RINGGOLD, Ga. - The Heritage Generals won a Region 6-AAAA baseball pitchers' duel 2-1 Friday at home against the Northwest Whitfield Bruins.
Junior Cole Wilcox pitched six strong innings for the victory, and Heritage (9-4, 4-2) scored both of its runs in the fourth inning without the benefit of a hit.
"We haven't gotten the bats rolling real great like we really wanted to," Wilcox said. "We didn't really again tonight, but just enough to find a way to win, and that's what you've got to do in the region especially."
Bruins pitcher Andrew Ashe was perfect through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth when he hit two batters and walked another. A sacrifice fly by Johnathan Hickman scored one run, and an RBI groundout by Brody Campbell gave the Generals the lead.
Wilcox, who has committed to play for Georgia, took over from there. Working around two walks and three errors, Wilcox limited the Bruins (8-7, 4-2) to one run on three hits with four strikeouts, and Justin Morris nailed things down in the seventh inning to get the save.
"I'm just going to attack hitters," Wilcox said. "I'm comfortable with my defense making plays. Don't shy away; just trust your stuff and trust that your defense can make the plays."
Even though they were trailing, Bruins pitchers Ashe and Hank Bearden carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Wilcox got the Generals' only hit on a single with two outs.
The Bruins loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning and scored their run on a groundout by Seth Godfrey. However, catcher Alex Coulter turned in a key defensive play for the Generals when he threw a baserunner out at second for the second out, and Wilcox closed out the inning with a strikeout.
Despite the loss, Northwest won the season series by taking the first two games 2-1 and 3-2 earlier this week.
Heritage will play nonregion games against Calhoun and Dalton next week, while Northwest takes on region foe Pickens in a three-game series.
Contact Kevin Llewallyn at sports@timesfreepress.com