NORCROSS — Not even the strongest antacid could quench the burn for Cherokee Bluff fans at Greater Atlanta Christian School on Wednesday.
In two nerve-racking games, the Bears rallied to the Game 2 win, 9-6, at Hester Field in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs to even the series at a game apiece.
"Proud of how we came out and fought," Head Coach Jeremy Kemp said after the Game 2 win. "I'm proud of our kids on the day and looking forward to tomorrow."
Bluff will travel to GAC for a decisive Game 3 on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
The win came a couple of hours after the two Class 3A foes needed nine innings to decide Game 1. The Spartans won the game, 2-1, in the ninth, but the Bears had plenty of missed opportunities.
"We battled and played hard," Kemp said about the Game 1 loss. "We had opportunities and just didn’t get it done. It was a hard-fought game on both sides."
Bluff left 11 men on base, had the bases loaded in the sixth inning but failed to get a run home, and they had the go-ahead run on base in the ninth.
Bluff's defense also dug themselves out of jams several times, including in the eighth inning, with the bases loaded, when Clay Tyas struck out Graham Stogner to get out of the inning.
Parker Hallock's line-drive single in the bottom of the ninth sealed the Game 1 win.
In Game 2, the Bears jumped out 3-1 after two innings of play, but GAC scored five straight over the next two innings to go up 6-3 in the fourth.
Then GAC fell apart in the fifth, and the Bears said, "thank you."
Bluff turned the Spartans' five errors and one walk into five runs and the lead ... for good. Caleb Piland's home run, however, sparked the Bears' comeback.
"Piland’s home run got us going there for the big inning," Kemp said.
The long ball cut GAC's lead, 6-5, and later in the inning, Brody Beal and Jacob Vokal scored on errors lifting Bluff to the lead.
Beal also added the Bears' final run in the sixth inning. Beal tripled but scored on a throwing error.
"Brody helped us to add a run in the bottom of the 6th with a hustling triple and an error on a throw by GAC to allow him to score, that was a huge run," Kemp said. "Proud of how we came out and fought and proud of our kids on the day. Looking forward to tomorrow."
AREA BASEBALL SCOREBOARD, Wednesday, May 5
CLASS 6A
Buford 8-0, Pope 1-1
CLASS 4A
Marist 6-10, Jefferson 3-0 (Marist advances)
CLASS 3A
Cherokee Bluff 1-9, Greater Atlanta Christian 2-6
Hart County 2-5, North Hall 0-8
CLASS A PUBLIC
Commerce 8-11, Bowden 7-7 (Commerce advances)
Thursday, May 6
CLASS 6A
Pope (R6, S2) at Buford (R8, S1) -- Game 3, 5:55 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Flowery Branch (R8, S3) at Cedartown (R7, S1) -- (DH), 4 p.m. -- (moved from Wednesday)
CLASS 3A
Cherokee Bluff (R7, S2) at Greater Atlanta Christian (R5, S1) -- Game 3, 5:30 p.m.
Hart County at North Hall (R7, S1) -- Game 3, 4 p.m.
Friday, May 7
Flowery Branch (R8, S3) at Cedartown (R7, S1) -- Game 3, if necessary, 6 p.m.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2021/5/1003198/baseball-playoffs-cherokee-bluff-takes-game-2-to-even-series-against-gac