Canes and Wildcats go 1-1 on the first day of Battle for Bartow; Cass and Adairsville drop road games
April 4, 2024
Woodland and Cartersville both went 1-1 on the first day of the 2024 Battle for Bartow Invitational while Cass dropped a road doubleheader in Watkinsville and Adairsville fell at Ringgold.
CARTERSVILLE 2, McINTOSH 1
The No. 1-ranked Purple Hurricanes strung together three singles in the bottom of the seventh Thursday afternoon for a come-from-behind, 2-1 walk-off win over 6th-ranked McIntosh at Richard Bell Field.
The matchup was played as part of the 2024 Battle for Bartow Invitational.
Trailing 1-0, Caleb Daniel singled with one out to start the rally. Andrew Purdy singled into right field advancing Daniel to third base. A throw on the play allowed Purdy to reach second base. Cameron Cochran followed with a single into right field to score both baserunners and give the Canes a 2-1 victory.
Sawyer Wilson pitched a seven-inning, complete game to earn the win. He yielded five hits and two walks while striking out ten.
Purdy had two hits. Daniel, Cochran (two RBIs), and McKibben contributed one hit.
HOUSTON CO. 2, CARTERSVILLE 1
In a matchup of No. 1 teams in separate classifications Thursday night at LakePoint in the Battle for Bartow Invitational, the Class 6A top-ranked Houston County Bears edged the Class 5A top-ranked Cartersville Hurricanes, 2-1.
The two teams traded single runs in the early innings with Houston County holding a 2-1 lead after three frames. Strong pitching on both sides took over the rest of the way and the Bears held on to their early edge.
Landon Tankersley allowed just two hits and one walk while tossing all seven innings for Houston County. He struck out eight.
Nate Russell (3.1 IP, 1ER, 1H, 1BB, 2K) was tagged with the pitching loss in relief of starter Ryan Johnson (0.2 IP, 1ER, 1H, 3BB). Logan Shrewsbury (2 IP, 0R, 2H, 1BB, 1K) retired the final six outs for the Canes.
Cameron Cochran (double) and Andrew Purdy had Cartersville’s base hits.
The Bears improved to 18-6 on the season.
Cartersville (18-4, 9-0) plays Cedartown on Friday at 6 p.m. at LakePoint.
WOODLAND 4, CEDARTOWN 1
The Wildcats broke open a 1-1 game in the late innings Thursday night to defeat the Cedartown Bulldogs at LakePoint, 4-1.
The contest was played as part of the 2024 Battle for Bartow Invitational.
Lucas Baker (2 IP, 0R, 1H, 1BB, 2K) picked up the pitching victory in relief of starter Zach Lambert (3.2 IP, 1ER, 4H, 2BB, 4K). J.D. Trail (0.2 IP, 0R, 2H, 1K) also worked in relief and Ayden Ray (0.2 IP, 0R, 1K) retired the final two outs to earn a save.
Ray had two of the Wildcats' four hits. Conner Stermer and Mason Williams (RBI) added one hit. Logan Bentley had one RBI.
The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 7-14 on the season.
Woodland (11-9, 2-4) faces Carrollton, ranked 9th in Class 7A, on Friday at LakePoint at 3 p.m.
ALEXANDER 2, WOODLAND 1
Alexander pushed across the deciding run in the sixth inning Thursday afternoon to edge the Woodland Wildcats, 2-1.
The Cougars scored a run in the top of the first and Woodland tied the game with a run in the bottom of the second. The game remained 1-1 until the decisive sixth inning.
A pair of first-inning singles and a groundout produced Alexander’s first-inning run.
Mason Williams singled to start Woodland’s second frame and later scored after a Logan Bentley sacrifice bunt, a steal of third, and an error charged to the Cougars’ catcher.
The Cougars’ go-ahead run resulted from a leadoff double, a groundout, and a passed ball.
The pitchers on both sides had solid outings.
Matthew Westbrook scattered just three hits with no walks to earn the pitching win for Alexander. The run he allowed was unearned. Westbrook struck out seven.
Austin Daves (6 IP, 2ER, 4H, 3BB, 7K) was tagged with the pitching loss. Ayden Ray (1 IP, 0R, 0H, 1BB, 1K) also pitched for the Wildcats.
Conner Stermer and Jonathan Ryan had the other Woodland base hits.
OCONEE COUNTY 11, CASS 1; OCONEE COUNTY 11, CASS 0
The Cass baseball team lost both games of a doubleheader at Oconee County on Thursday. The Colonels lost the opening game 11-1 and fell in the second game, 11-0.
Cayden Roberts had three hits in the doubleheader including a solo home run for the only Cass run of the day. Connor Jenkins also had three hits. Trenton Payne, Chase Tatum, Nic Wright, and Landon Lamb added one hit.
Payne and Justin Peace suffered the pitching losses. Cayden Roberts, Israel Contreras, Hunter Lovett, and Devan Hutchinson also pitched for the Colonels.
Oconee County improved to 12-11 on the season.
Cass (13-10, 4-2) has a three-game, Region 7-5A series next week with Cartersville. The Colonels will host on Tuesday and Friday. Cartersville will host on Thursday. All games are scheduled for 5:55 p.m.
RINGGOLD 15, ADAIRSVILLE 0
In Game 2 of this battle of Tigers, 6th-ranked Ringgold sent sixteen batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning to build an 11-0 lead and cruised to a 15-0 win in four innings.
Ringgold (16-5, 7-1) took advantage of four walks, four hit batsmen, three errors, and two singles to post their big first inning.
Adairsville managed just two hits in the loss — one each by PJ Weeks and Braxton Ryan.
Adairsville (11-7, 4-4) visits Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe on Friday for a 5:55 p.m. first pitch.
