Canes sweep Cass, secure home playoff series

The Purple Hurricanes secured the No. 2-seed and a first round home state playoff series by completing a three-game sweep of Cass Friday night at Richard Bell Field.

Cartersville, ranked No. 5 in Class 5A, won at Cass Tuesday night then completed the series with a doubleheader sweep Friday night winning 9-4 and 6-3.

CARTERSVILLE 9, CASS 4

In the opening game of the doubleheader, Cass held a 3-1 lead when Cartersville struck for four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 5-3 advantage.

The Canes added four more runs in the late innings to secure a 9-4 win.

Silas Freeman (2 IP, 0R, 1H, 0BB, 4K) picked up the pitching win for Cartersville with two scoreless innings. He took over in the fourth inning for starter Phillip Schiltz (3 IP, 4ER, 5H, 1BB, 6K). Davis Williams (2 IP, 0R, 0H, 0BB, 3K) closed out the final two scoreless frames for the Hurricanes.

Cass starter Jayden Smith (4 IP, 5ER, 3H, 5BB, 4K) suffered the pitching loss. Aidan Cottingim (2 IP, 4ER, 4H, 3BB) took the mound for the Colonels for the final two innings.

Jake Brasfield led the Cartersville offense with a pair of doubles and two RBIs. Drew Rothschild also had two hits with one RBI. Elliott Eastin contributed one hit and two RBIs. Jimbo Gaines finished with a hit and one RBI. Paul Gamble had a double. Hank Smith and Parker McPherson added one RBI apiece.

Jordan Gani had two doubles and two RBIs for Cass. Nic Wallin had a double and one RBI. Hayden Cole also had a double. Kyle Miller and Carson Hill contributed one hit each. Aidan Larkin drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

CARTERSVILLE 6, CASS 3

Cartersville completed the three-game series sweep over Cass in Friday’s second game winning 6-3.

The Canes built a 4-0 lead through four innings and led 6-1 heading to the final inning.

Cass scored twice in the top of the seventh and had the bases loaded but Davis Williams took the mound for Cartersville and recorded a strikeout to end the threat.

Cartersville’s Colt McKibben (5 IP, 1ER, 1H, 1BB, 7K) earned the pitching win with five innings of work and seven strikeouts. Gunner Millsap (1 IP, 0R, 1H, 1BB) and Cal Goss (0.2 IP, 2R, 0ER, 0H, 2BB) also pitched for the Canes. The four hurlers limited the Colonels to only two hits.

Trey Holstein paced the Cartersville offense with two hits and one RBI. Davis Williams and Elliott Eastin contributed one hit and one RBI each. Jake Brasfield tripled in the fifth and Drew Rothschild added one hit.

Cass’ Jordan Gani (5 IP, 5R, 4ER, 5H, 3BB, 6K) suffered the pitching loss striking out six in five innings. Chase Botts (1 IP, 1ER, 1H, 1K) pitched the sixth inning for the Colonels.

Matt Shook and Jayden Smith had the only Cass base hits.

Cartersville, No. 5 in Class AAAAA, improved to 22-7 for the season and completed the Region 7-AAAAA schedule with a 12-3 mark. The Canes will square off with Locust Grove next Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the East Cobb Baseball Complex.

Cass (6-19, 5-8) has games Monday and Wednesday at home against No. 1-ranked Blessed Trinity.

Despite the losses Friday, Cass will advance to the Class 5A state playoffs as Region 7-AAAAA’s No. 4-seed.