Adairsville knocked from playoffs by Dawson County

In a battle of two sets of Tigers, Dawson County took both ends of a doubleheader Friday to eliminate visiting Adairsville in the first round of the 2016 Class AAA state baseball playoffs.

Dawson County, runner-up from Region 7-AAA, won the opener 13-3 in five innings and then captured a back-and-forth, high-scoring tilt in the nightcap, 14 -12.

In the second game, Adairsville fell behind early but rallied to tie the game at 5-5 through three innings. Dawson regained the lead in the fourth, but a grand slam home run by Lane Griffith in the bottom of the fourth was part of a five-run inning that gave the visiting Tigers a 10-8 lead.

Dawson County bounced back, however, with a six-run fifth that included a grand slam home run of their own and then held off Adairsville for the series sweep.

Adairsville scored first in the opener, but Dawson County scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning to take early control.

In fact, Dawson County scored in all five innings of their opening victory with a pair of runs in the second, fourth, and fifth innings and one in the third.

Noah Davis (5 IP, 3R, 1ER, 4H, 5BB, 5K) was the winning pitcher in Game 1 for Dawson County. Kyler Pelfrey started and was tagged with the loss for Adairsville. Maddox Teems pitched in relief for the visiting Tigers.

Dawson County used five different pitchers in the second game. Orry Carter took the pitching loss for Adairsville in relief. Sam Seaman started Game 2. Noah O’Kelley and Garrett Mishoe also took the rubber in the nightcap.

Palmer Sapp, Austin Young, and Brody Chester combined for eight hits, including a pair of homers and 11 RBI to lead Dawson County’s offense in the second game.

Four different Dawson County Tigers had two hits apiece in the opener. Both Sapp and Chester hit homeruns in both games.

Griffith finished the series 3-for-5 with six RBI for Adairsville. Landon Howren had two hits and three RBI. Pelfrey had a pair of hits and one RBI. Arp, Taylor Whitley, and Seaman also collected two hits each in the doubleheader.

Dawson County improved to 21-7 with the wins. They advance to play at Westside-Augusta in the second round. Westside swept Jordan Friday, 8-1 and 10-0.

Adairsville’s season ends with a 15-11 mark.