Colonels rally for walk-off region win

Cass baseball rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh Tuesday night for a walk-off, Region 7-AAAAA win over the Hiram Hornets.

The Colonels trailed 7-5 heading into their final three outs, but rallied with four hits and a sacrifice fly to escape with their second straight, one-run win over Hiram. In the eventful Colonels’ seventh, Thomas Botts singled and moved to third on a Sam Melton double. A wild pitch enabled Botts to score. Logan Nelson followed with a single into right field moving Melton to third and Nelson moved up to scoring position on the throw back to the infield. Kyle Miller was inserted as a courtesy runner for Nelson before Jayden Smith delivered a sacrifice fly that scored Melton and moved Miller to third base. Karson Kelley (photo) chased Miller home with a one-out RBI single to left field and Cass had its fourth win in its last five games. The Hornets led 3-0 until Cass scored twice in the bottom of the third. Hiram then extended the lead to 6-2, but the Colonels scored three runs over the next two innings to narrow the margin to 6-5. The Hornets (0-9, 0-5) added a run in the top of the seventh to go up 7-5, setting up the Colonels’ dramatic final frame.

Smith (2 IP, 1ER, 2H, 2BB, 1K) picked up the pitching win for Cass in relief of starter Clay Means (5 IP, 6R, 5ER, 10H, 3BB, 3K).

Sophomore Matt Shook led the Colonels’ offense with three hits, including a double and a triple. Botts had two hits and two RBIs. Melton (double, RBI), Means (double), Nelson, Kelley (RBI), and Bryson Markley (double, RBI) had the other Cass base hits. Cass (8-5, 4-1) will continue region action Wednesday against Rome at LakePoint at 5 p.m. and will host the Wolves Friday at the Cass Athletic Complex at 5:55 p.m.