With a 8-3 win on Tuesday night, the Chargers are advancing to the second round of playoffs with their series win against the Germantown Mavericks. This weekend, the Chargers will begin their round two series in Madison, MS as they take on the Madison Central Jaguars. 

The Jaguars are coming off of a playoff series victory over the Desoto Central Jaguars. With a 6-2 region record, Madison Central finished in first place in 7A Region 2 giving them the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The Jaguars finished the regular season with an overall record of 19-7. 

Last season, both teams met each other in the second round of the playoffs. Oxford was coming off of a region championship in 6A Region 1. The Chargers started game one hot with a big 12-5 win at home. The Jaguars then quickly bounced back and won game two 6-0. Finishing out the series at home, the Chargers won by the final of 8-0 and advanced to the next round. 

Game one of the best of three series between the Chargers and the Jaguars will take place on Saturday, May 4th at Madison Central. Game two will take place on Monday, May 6th at Oxford High School. If necessary, game three will be played on Tuesday, May 7th at Madison Central.

Oxford Player to Watch:

#22 Senior IF/RHP Brady Stinnett: This season, Stinnett has truly proved himself on the mound and at the plate. Stinnett leads the team in home runs with six on the season, including three home runs this past weekend in round one with a walk off home run in game one. Stinnett bats 0.360 with 32 hits and 24 RBIs this season. Coming off a very successful series, Stinnett should continue his momentum into the second round this weekend.

Madison Central Player to Watch:

#25 Junior Sanders Ainsworth: Ainsworth has been a key aspect to the Jaguars success this season. Ainsworth helped cap off the Jaguars’ playoff victory with a grand slam in game three allowing the Jaguars to take a 7 run lead in the second inning.

Common Opponents:

Both the Chargers and the Jaguars have each faced off against Germantown, Northwest Rankin, Grenada and Desoto Central this season. Each team has a win and a loss against Desoto Central and Germantown, but the Chargers have a 2-0 victory over Northwest Rankin that the Jaguars were unable pull off. Back in February, the Jaguars lost their game against Cougars by the final score of 3-1.  

A look at the 7A bracket:

In the north half of Mississippi, both Lewisburg and Hernando dominated over their opponents in round one and will face off against each other this weekend. The winner of this series will play the winner of the series between Oxford and Madison Central in the North Half Championship. On the South side of Mississippi, Northwest Rankin will compete against Gulfport and Ocean Springs will play Brandon. The winner of those series will compete for the South State championship. The winner of the North and South half championships will face off in the State Championship on Wednesday May 22nd through Saturday May 25th.

Prediction:

I think the Chargers win game one in Madison late in the game by the final of 3-2. Then, I think the Chargers come back home and win a close one by the final of 8-6 and advance to the North Half Championship for the first time since 2022.