BASEBALL: 2026 Season get underway for area teams

The crack of bats and roar of crowds have returned to local high school campuses across Northwest Georgia with the return of warmer temperatures as well with spring right around the corner for the opening days of the 2026 baseball season.

Haralson, Paulding and Polk county teams have gotten their starts for the 2026 season, and so long as the weather outside cooperates should be rushing through to March and April regular season rival showdowns and region schedules on the way to the end of the school year.

Here’s a rundown of how teams are doing so far on baseball diamonds across the coverage area to open the year:

Bremen

The Bremen Blue Devils are getting off to a solid start on the 2026 season.

They’ve put in two games worth of work so far, and already sit 2-0 with wins over Villa Rica and Calvary Day on Feb. 11 and Saturday. The Wildcats fell in a 7-2 home and season opener, and Calvary Day came to town and fell 3-1 to the Blue Devils. They finished off Coahulla Creek in a Game 2 on Saturday 6-0.

Blue Devils Baseball is back in action against Denmark on Feb. 20 in tournament action, followed on Feb. 21 with Campbell and Milton at the Lakepoint Sports Complex in Emerson.

South Paulding and Alexander are on the schedule back-to-back on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, and then are traveling to Bowdon for a rivalry matchup on Feb. 27.

Bremen opens region play on March 3 hosting Pepperell, then travel to Lindale on March 6 for a double-header to round out the three-game series.

Cedartown

The Bulldogs on the baseball diamond opened their season with a road loss against South Paulding, but rebounded with a 3-2 victory over Calhoun to move to 1-1 on the year heading into their second week. They knocked the Jackets off a 3-0 run in the process with the 3-2 victory.

The Dawgs are back in action on Tuesday in Lindale at Pepperell, then host Rockmart on Thursday for a rivalry showdown followed by a trip across the county to wrap up the series for 2026.

They’ll open the region schedule in March in a three-game series against Woodland, hosting the first game on March 3, then heading to Bartow County to finish out the series with a double=header on March 6.

East Paulding

The Raiders aren’t starting out their season the way they hoped. The 1-4 black and silver squad have already put in five games of work and put up a 3-game losing streak to open the year on Feb. 4 (at North Cobb Christian) with a 12-3 bust, a Feb. 9 12-9 loss at North Paulding, and a 2-0 loss at Kell.

They finally broke the streak against Cass with a piling on of a 24-8 game, but then dropped a big one 19-2 at Sonoraville.

Raider nation will hopefully get to watch the squad rebound against McEachern on Feb. 16, then get into tournament games starting on Feb. 20 through Feb. 21. They have Washington County, Harris County and Marietta on the schedule for the LakePoint-hosted tourney.

East Paulding won’t host their first home game until Feb. 24 when Cass plays the return game in a 2-game series.

Haralson County

Rebel nation got an early-season treat on Friday to open the season on their home turf.

They defeated area rival Bowdon on Feb. 13 with a 5-2 victory to open the season over the Red Devils.

Haralson gets to move on in the season on Tuesday with a trip to play Jackson on the road, then follows that up with a homestand against Glencoe on Feb. 19. The Rebels round out the week on the road at Pickens on Feb. 20, and then host North Atlanta on Feb. 21.

Hiram

What a big start for the Hiram Hornets this season.

They’ve put up a 3-1 run after opening the season on Feb. 6 at home with a victory over Osborne 14-4, notched 18 runs on the road over Douglas County (who only were able to grab three runs on the day) and then finished off the Tigers with a 11-3 homestand to round out the two-game series on Feb. 11.

Osborne got one back on the Hornets this past Friday with a 4-3 loss on the road, but good news for Hiram: they won’t have to face off against the Cobb squad again this season.

Hiram opens their upcoming week on Monday against South Cobb, then head to a rivalry game with Paulding County on Feb. 18 on the road. The Hornets host Rome on Feb. 20, and travel to Pebblebrook on Feb. 23 before finishing the week against the Wolves on the road on Feb. 25, and finish up with the Falcons on Feb. 27 at home.

Region opens against Southeast Whitfield on March 3 on the road, with a double-header to finish the series against the Raiders at home on March 6.

North Paulding

The season started off just right for the Wolfpack, and now they’ll need to dig in with some big competition they’re facing on the road this week.

North Paulding opened their seasons with a 12-9 win at home over neighboring rival East Paulding on Feb. 9, and defended the den against the Harrison Hoyas in a 7-6 victory on Feb. 11.

But a Friday 3-2 loss to Blessed Trinity at home set the Wolfpack back on their heels just ahead of a two-game road trip against some tough competition.

Rockmart will play host to North Paulding on Feb. 17, and Creekview on Feb. 19

Paulding County

It hasn’t been an easy road for Paulding County to start the season, with a disappointing opening week of games, but they’ve got a few coming up to give them a chance to pick up some needed wins to get back to .500 and beyond early in the year.

The Pats sit at 1-3 so far on the year, dropping their opening series against Marietta first on the road in a 6-1 loss, and then took a 19-1 hit against the Blue Devils in their home opener on Feb. 9 and 10, respectively.

Paulding made up for the loss with a 3-0 rout at Allatoona on Feb. 12, and battled it out at Chapel Hill to round out the week in a 9-8 loss to the Panthers on Feb. 13.

But the Red, White and Blue on the baseball diamond have a tough road ahead. They have a trio of homestands coming up against cross-county rival South Paulding, longtime rival Hiram and then Villa Rica coming up for a visit.

They round out February with a home-and-away series with Whitefield Academy, Mt. Bethel Christian on Feb. 27, and then host East Paulding to open the month of March.

Two more non-region games round out the opening week of March at Kennesaw Mountain and then hosting North Cobb Christian on March 4 and 5.

The Patriots open region on March 11 hosting South Cobb before a home-and-away against Osborne on March 13 (away) and March 16 (home) against Osborne.

Rockmart

The Jackets are coming off a big season, bringing home a state title and in this final season in Class AA are hoping to make a lasting mark carrying them into a new classification and region in 2027.

Rockmart’s season hasn’t gotten off to the best start they hoped for – but they faced big names in Northwest Georgia baseball in their opening week.

The 0-2 Jackets took a 3-1 loss to Calhoun in their home opener on Feb. 10, and then a close 1-0 loss to Cartersville on Feb. 12.

Rockmart has a good chance of bouncing back this week to go above .500, hosting North Paulding on Tuesday, then a back-to-back away-and-home series on Thursday and Friday with rival Cedartown to round out the upcoming schedule.

Tournament play is up for the Jackets the final week of February. They play Northside-Columbus on Feb. 26, then Opelika and Fairhope on Feb. 27, rounded out with St. Paul’s Episcopal on Feb. 28.

Rockmart heads to East Paulding on March 3, Mt. Paran Christian comes to play on March 4, followed by Newnan on March 6 before region play begins at Coahulla Creek on March 10.

South Paulding

The Red and Gold on the southside of the county are starting out even after an easy week to open the 2026 season.

The started with a home victory over Cedartown 7-4 on Feb. 9, but fell 3-1 in a close game against Northgate to close out the week.

The 1-1 Sparties still have some work to do, but after an easy week getting back into batting shape they head over to Paulding County on Monday to face their rival with hopes to getting above .500. They have a good shot at it against a 1-3 Pats squad, and could at least keep it close with a 2-1 Lee County on Feb. 19. They host Jackson on Feb. 20, and then head to Druid Hills on Feb. 23, before a homestand against Bremen on Feb. 24.

South Paulding will close out the month in tournament play on Feb. 27 against Baker County and Florida State Univ. High School.

They’ll tangle up with Hillgrove on March 2, Walker on March 4 and host Sonoraville on March 7 before getting into region play, opening a series with Rome on March 9 and March 11.