Athens Bible had no trouble disposing of Hackleburg in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs, but the Trojans will face a much tougher test when they go on the road to face Donoho in the second round today.

ABS (20-6), the Area 14 champion, is coming off a doubleheader sweep of Hackleburg by a combined score of 26-0, in a series that was postponed to Monday due to heavy rain.

Donoho (14-7), which finished second in Area 11, advanced to the second round after upsetting Area 12 champion Marion County in two games, winning 5-3 and 5-0. Because Donoho was on the road in the first round of the playoffs and Athens Bible was at home, Donoho gets to host the second-round series.

Today’s doubleheader will be at 1 and 3:30 p.m., and an if-necessary third game would take place Saturday afternoon at Donoho.

Athens Bible coach Bill Murrell said his team will have to continue to hit the ball well to have a chance against a pair of quality Donoho pitchers. The Trojans racked up 28 hits and 26 runs in the two games, but Murrell knows Donoho will be a much tougher opponent.

“I was very pleased with the hitting (against Hackleburg),” Murrell said. “We will be facing two pitchers that are very good and will be a lot tougher. They’ve got really good control of different pitches. We are definitely going to have to be selective on which pitches we swing at.”

Athens Bible’s pitching duo of Gage Johns and Matthew Usery were dominant against Hackleburg, combining to pitch 10 innings, while allowing just three hits and no runs.

Donoho will have an advantage, however, as its series against Marion County wrapped up Saturday, while Athens Bible had to wait until Monday to play Hackleburg.

“Our pitchers will be coming off only three days rest whereas they actually had a week’s rest before playing Hackleburg,” Murrell said. “Their pitchers got an extra couple of days of rest.”

Murrell said he has watched Donoho play this year, and expects it to be a closely-contested series.

“It’s going to be an even series,” he said. “Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes will come out on top.”