Canes reach semifinals of PG High School Showdown

Pitcher Anthony Seigler kept Cartersville in the game for the first five innings and the Canes’ offense took over in the final two frames for an 8-1 win over the Class 7A Grayson Rams Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 Perfect Game High School Showdown at LakePoint in Emerson.

The win advances the Hurricanes to a Saturday morning semifinal matchup with Providence (FL). The Stallions beat Class 5A top-ranked Loganville Friday afternoon, 2-0.

Class 4A second-ranked Cartersville (10-3) trailed 1-0 on an unearned run going into the sixth inning, but scored three runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh for a seven-run victory.

Seigler — who was also 2-for-4 at the plate with a double — tossed a complete game. He scattered seven hits and fanned five without walking a batter. He only needed 80 pitches in the seven innings of work and 61 of his pitches were strikes.

Devin Warner had three RBI with two hits including a double. Jake Gooch drove in two runs with a pair of hits including a double. Mason Barnett had one hit and one RBI. J.P. Martin and Garrett Shelton added one hit apiece.

Josh Stinson and Parker Meadows both had two hits for the Rams who slipped to 5-8 on the year.

Cartersville has now won five in a row and eight of its last nine games against one of the state's most challenging schedules.

In other quarterfinal action Friday afternoon at LakePoint, Parkview edged Cullman (AL) 2-1 and Blessed Trinity blasted Buford, 16-7. Parkview (No. 2 in Class 7A) and Blessed Trinity (No. 1 in Class 4A) will play in Saturday morning’s other semifinal.

The two semifinal winners will square off Saturday at 12:30 p.m. for the tournament championship. The semifinal losers will play at the same time for third place.