High School

⚾ ⚾ ⚾Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

GHSA

Class 6A

Buford 4, Houston County 2; Houston County 7, Buford 6

                     Garrett Hortman’s second homer of the game in the top of the seventh put the Bears up by one, and Carson Small stranded two runners in the bottom half, ending the game with a called third strike to force Game 3 Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Wolves outhit the Bears by four and stranded eight more runners against pitchers Ryker Chavis, Landon Tankersley, and Small, who had five strikeouts and a walk in 1.2 innings. The Bears led 6-3 after two only for Buford to tie it with one in the fifth and two in the sixth. Hortman had two hits and four RBI, Andrew Dunford three RBI on two hits. The Wolves couldn’t repeat their first-game late clutch play when they scored two in the top of the seventh after two in the sixth, Houston County tying it in the bottom of the sixth. Gage Harrelson and Drew Burress had two hits for the Bears, held to five.

Class 4A

Cedartown 8, Perry 3; Cedartown 5, Perry 2

                     Perry’s first trip to the Elite 8 in 13 years ended at home in two, the Panthers outhit 18-14 by the visitors. The opener was tight through five, Cedartown up 4-3 before scoring three in the top of the sixth and one in the seventh. After scoring three in the first two innings, Perry managed only two runners the rest of the way, the fifth ending with an out on the bases. Dylan butler had two of Perry’s seven hits. The second game was similar, Cedartown leading 2-1 after two until the sixth when it put up three on a double, intentional walk, single, and two errors. Perry had four runners after the second, scoring once in the seventh but suffering a double play after getting the first two batters on. Tanner Knowles, Lane Smith, and Connor Griffin each had two hits for Perry.

                     The Panthers ended the year at 25-11, the most wins – according to MaxPreps – in more than a decade, after taking the region title for the first time since 2003. Perry is 57-20 the past two years.

GISA

Semifinal

Class AAA

Pinewood 13, Westfield 9

          Westfield’s 4-3 lead after one became a 6-5 deficit after three, and it got worse after Pinewood’s six-run fourth to clinch the series final and end Westfield’s season at 19-10. The Hornets had four errors that helped lead to eight unearned runs. Grey Brannen went 3 for 3 with four RBI, Jake Cantebury adding two hits and two runs.

Class AA

          Gatewood’s 6-0 lead after two was threatened by Piedmont’s eight runs in the final three innings, the Gators countering with five late runs to hold on and advance to the state championship series. Reliever Wilson Moore got a 1-1 line drive to right to end the game with the bases loaded and finish an inning with six straight two-out walks. The Gators survived despite giving up an astounding 14 walks, and had to survive despite outhitting the Cougars 14-6. Ames Johnson and Gavin Fried had three hits each for Gatewood, Johnson with three RBI and Fried with two. Caleb Riser and Trey Wiggins added two RBI each. Mason Morris had two hits and three RBI for Piedmont, Chase Taylor with two hits and Landon Banks with two RBI.