CARTERSVILLE -- The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes kept the drama high Wednesday in the second round of the GHSA state baseball playoffs, rallying from a three-run deficit to sweep visiting North Hall with an 8-4 victory.
In Game 1, Cartersville utilized its last-inning at-bat to take a 4-3 win.
“You gotta tip your hats to Cartersville. They battled hard and weren’t fazed by our runs,” said Trojans coach Trent Mongero. “I was also proud of our guys. They came to compete and weren’t intimidated by a strong program.”
North Hall, playing as the home team in Game 2, had its first four batters of the game reach base, including Chris Stevens, who hit an RBI single to right field with the bases loaded.
Mason Savage drove in the Trojans’ second run a couple of batters later, and Griffin Olson’s sacrifice fly — caught in foul territory by right fielder Luke Daniel — allowed North Hall to take a 3-0 advantage after one.
Cartersville nearly erased the deficit in the second inning, scoring on Harris Battle’s RBI single as well as on an error by the Trojans, who had two in the inning.
In the third inning, the Canes’ Zach Ross hit an RBI single — beginning a string of five straight run-scoring hits — that dropped into right field, despite a good effort from North Hall’s Preston Graham. Taylor Wilson then bounced a chopper over the third baseman’s head for another run-scoring single.
With Ross running across the face of Trojans shortstop Jesse Strickland, Battle was able to drive in another run as Cartersville led 5-3 after the ball bounced over the infielder. Michael Willard followed that up with an RBI hit toward third, which was lost in the sun.
After a wild pitch put the Canes ahead 7-3, Cory Collum bounced a single high over the third baseman to cap the scoring for the inning.
Mongero said he was disappointed in that particular inning.
“That one inning in the sun really cost us a couple of runs,” he said, noting that the game turned completely following that six-run inning.
The Trojans loaded the bases in the fourth as Stevens and Hamilton Harper singled followed a couple batters later by a walk to Adam Kelly.
Cody Fowler drove in Stevens with a grounder to third to make the score 8-4. However, North Hall never got that kind of golden opportunity again.
Cartersville hitters included Daniel, 2 for 3 (walk); Ross, 1 for 3 (RBI, walk); Wilson, 1 for 4 (RBI); Battle, 3 for 3 (two RBIs, walk); Willard, 1 for 4 (RBI); and Collum, 1 for 3 (RBI, walk).
The Trojans got hits from Smith, 2 for 4; Whit Bowen, 1 for 4; Strickland, 1 for 3 (walk); Stevens, 2 for 4; Harper, 1 for 3 (walk); Savage, 2 for 4 (RBI, walk); Kelly, 1 for 2 (walk); and Graham, 1 for 3.
Ben Dittmer pitched three innings for the win, striking out five and giving up four earned runs on eight hits and two walks. Drew Flatford (two innings, three hits) and Kendall Hawkins (two innings, two strikeouts, one walk) also pitched for the Canes.
Stevens lasted just 2 1/3 innings in the loss, giving up seven earned runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Jarred Oliver pitched the remaining 4 2/3 innings, yielding no runs on one hit, two walks, one hit batter and four strikeouts.
Asked what he told his players afterward, Mongero said, “Just how proud I was [of them], especially of the seniors who took charge of the team in the fall, [and] just how much of a joy it was to be around a team that was unselfish.”
“You’re talking about a bunch that was not mentioned at all when it came to the state playoffs,” he continued. “And the future’s bright.”
The Canes got the biggest hit in Game 1 from an unlikely source.
Going hitless in his first three at-bats, Battle fouled off the first pitch he saw in the seventh before driving in the game-winning run to left field, a hit that just eluded North Hall’s Strickland.
Pinch runner Trey Graves, in for Colin Bennett who walked earlier, scored on the walkoff hit.
Along with Battle, other Cartersville hitters included Connor Justus, 2 for 3 (RBI, double, walk); Bennett, 1 for 3 (double, walk); and Willard, 2 for 3 (RBI, double, home run).
For the Trojans, Smith went 2 for 4 (RBI), Savage 1 for 3 (home run) and Fowler 1 for 1 (home run).
North Hall grabbed an early 1-0 lead on Smith’s bases-loaded, run- scoring single, which slipped through to left.
The Canes jumped ahead in the third after back-to-back doubles from Willard and Justus to lead off the inning, the latter hit tying the game after dropping in near the right-field line and then going into foul territory.
An error on the Trojans’ third baseman, who tried to go to second for a force out, gave Cartersville a 2-1 edge.
Willard homered, to left, for the second straight series to push the Canes’ lead to 3-1 in the fourth.
North Hall began to chip away at the lead in the sixth as Mason Savage jumped on a pitch from Cartersville’s Sam Howard, driving the ball over the left-field wall.
Howard served up another home run, also to left, in the seventh as Fowler, a pinch hitter, hit a leadoff blast that tied the game at 3-all.
Hawkins relieved Howard and recorded the next three outs.
Bennett drew a walk to start the bottom of the seventh, and Graves went to second on Ben Venters’ sacrifice bunt.
Wilson also drew a walk, giving way to pinch runner Jacob Baxter and setting up a heroic moment for Battle.
Hawkins earned the win in his lone inning while Howard pitched six innings with three earned runs, four hits, three walks, a hit batter and four strikeouts.
Oliver gave up one earned run on two walks and a hit and was given the loss. Graham, the Trojans’ starter, gave up two earned runs on five hits and six walks, and he also struck out two.