Tenn.-Ga. Classic All-Star Series continues with baseball, soccer

Some of northwest Georgia’s top baseball talent got one more chance to put on their high school jerseys last Monday night as they played in the 15th Annual Tennessee-Georgia All-Star Baseball Classic at the McCallie School.

And unfortunately for Peach State fans, the result was a little too familiar.

Tennessee came out on top in the contest by a 9-4 score after Georgia rallied back from a 4-0 early deficit to tie the game with two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. However, Team Tennessee immediately responded with a three-run homer in the bottom half of the inning to put themselves ahead and never look back.

Trae Carter had the eventual game-winning shot, sending a two-out, two-strike offering over the rightfield wall to take back the momentum. They then padded their lead with insurance runs in the seventh and ninth innings.

Carter (Soddy-Daisy), who was recently drafted in the 11th round by the San Diego Padres, was named the game’s Most Valuable Player for his efforts. His teammate, Hunter Oliver (Cleveland), earned Tennessee Player of the Game honors after going 2- for-3 with a double and an RBI, while Dylan Beasley (Rome) was named Georgia Player of the Game after pitching the final two innings for the Peach State and striking out a record-tying six batters.

The win gave Tennessee a 13-2 lead in the all-time series and avenged a 10-4 loss to Georgia last year at Ridgeland.

Oliver’s RBI-double came in the top of the bottom of the first to plate Jordan Artime (Ooltewah) and give Tennessee a 1-0 lead and the Volunteer State would add three more in the top of the second on just one hit, a pair of errors, a wild pitch, a passed ball and one hit batsman.

But Georgia would finally get going offensively in the fourth. Jarrett Carden would reach after getting hit by a pitch and Tucker Bradley (Gordon Lee) singled before two stolen bases put the runners in scoring position. Lane Griffith (Adairsville) scored Carden on a sacrifice fly and another exAdairsville player, Drake Arp, brought in Bradley on a fielder’s choice.

Andrew Williams (Trion) delivered an RBI-single in the top of the fifth and Avery Sirmans (Gilmer) plated the tying run on another sacrifice fly.

But that would change a half-inning later.

With two batters on with walks, Carter, who grounded out to second in his first at-bat and struck out swinging in the third, took an fastball and sent a screamer over the fence to give Tennessee the lead for good.

Brandon Willingham (Boyd-Buchanan) had a hit and an RBI in the seventh, while McCallie’s Ethan Cady tripled in the ninth and scored on a wild pitch. The game was extended into the bottom of the ninth to give all players a chance to get in the game.

Team Tennessee used nine different pitchers in the win with Caleb Collins (Ooltewah) earning the win as he pitched the fifth before Carter gave his team the lead with his home run. Trey Leonard (Model) was saddled with the loss.

Quin Smith (McCallie) won the pre-game Home Run Derby with a record total of eight,

The TennesseeGeorgia All-Star Classic Series was scheduled to conclude on Tuesday (June 21) with the Softball Classic at Frost Stadium.

Due to newspaper deadlines, results were not available as of press time.