden earned a 5-2 win in 6 innings of work with nine strikeouts.

Both Evans and Lakeside are playing only two games during spring break. Harlem, Augusta Christian and Augusta Prep have no games scheduled.

At Greenbrier, the Wolfpack are taking a different approach.

"We've got a busy spring break. We need to be playing right now," Greenbrier coach Ed Williams said.

The Wolfpack, already with a schedule of four games in four days leading up to the break, will play four more games during spring break. Greenbrier will travel to the University of Georgia to take on Marist on Monday, then play host to Heritage on Wednesday.

The week ends with two region games on Friday and Saturday, including the Wolfpack's highly anticipated rematch against Evans.

The rematch will take place at Greenbrier at 5 p.m. Saturday.