Late rally powers Cavaliers
Published 8:59 pm Sunday, February 25, 2018
By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY
Daily News
THOMASTON – The Callaway Cavaliers staged a dramatic late-game comeback to beat the Shaw Raiders 9-8 on Saturday at Upson-Lee.
Later in the day, Callaway took on the host Upson-Lee team, and it lost 8-3.
In the Shaw game, Callaway was down by five runs when it pushed six runs across in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead.
Dawson Wright pitched two scoreless innings to get the win, and he later threw three shutout innings against Upson-Lee.
The Cavaliers finished with nine hits, and Chandler Lott had two of them with two RBIs, and Brooks Bledsoe also had two hits with two runs scored.
Trent Sheppard had a triple and two RBIs, and Kyle Campbell had a double.
Leadoff hitter Drake Wade had a hit, two walks, and two runs scored, Austin Cardwell and Bryce Kurian each had a hit and a run scored, and Braelin Mitchell walked and scored a run.
Jabari Smith and Kurian had RBIs.
Wright was Callaway’s third pitcher, and he was terrific, throwing two scoreless innings while giving up no hits with two strikeouts.
The Cavaliers were behind 8-3 when they came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The rally began with two outs and no one on.
Cardwell and Bledsoe got things started with back-to-back base hits, and Kurian followed with an RBI single.
Lott later had a two-run single to tie it, and he scored on a wild pitch to give Callaway the lead.
Wright hit a batter with one out in the top of the seventh, but he got the next two men to end it.
In the second game, Upson-Lee led 8-0 after the first three innings, and Callaway added single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
The Cavaliers lost the game despite out-hitting the Knights 13-9.
Bryce Kurian had a big game for the Cavaliers with three hits and an RBI, and Lott had two hits for the Cavaliers with an RBI.
Sheppard had two hits, Campbell and Wright each had doubles, and Walt Stewart, Destin Patrick and Austin Barber each had hits.
Kyle Campbell gave up one run in 1 2/3 innings in relief of Barber, and Wright finished the game strong.
In his three innings, Wright worked around two hits and a walk and didn’t allow any runs.
Callaway will host LaGrange on Tuesday.