Canes sweep Panthers and advance to the Class AAAA quarterfinals

April 29, 2025

The Cartersville Purple Hurricanes defeated the defending Class AAAA champion Starr’s Mill Panthers in two straight games Tuesday evening in Fayetteville to advance to the 2025 GHSA state quarterfinals.

Trailing 3-1 through five innings, the Canes rallied in the sixth and seventh innings of Game 1 to score seven unanswered runs and win 8-3. In Game 2, the University of Alabama commit Andrew Purdy struck out ten and went 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, and four RBI to lead the Hurricanes to a 9-1 victory and a sweep of the best-of-three second-round series.

Nate Russell (6 IP, 3R, 2ER, 5H, 1BB, 7K) was the winning pitcher in the opener. Maddox Frazier walked one and struck out one in a scoreless seventh inning to wrap up Game 1.

Purdy (6 IP, 0R, 1H, 1BB, 10K) kept the host Panthers off the scoreboard in Game 2 and collected the pitching victory. Logan Shrewsbury (1 IP, 1ER, 1H, 2BB, 1K) pitched the seventh inning for the Canes.

Cartersville totaled twenty hits in the doubleheader sweep.

Purdy led the Purple Hurricanes offense by going 6-for-6 with two walks, three home runs, and two doubles. He drove in five runs and extended his on-base streak to 11 consecutive at-bats in the playoffs, extending back to a sixth-inning single in Game 2 against Cambridge in the first round.

Julez Pratt (double, three RBI), Cole Crawford (three RBI), and Tristan McKibben (two RBI) had three hits in the series. Cameron Cochran (double) contributed two hits. Brayden Logan (RBI), Casen Cochran, and David Vargas added one hit.

With their Sweet Sixteen series victory, Cartersville has advanced to the state quarterfinals in 26 of the last 29 seasons.

The season ended for Starr’s Mill with a 23-8 record.

Cartersville (27-7) advanced to face St. Pius (33-2) in the state quarterfinals. The Lions defeated East Forsyth 2-1 and 7-2 in the second round and will host the best-of-three series with the Hurricanes on May 7-8.