– Momentum can change in an instant on the baseball diamond, especially in the postseason.
The Cedartown Bulldogs were down to their final out in Game 1 of their Class AAA Elite Eight series on Tuesday at home against Calhoun, trailing 11-8 and in danger of going down 0-1 in the series. That’s when momentum changed. The Bulldogs battled to load the bases, and got a bases-clearing double from Jack Haney to tie things at 11-11 and force extras, and then after holding the Jackets in the eighth, got a gamewinning bloop hit from CJ Robinson to send them to a 12-11 victory.
They then carried the momentum over into Game 2, which they controlled for much of the ballgame and finished the sweep off with a 9-1 victory to punch their ticket to the Final Four.
The Bulldogs (28-4) will now advance to play Westminster on Monday in the Final Four, their first trip to that round since 1994.
“Our guys battled back,” said Cedartown coach Doyle Kelley. “It was looking like their wasn’t much hope in that first game when we were down by three runs and down to our last strike, but we hung in there and got a few runners on and Haney came through with the huge hit to clear the bases and tie it up. Then once we held them in the eighth, we were able to load the bases and get a Texas-Leaguer (from CJ).
“Once we got that one, we felt good with sending Haney to the mound in Game 2. And we played a good game behind him and hit the ball. The guys did what we needed to do. Calhoun is a very good team, and this was a good series. We’ve been taking them one game, one series at a time, and now, we’re looking forward to the next round.”
After finishing Game 1 with two doubles and four RBIs, Haney went to the mound in Game 2 for Cedartown and five 2-3 innings to earn the clinching win, allowing just one run on six hits while striking out four. He also added to his offensive totals in Game 2 with three more hits and four more RBIs to give him eight in the two-game sweep. Miles Minge closed things out on the mound in Game 2 with with 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out three.
Walker Barrow also had a big day at the plate for Cedartown with six total hits and three RBIs. Dalton Prince added five hits and two RBIs, and Robinson had two hits and two RBIs in Game 1. Casey Newsome had a hit and two RBIs in Game 2.
For Calhoun (22-10), who was making their first trip to the Elite Eight since 2012, the bats were hot in Game 1 as they rallied back from a 3-0 deficit after the first inning and turn it around into a 6-3 lead. They then extended the lead to 9-4 before Cedartown cut it to one run at 9-8 in the fourth. The Jackets added two more insurance runs in the seventh as they looked to be in good shape to win Game 1 before Cedartown’s dramatic rally.
Calhoun coach Chip Henderson said a pitch that wasn’t called a strike that would’ve ended Game 1 in an 11-8 win was a huge hurdle to overcome, but his team shouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with.
“Let’s just call it what it was… it was a gamechanger,” said Henderson. “You make a pitch and think it’s right there and don’t get a call which extends the inning. Then they go on to tie it and win Game 1 that way. That’s hard to recover from. But the bottom line is we shouldn’t have been in that position. You’ve got to make plays. Especially when you get to this point of the season, the team that makes the fewest mistakes is the team that wins.
“This was a tough loss. We never really recovered after that loss in the first game, and (Cedartown) took control in Game 2 and never let us back in the game. Credit to them. They’re a good team.”
In Game 1, Calhoun’s Jarrett Carden had a big effort from the leadoff spot with three hits, including a double and four RBIs. Jackson Braden also had three hits, including a double, Tanner Gallman added a double and two RBIs, Austin Trammell and Ryan Randall had a couple hits and an RBI and Matthew Mullinax added a hit and an RBI.