Athens Bible senior pitcher Kenneth Adams unloads a pitch to the plate last Friday in a second-round playoff game against Shoals Christian. Adams will start the first game of the Trojans' three-game quarterfinal series at Spring Garden.

Athens Bible is used to making deep baseball playoff runs, and Trojans coach Bill Murrell said he expects that to help his experienced team as they take on Spring Garden in the quarterfinals of the Class 1A playoffs today.

The first two games of the three-game series will take place at 4:30 and 7 p.m. today with an if-necessary third game set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Spring Garden.

Athens Bible (20-10) advanced to the quarterfinals after sweeping Shoals Christian in two games by scores of 6-1 and 12-2. Spring Garden (22-7) swept Marion County in the second round by scores of 7-5 and 9-8.

Athens Bible has six starters that were on last year’s team which was eliminated in the semifinals of last year’s playoffs by Decatur Heritage, and Murrell believes that experience will help the team as it tries to go one step further.

“It has helped them tremendously,” Murrell said. “We graduated four seniors last year, so six of our guys now were starters. Kenneth (Adams) has been pitching in the playoffs since he was an eighth grader, so we do have a ton of experience.”

Adams will be on the mound for the first game of the series, and looks to get the Trojans off to a good start, which is what he did last week, against Shoals Christian, throwing a complete-game on just 98 pitches. After Shoals Christian scored its only run in the third inning, Adams allowed only one base runner the remainder of the game.

“It’s important for us to come out strong in the first game, and Kenneth has done a good job of that most of the season,” Murrell said. “He might give up an early run or so and then he settles down and his pitches are sharper and stronger as the game goes on. You saw that last week.”

Murrell said Spring Garden is a very good hitting team, so it will be important for Adams to pitch well and get ABS a victory in game one.

“His fastball has a lot of hop and his breaking ball has a lot of bite,” Murrell said of his senior pitcher. “He’s got good control as well.”

Murrell said one of Adams’ best qualities he has shown lately is his ability to adjust to an umpire’s strike zone.

“If you watch a lot of Major League Baseball, you know some umpires are giving several inches off the plate and some aren’t,” Murrell said. “He has become better at adjusting to what an umpire is calling as the season has gone on and the playoffs have gone on. In the playoffs, umpires tend to shrink the strike zone a little bit and he has adjusted well to that.”