After splitting Thursday’s doubleheader against the Marist War Eagles, the Cartersville Purple Hurricanes baseball team found itself in a decisive Game 3 on Friday evening against the defending state champions. The Canes bats were quiet for the first three innings, while Marist grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Chase Abshier scored on Patrick Comerford’s second-inning single, which chased Cartersville starter Levi Ayers from the game after an inning and two-thirds of work.
The Cartersville offense picked up in the fourth inning and sent 13 batters up and pushed across 10. Devin Warner walked in the first Cartersville run, but it was Jordan Wilkie’s one-out two-run single that gave Cartersville a 3-1 lead.
Anthony Seigler delivered a crushing blow with a grand slam over the left-centerfield wall to give Cartersville a 7-1 lead. And to add to Marist’s long inning, Jake Gooch added a 3-run home run of his own to give Cartersville a 10-1 lead heading into the bottom half of the fourth inning.
Marist got one run back in the bottom of the fourth, but Gage Morris pitched the final three innings and did not allow another War Eagle to touch home.
Seigler added a solo home run in the top of 6th to give him five runs driven in on the evening, while LaDarius Winburn hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh to give Cartersville its eventual 12-2 victory and send the Canes to the quarterfinals next Wednesday, when they will host Spalding a No. 4 seed in this year’s playoffs. The win moved Cartersville to 27-8 on the season.