Canes rally to edge Buford; Colonels, Collum shutout Heritage-Conyers

The 2nd-ranked Class AAAA Cartersville baseball team rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday night at Richard Bell Field to give the Hurricanes a 6-5, come-from-behind win over Buford — the top-ranked team in Class AAAAA.

Trailing 5-4 and down to their final out, Spencer Dickey walked to load the bases. After Preston Welchel was hit by a pitch to force in a run for a 5-5 tie, Anthony Seigler singled into right field for a walk-off RBI and win over the Wolves.

Seigler (4.2 IP, 5R, 3ER, 5H, 3BB, 2HBP, 6K) started on the mound and pitched the Canes into the fifth inning. Mason Barnett (2.1 IP, 0R, 0H, 1BB, 3K) picked up the pitching win in relief.

Noah Daniel went 2-for-3 with a triple and 3 RBIs for Cartersville’s offense. Brant Smith was 2-for-4. J.P. Martin (RBI), Seigler, Jacob Fowler, Dickey, Welchel, and Mayo had the other Cartersville hits as the Canes out hit Buford10-5.

Wolves’ reliever Tyler Perkins was tagged with the pitching loss in relief of David Ramsey and starter Zach Fordham.

Austin Turner had two hits for Buford. Garrison Price, Noah Ledford, and Akira Mitchell had the other hits for the Wolves.

Buford slipped to 3-6 on the season with the loss.

Cartersville (7-1) will play four games in three days next Thursday through Saturday at the 2017 Perfect Game High School Showdown at LakePoint in Emerson. The Canes open the tournament Thursday night at 6pm against James Clemens High School from Madison, Alabama.

CASS 7, HERITAGE-CONYERS 0

Jake Collum tossed a 7-inning, complete game shutout Friday night as the Cass baseball team blanked visiting Heritage, 7-0.

Collum allowed only two hits and four walks in his win. He struck out nine.

The Colonels scored single runs in the first, fourth, and fifth innings before posting four runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Bailey Campbell hit his fourth homerun of the year and finished the night 2-for-4. Collum was 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and one RBI. Cody Johnson (RBI) and Tyler Hendon (double) had two hits each. Nathan Smith and Clay Means also had hits for the Colonels.

The loss dropped the Patriots to 5-7 on the season.

Cass (6-3) plays two games at Alexander High School Saturday. The Colonels will play the host Cougars at 12noon and will face McIntosh at 3pm.