VALDOSTA — Who plays for a state championship and who goes home? Lowndes and Etowah will settle that this week at Noel George Field.

Starting today is a best-of-three series between a pair of defending state champions. The Vikings are two-time defenders of the now-defunct Class 7A. Etowah won 6A a season ago.

First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Should the teams need a third game, that will be at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the gate or on GoFan. All fans, except babies in arms, must have a ticket.

Lowndes is already familiar with Etowah, having dropped a 9-3 game to them early in the season. The two were close most of the contest, but a four-run seventh by the Eagles blew the game open.

Being early in the year, both teams mixed and matched players and did not go as long with pitchers. Each has solidified their lineups since.

Few baseball teams in Georgia have ever finished with a perfect record. Etowah won’t be one of them, but are about as close to undefeated as a team can get.

The Eagles have dropped two games, one to region rival North Paulding (8-4) and the other two Houston County (5-1). A perennial powerhouse, Houston is in Class 5A’s final four. Richmond Hill almost made it a third loss to open the Class 6A state tournament. The Wildcats were up 5-3 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but could not close the door.

The average score of an Etowah game is 9-3, and they have deliberately sought out a difficult schedule. How and where do the Eagles do it? Everywhere in the lineup.

Over their six state tournament contests, Matthew Sharman, Deion Cole (2), Trevor Condon, Caden Borcherding (2), Cam Boulanger have all homered.

Sharman, a Georgia commit, and Jackson Rose have been the main pitchers. In 21 innings, Sharman has fanned 37 hitters. He’s more likely to run up a high pitch count, but also one-hit Carrollton in the quarterfinals.

Rose has 23 K’s in a tad over 16 innings and has surrendered a mere two earned runs.

Awaiting the winner will be either Walton or North Gwinnett. Walton was the No. 2 team in Etowah’s region.