Today is a big day on the high school baseball schedule with the opener for most teams in Region 7-AAA. The first couple of weeks in the season were sectioned off for non-region contests in the newly subdivided region alignment.

The final 19 games on the season schedule are solely for the purpose of playing Region 7-AAA opponents for these teams. Each school plays the teams on the same side of the subregion twice (12 games total), and each school on the crossover side only once (seven games).

For playoff seeding purposes, the top two teams on each side of the subregion qualify for the postseason, with the head-to-head winner for each similar seed getting the higher spot to the playoffs at the end of April.

Today’s games in Region 7-AAA include Flowery Branch at Gainesville, Johnson at East Hall, West Hall at Chestatee, Pickens at White County and North Hall at Lumpkin County.

In Region 8-A, Tallulah Falls visits Lakeview Academy, and in 8-AAA Jackson County plays host to Mountain View.

ATLANTA HAWKS: The Hawks (42-23) have lost some ground on the Southeast Division-leading Orlando Magic (47-20), as a result of Orlando’s 9-1 record over its last 10 games. Although, Atlanta hasn’t played bad this month with a 5-2 record since March 1.

This week, Atlanta visits the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday and the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, followed by home games against the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday and the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

Atlanta currently holds an 8 1/2-game cushion for second place in the division ahead of the Bobcats.

ATLANTA BRAVES: The Braves’ pitching staff continues to look stable during Grapefruit League play in spring training. Last Friday, Jair Jurrjens got his first start of the spring, throwing two scoreless innings, while allowing a hit and a walk to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was especially pleasing since Jurrjens suffered from inflammation in his pitching shoulder heading into spring training. Last year, he went 14-10 with a team-best 2.60 ERA, third best in the National League.

With Jurrjens’ outing, Atlanta has been graced by the appearance of each its expected five starting pitchers when opening day rolls around. On Sunday, Kenshin Kawakami took the mound, where he was battered around for eight hits and three earned runs over 3 2/3 innings. This week, Atlanta has seven more games on the spring training schedule.

ATLANTA THRASHERS: Atlanta (28-29) is slowly watching its playoff hopes dwindle away. The Thrashers are 3-5-2 in their last 10 outings, and have been surpassed by the Tampa Bay Lightning (28-27) for second place in the Southeast Division.

This week, Atlanta plays host to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, Washington Senators on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday to wrap up a five-game home stand at Philips Arena.