ELLAVILLE — Just relax.

That’s what Tyler Tondee’s baseball coaches at Schley County told him about his batting stance during a slump at the plate.

He tried it at practice and then one day he decided to give it a try in a game.

Tondee hit two home runs and helped the Wildcats beat Americus-Sumter 10-7. And since then, the junior has been on a tear batting .464 with five home runs and 18 RBIs in 11 games.

“It’s about time I’ve gotten hot,” said Tondee. “I know I’ve been in a slump for a little while, and I know people have their days and their weeks. I hope it keeps working for me.”

Tondee and the Wildcats (20-7) travel to Lanier County today for a best-of-three series in the second round of the Class A playoffs. The Bulldogs (20-7) enter on a 9-game winning streak in which they have averaged more than nine runs per contest.

“Lanier has an outstanding baseball program down there and they are loaded this year,” said Schley County coach Chuck Cheek. “They have a ton of seniors and a strong pitching staff.”

Ten seniors to be exact, and nine of which will start (including a designated hitter). Cheek compared this year’s Lanier team to his team of a year ago when he had eight senior starters. The Bulldogs’ top four in the batting order are hitting over .400 and the team has hit a total of 32 home runs on the season.

“They have a ton of power up and down the order,” said Cheek. “There really aren’t any spots in the order that you know are you going to get an out from. It makes it really tough on the pitcher when you know you can’t make any mistakes, even to the eight and nine hitters.”

Lanier’s pitching staff includes two who have a combined 16-4 record and 20 complete games, and Lanier swept the individual awards in its region for player of the year (Ryan White), pitcher of the year (Nathan Bass) and offensive player of the year (Ethan McRae). Bass has a 1.37 ERA and despite throwing in the low 80s, he has 76 strikeouts compared with two walks; yep, just two.

Cheek said White’s brand of baseball has been labeled “Johnball,” but White said the two teams’ approach to the series could be right the opposite. Both coaches agree the top four or five batters in the order are pretty even and that the difference could be made in the bottom part of the lineup.

“It’s going to be with the pitching staff to keep those guys off the bases,” said White. “I think Chuck’s more adopted Johnball than we have this year. We don’t have the speed, and we’ve kind of had to adapt and change our approach to stuff. They’re going to beat us the way we’ve traditionally beat them, and we’ll try to sit back — but not long — and try to see if we can out-hit them. I think it’s more now the ‘Chuckball’ theory.”

The Wildcats had no problems scoring in the first round against Wilcox County. They scored 25 runs in the two games, led by Tondee, Will Gordon, Taylor Law and David Byrd.

Tondee has six homers and 24 RBIs on the season, and Cheek said the biggest difference in his turnaround has been the fact he can see the ball better with a more relaxed stance. During the 11-game streak, he’s cut down his strikeouts to four and has walked seven times.

“He’s laying off the tough pitches that were getting him out early in the season,” said Cheek. “He’s taking walks when he has to and he’s hitting the ball hard when they pitch to him. He’s made some nice adjustments at the plate, and it’s paying off.”