Dawgs battle through injuries to keep streak
Cedartown baseball continued its hot streak in last week’s region series versus Pickens.
The Bulldogs, who have battled injuries to multi-year starters down the stretch of this Region 7-4A gauntlet, found a way to sweep the Dragons in a pairing of the top two teams in the league standings. With those wins, CHS has now won five games in a row and taken 10 of their 12 region matchups.
Tuesday’s showdown in Jasper was a night to remember for freshman ace Jay O’Neal. The South Carolina commit tossed his first varsity no-hitter against Pickens on the road. His efforts seemed to set the tone for the all-important region series.
Cedartown had their struggles offensively as well, managing just five hits on the night, but a two-run single by Cole Dingler in the third inning drove in Eli Barrow and MJ Holiday to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. They would not relinquish that advantage in their 2-0 series-opening win.
Dingler (1-3, 2 RBI), Barrow (1-3, R), O’Neal (1-3), MJ Holiday (1-3, R), and Xavier Holiday (1-3) were the only batters able to record a base hit in Jasper.
O’Neal, who surrendered just two walks in seven innings, had four strikeouts against the Dragons on Tuesday night. His performance is the second complete-game nohitter in as many seasons for CHS baseball following last season’s combined no-hitter by Corben Cuzzort and Dylan Cupp at Heritage-Catoosa.
The Bulldogs completed the sweep of the Pickens with ease in Friday’s doubleheader at the Dawg Pound.
Cedartown raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of Friday’s doubleheader-opener and never looked back en route to a 6-1 win. Again, the Bulldogs tallied just four hits against Pickens, but took advantage of walks and errors to claim the series.
Eli Barrow (1-2, RBI) had a hard-hit triple in the victory while Tony Ware (13, 2 R) and MJ Holiday (1-3, RBI, R) each recorded a double. Denver Nale (1-3, RBI, R) also reached on a hit and Matthew Henslee, the pinch runner for O’Neal, scored twice in Game 2.
MJ Holiday picked up the start, and the senior did not disappoint. He pitched six innings of one-run baseball, with the only run allowed coming off a second-inning home run from Pickens senior and LaGrange College pledge Anthony Antinozzi. Holiday gave up four hits and three walks while striking out six. Xavier Holiday entered in relief in the final inning and took all of 16 pitches to retire the side and secure the five-run win.
Since Xavier Holiday earned the save with so few pitches, he was still in line to receive the start in the series finale. And, for the second time in three games, a Cedartown pitcher no-hit Pickens.
The Bulldogs scored in each of the first four innings and entered the sixth leading 8-0. With runners at second and third, Cole Dingler doubled on a line drive to left field to score Henslee and MJ Holiday. His extra-base hit clinched a 10-0 mercyrule victory for CHS and helped his team convert the sweep and keep their winning streak alive.