Athletes Beyond Bartow: Williams, BSC advance to Super Regional

ATHLETES BEYOND BARTOW

PRO BASEBALL

SAM HOWARD — Toledo Mud Hens (9th-yr. pro; Triple-A Detroit Tigers affiliate; Georgia Southern University; Cartersville HS) … worked a scoreless seventh inning last Saturday in the Mud Hens 12-2 win over Indianapolis. The southpaw allowed one hit and struck out two. Last Thursday he struck out the only batter faced in the second inning of an eventual 8-4 loss to the Indians. Toledo (21-19) plays a six-game series at home this week — Tuesday through Sunday — against the International League West Division leading Nashville Sounds.

CONNOR JUSTUS — Charleston (WV) Dirty Birds (7th-yr. pro; Triple-A Atlantic League; Georgia Tech; Cartersville HS) … in games last Tuesday through Thursday at the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes, the shortstop was 5-for-13 with one walk, one RBI, and two runs scored. He was also 0-for-5 in Sunday’s game at the Gastonia Honey Hunters. The Dirty Birds (13-15) were 2-4 last week and are currently in third place in the Atlantic League’s South Division.

ANTHONY SEIGLER — Tampa Tarpons (5th-yr. pro; Class A New York Yankees affiliate; Cartersville HS) … made his return to Hudson Valley, where he spent his entire 2021 campaign, after being promoted from the Low-A Tampa Tarpons to the Yankees' High-A affiliate. Prior to being called up, he appeared in two home games against the St. Lucie Mets, finishing hitless with three walks and a run scored in six at-bats. He concluded the week with a pair of road games at the Brooklyn Cyclones. In the first game, Seigler went 3-for-3, with a double, a hit by pitch, two runs scored and two runs driven in. The 22-year-old followed that up by going 1-for-1 at the plate, with two walks and two runs scored.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

MASON BARNETT — Auburn University (Jr., Cartersville HS) … was saddled with the pitching loss last Friday in a 5-1 loss and 3-1/3 inning start at Kentucky. The right-hander, now 2-2 on the season, surrendered four earned runs on five hits and two walks. Barnett struck out five. The Tigers (37-18, 16-13 SEC), seeded fifth in the SEC Championship Tournament, will face Kentucky Tuesday in an elimination play-in game. The winner moves into the double-elimination portion of the tournament on Wednesday.

STEVEN SPELL — Young Harris College (Jr., Cass HS) … in the Mountain Lions’ three games at the NCAA D-II Southeast Regional No. 2, Spell was 0-for-7 with three walks and one run scored as YHC beat Belmont Abbey but was eliminated by two losses to Wingate. Spell started all 51 games this season and finished with a .310 batting average. He had nine doubles, three home runs, and 31 RBIs.

Davis Williams

DAVIS WILLIAMS — Birmingham-Southern College (Fr., Cartersville HS) … faced the minimum and closed out the ninth inning of the Panthers’ 10-2 Lynchburg Regional title win over Salve Regina. BSC also beat Earlham College and 11th-ranked Lynchburg University to win the tournament. The 3rd-ranked Panthers (41-8) advance to the NCAA D-III Super Regionals where they will play a best-of-three series at No. 12 Trinity University (Texas).