CALHOUN, Ga. -- Chip Henderson won the coin flip prior to the deciding game three of his team's Class AAA first-round Georgia high school baseball playoff series against Cedartown.
It would be the only good thing to happen for Calhoun Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets fell behind 7-0 in the top of the first inning and could never recover as their season ended with a 10-4 loss.
"We just couldn't overcome some mental and physical errors early," Henderson said. "You fall behind two or three runs and you know the game is still winnable. When you start down seven, it just really makes it tough."
The Bulldogs (15-10), who will travel to top-ranked Blessed Trinity for a second-round series Wednesday, started the game with a pair of softly hit singles from Miles Minge and Harrison Barnett. Brayden McCollum followed with an RBI double, but errors on the next two batters are what opened the barn door.
Three runs scored on the miscues to make it 4-0, with a wild pitch two batters later scoring another. Minge, who had seven hits in the series, drove home the final two runs of the inning on a single.
Calhoun (21-7) tried to rally, getting two runs back in the second, thanks in large part to two Cedartown errors. The Jackets cut the margin to 7-4 in the fourth when Austin Trammell hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left that chased starting pitcher Barnett.
However, reliever Henley Hayes allowed only one more hit to earn the save, his job made easier by a three-run fifth inning highlighted by Walker Barrow's two-run single.
"We battled back to within three and we had some chances to put more pressure on them, but it was just too much to overcome," said Henderson, whose team left nine runners on base.
Mingle had three hits and two RBIs, with Barrow adding two hits. Trammell had two of Calhoun's five hits.
* Sonoraville also had its season end in the Class AAA playoffs. After winning game two Friday against Central-Carrollton, the Phoenix fell in eight innings Saturday, 6-5.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.