Sanders Commings covers 40 yards in 4.4 seconds. Against Bleckley County, he never really got a chance to show off his blinding speed.

Commings took the slow route around the bases after smashing three home runs in Westside's doubleheader rout of the Royals in the Class AA playoffs.

The Patriots scored 25 runs in nine total innings in a pair of mercy-rule contests. Westside won the first game, 10-0, in five innings before taking the nightcap, 15-0, in four.

With the sweep, the Patriots (26-2) advance to the quarterfinals to play Lovett, which swept Calhoun 11-10 and 13-3 on Wednesday. The first game will be Tuesday at Westside with the time to be determined.

The Patriots made it look easy Wednesday, recording 25 hits, six of them home runs. Commings (6-for-6), third baseman Aaron Davis (4-for-7), first baseman/pitcher Chandler Hall (3-for-5), second baseman Anthony Woei-A-Sock (3-for-5) and designated hitter Brad Bentley (3-for-6) each collected at least three hits in the two games. Commings and Hall each had five RBI.

"We hit the ball, man," Westside coach Gerald Barnes said. "We knocked it around the yard pretty good."

On the mound, Hall and Christian Bragg combined to allow only seven hits. In the second game, Bragg needed only three pitches to exit one inning.

"I think the hitting affects the pitching," Woei-A-Sock said. "If the hitting is good, the pitching is good."

Commings, the senior center fielder and leadoff batter, said he was focused in on Bleckley County after going 2-for-8 from the plate in last week's first-round doubleheader against Early County.

Against the Royals, he collected 15 total bases, including two opposite-field singles, with five runs and two walks.

"Sanders Commings had a day," Barnes said. "Everything they threw up there he was swatting."

Bleckley County threatened in the first inning of the first game, loading the bases with nobody out. Hall rebounded to strike out cleanup hitter Tucker Darsey. Hall then forced Luke Arnold to ground into a 1-2-3 double play. Despite allowing two hits and a fielder's choice, Westside escaped unscathed. Hall, who struck out seven, allowed one hit the rest of the way.

"That set the momentum for the whole day," Westside catcher Will Salley said. "We just found a way."

Commings, who signed with Georgia to play football and baseball, led off the bottom of the inning with a home run.

In Game 2, Commings one-handed a shot over the center field fence. He later launched a fastball over the tall, black partition beyond center field to stake Westside to a 15-run lead.

Bleckley County even tried intentionally walking Commings to avoid him, load the bases with one out in the second game. But Davis followed with a two-run double.

"One through nine we can hit," Commings said. "They can't walk anybody, because the next person is just going to make you pay."