Jefferson and Pope come away with state titles at State Mutual Stadium
Fans attending the Class 4A and Class 6A GHSA state baseball championships at State Mutual Stadium got to see their fair share of exciting baseball.
Both matches were decisive Game 3s in the series and were hard-fought battles that remained close for most of the way.
The Jefferson Dragons won the Class 4A title with a 6-3 victory against the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes, while the Pope Greyhounds won their second straight title with a 10-2 win over Allatoona in the Class 6A championship.
Pope was up 3-2 heading into the seventh before racking up seven runs in the top of the inning to seal the win. The Greyhounds benefited from four walks and five hits to build their game-winning lead.
In the Class 4A matchup, Jefferson used a big opening inning to hold on for the win. The Dragons (28-12) scored five runs in the first, but was held to one run for the rest of the game.
The Hurricanes (32-10) looked to rally in the top of the seventh inning when star catcher Anthony Seigler homered over the left field fence to make it 6-3. Second baseman Josh Davis then doubled to left and Jake Gooch singled, bringing the tying run to the plate. But Jordan Wilkie popped out and J.P. Martin grounded out to end the game.
“They fought and did everything they could,” Cartersville head coach Kyle Tucker said. “We just had a tough day and an awful start. There’s nothing you can say except, ‘Hey we’ve got to go to the next inning.’ You can’t rewind time. We won the rest of the game, but we didn’t have enough to overcome.”
Senior infielder Devin Warner, who was injured Monday in Game 1 of the series and missed all of Game 2, returned Wednesday
for the final game of his high school career.
“He’s meant so much to our program for four years,” Tucker said. “For him to get to come play in the state championship game — he deserved that opportunity. When he felt like he could play, there was no hesitation to get him in the game.”
Pope (34-8) took a tworun lead in the second inning of the Class 6A finale when Grayson Caldwell singled to score Antonio Jareno and Connor Frost knocked in James Tibbs.
Allatoona (34-8) evened the score with a run in the fourth and fifth innings when Tyl e r Messick knocked in Greg Boland, and David Smith singled to score Blake Evans. The Greyhounds added another run in the top of the fourth when Frost brought in Jar- eno.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Pope head coach Jeff Rowland said. “It’s been three really good games. We got a couple of breaks in the last inning, and we kind of got a little separa- tion, which was nice, but it still wasn’t over until it was over. Allatoona’s got a great team.”