TUNNEL HILL, Ga. - After having Thursday's home baseball game against rival Northwest Whitfield rained out, Dalton was primed and ready for Friday night's road matchup with the Bruins.
The Catamounts showed that by winning the nonregion meeting 11-0.
"We beat a good team," Dalton coach Rhett Parrott said. "They're playing good baseball right now. It's always important to win these local games. We don't get to play many of them, so it's nice to pick up a win."
The Cats (18-5) scored in every inning except the second, but their bats really broke through in the fourth, when they more than doubled their 4-0 lead. The Cats scored five times in the inning, taking advantage of two Bruins errors and three walks. Jantzen Calvo drove in two on a double, and J.P. Tighe drove in two runs to extend Dalton's lead to 9-0.
Cats pitchers Cole Shelton and Harrison Norman limited Northwest (14-8) to just two hits as the Bruins never got a runner into scoring position.
It was senior night for the Bruins, who honored nine players.
"It was great to be able to have all nine of them out on the field at the same time," Bruins coach Todd Middleton said. "Some of them are in the lineup every day and some aren't, but they've all contributed and I'm proud of those guys."
Parrott, who played at for Northwest before continuing his career at the professional level, said it's always nice to come home and get a win.
"I've got a lot of respect for this school and these coaches and this team," Parrott said. "It's nice to play well. You want to come back and win."
Dalton is headed down the home stretch of the regular season, with its toughest games in the next two series against Harrison and Allatoona. All three teams are battling for the top seed in Region 6-AAAAAA heading into the league playoffs.
"They're the toughest two teams in the region," Parrot said. "We were able to get out starting pitchers some work today and get some at-bats and get ready to go. We're just excited to get going here and see how far we can take it."
Contact Kevin Llewallyn at sports@timesfreepress.com.