For a moment, Greg Payne thought he had stepped into a time warp.

His Gordon Lee High School baseball team scored 32 runs and allowed 30 in a doubleheader sweep of Lakeview Academy in the Georgia Class A first-round baseball playoffs last Friday.

“Really, it was like watching T-ball,” Payne said, shaking his head at the recollection of the six-plus-hour marathon. “I’ve never coached a game like that in my life ... and we had two in one day. Seriously, if they only scored two or three runs, I was happy because I knew we were going to score more.”

Payne believes today’s second-round opponent, top-ranked Aquinas in a 2 p.m. start in Augusta, will be a different kind of challenge, but even the Irish (26-2) are coming off a sweep of Mount Paran in which they had to win 15-11 in the second game. Could Payne and his 18-7 Trojans be in for another long afternoon?

“I’ll say we’ll see better pitching, but if not, we better be ready to hit the ball again,” he said. “They’ve been ranked No. 1 all year; they have good, good pitching and are solid through the lineup.”

For the Trojans to move on, they will have to beat the Irish pitching duo of ace Andrew Foushee and Drew Garren and a lineup that features eight other seniors. If the teams split today’s two games, a deciding game would be played Thursday at 2.

n Dalton at Heritage: Dalton’s 16-12 Catamounts surprised many by sweeping seventh-ranked Alexander in the first round of the Class AAAA tournament. The challenge this week gets tougher — fourth-ranked Heritage (24-4) in Conyers (3:30 start).

“When you look at their team, it’s a mirror image of Alexander,” Dalton coach Bob Brotherton said. “The pitching’s not something you can’t handle. It’s good pitching, but not great. They handle the bat well, bunt and hit and run a lot. They like to use trick plays, so we’ve got to be aware of that.

“We’re going to play our game, and if our kids show up like we did the other day, we’ve got a shot. If not, we’ll get beat by 10 each game.”

The Patriots at one point in the season won 20 consecutive games. They swept past first-round opponent North Springs, 8-1 and 13-1. A deciding game, if necessary, would be played Thursday at 5.

n Lovett at Calhoun: These two are familiar playoff foes, with Calhoun’s Yellow Jackets owning a first-round sweep of the Lions last year. Lovett (19-9) swept Fannin County 2-1 and 9-1 in this year’s Class AA first round, while the Jackets had no problem with Heard County, winning 12-0 twice.

The first game today starts at 4. A third game would be played Thursday at 5:30.

The Lions have three strong starting pitchers, led by senior ace Carr Churchill, while the Jackets will counter with sophomore ace Carter Harrison (11-0). Calhoun will receive a boost with the return of senior outfielder and pitcher Jarrett Didrick, who missed the first-round series with a broken bone in his foot. Though he may not pitch the second game, his bat (.362, eight homers, 25 RBIs) will be back in the lineup.

“Lovett doesn’t have a lot of power hitters, but they’re a very scrappy ballclub with some good arms,” Calhoun coach Chip Henderson said. “They put it in play. They are deep in tradition and they play in the toughest region in Class AA (Region 6). We know they would like nothing better than to eliminate us, so we’ll have to play some of our best baseball.”