'Canes win thriller; host Buford in state semifinals

The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes were extended to the final half inning of Game 3 by host Wayne County, but Carrington Evans delivered a liner over the centerfielder’s head in the bottom of the seventh for a game winning walk off RBI. The clutch hit clinched the quarterfinal series and propelled Cartersville into the Class 4A Final Four. It is the tenth time in the last seventeen years the ‘Canes have advanced to their classification’s state semifinals.

Both teams had plenty of opportunities, but it was Cartersville that delivered the late rally after the Jackets had erased a 3-0 deficit. Wayne County out-hit the ‘Canes nine to eight, but the Yellow Jackets stranded twelve baserunners.

Cartersville starting pitcher, Elliott Anderson kept Wayne County under control for 5 and 1/3 innings and had them scoreless when he left the mound in the sixth with a baserunner on board. Anderson struck out seven and yielded only one earned run on three hits and three walks.

Lane Wilson, who relieved Anderson, picked up the pitching victory by going the final inning and two-thirds.

Cartersville took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth scoring runs on an RBI walk by Anthony Seigler and a two-run double by Anderson.

That lead held until the Yellow Jackets scored twice in the top of the sixth and tied it in the top of the seventh. Ford Townsend and Chase Hinson had the Wayne County RBI.

Cartersville’s Jacob Fowler was 2-for-2 at the plate with a single in the third and seventh innings. Anderson had a pair of hits with his two RBI. Parker Tidwell and Elliott Berrey had hits along with the walk-off winner by Evans.

The victory advances the Hurricanes to the Class 4A semifinals. They will host a best-of-three series with the Buford Wolves beginning Monday, May 18 with a doubleheader at Richard Bell Field and the Cartersville Baseball Complex. SEE ALSO: Jason Greenberg's story at The Daily Tribune News.