Heritage set to host first round of state

After being at or near the top of the Region 7-AAAA standings all season long, the Heritage Generals had to settle for a No. 2 seed in the Class AAAA state playoffs.

Facing Cedartown in a three-game series last week to decide the region champion, the Bulldogs took Game 1 in Polk County on Tuesday before splitting a doubleheader in Boynton on Friday.

Both teams ended the season 14-4 in region play, but Cedartown’s two wins in the three-game series gave them the edge in the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Cedartown 5, Heritage 1

The Bulldogs broke a scoreless tie with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning and opened it up with four runs in the bottom of the fifth.

The lone run for Heritage came in the sixth as Gage Shaver scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of J.T. Eaton. Eaton and Cannon Stafford each had doubles in the loss, while Brady Chandler had two hits for Heritage.

Zach Barrett pitched six innings. He allowed three earned runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Cedartown 3, Heritage 0

Needing to sweep the twinbill on Friday to win the region championship, the Generals were shut down in the opener as two Bulldog pitchers combined on a timely no-hitter.

Cade Kiniry pitched seven solid innings for the Generals. He gave up just one earned run on seven hits and a walk with eight strikeouts.

Heritage 15, Cedartown 0

Friday’s nightcap went just two-and-a-half innings as the home team rebounded by scoring five times in the bottom of the first before adding 10 runs in the second. They also held the Bulldogs to just one hit.

Kiniry had a double, a triple and four RBIs, while C.J. Robertson had two hits, including a double, to go with one RBI. Chandler doubled and knocked in three runs in the victory.

Shaver, Alex Mixon and Landen Skeen had two hits apiece. Mixon knocked in two runs, while Skeen, Caden Snyder and Dylan Bryan each had one RBI. Skeen also got the victory on the hill with three innings of work. He walked just one batter and struck out two.

Heritage (22-7) will be the No. 2 seed out of the region for the state playoffs. They will open the postseason in Boynton on Wednesday (3 p.m.) with a first-round, best-of-three series against Stephenson (9-7), the No. 3 seed from Region 6.