CALHOUN, Ga. - The Calhoun High School baseball program has a history of coming through in the toughest of situations, but Friday night's 2-1 extra-innings win over Bremen was still a thrill for Yellow Jackets coach Chip Henderson.
Calhoun trailed Bremen 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh in a game that likely will decide the No. 2 playoff seed from Region 6-AAA. Ethan Crump's RBI single made it 1-all after seven innings, and the Yellow Jackets (19-8, 10-5) won it in the 11th on freshman Parker McPherson's two-out single.
Calhoun moved into second place in the region standings with a week remaining in the regular season.
"Huge, huge win for us," said Henderson, whose team owns the tiebreaker over Bremen after sweeping the two regular-season games. "This was two good teams going at it with neither team backing down. We were fortunate to win it in the 11th. We had some timely hits, and the pitching was great on both sides."
Pitching dominated Friday, with Calhoun starter Davis Allen (six innings, no earned runs, three hits, six strikeouts) and Bremen ace Bret Barrow (seven innings, one earned run, four hits, nine strikeouts) limiting scoring opportunities early.
Bremen (17-8, 10-5) scored its lone run in the second on three errors, with junior lefty Allen escaping with a pair of runners on in the third and with the bases loaded in the fourth without allowing a run in those innings. Calhoun, which left two runners on base in the third and sixth, finally reached Barrow in the seventh.
Allen led off the inning with a walk but was erased on a fielder's choice. Parker Lester followed with a walk, and Crump delivered the tying single to left. Barrow managed to work out of a first-and-third, one-out situation with a pair of strikeouts to send it to extras.
Calhoun senior Brett Potts, who was roughed up in a loss to region champ Ringgold this week, relieved Allen in the seventh and held the Blue Devils to two hits and seven walks in five innings.
Potts helped his good mound work pay off with a one-out single in the 11th. Ben King reached on a forceout, then went to second on a wild pitch by Bremen reliever Griffin Cook (four innings, two hits). Allen was intentionally walked before McPherson, who was 0-for-4 to that point, singled.
Henderson, coaching third, was not about to hold up King rounding third, even though the veteran coach knew the play was going to be close at the plate.
"I was sending the baserunner no matter what in that situation," said Henderson, whose team has lofty goals after reaching the Class AAA semis a year ago. "How many chances are you going to get? He slid in, and the throw was offline and the Jackets win. It was a strong throw, but the catcher bobbled it a bit."
Calhoun, after Monday's 12-0 loss to Ringgold - the second loss to the league leaders - was in danger of missing the GHSA state playoffs, but the Yellow Jackets have followed with three consecutive wins and now will finish with the No. 2 playoff berth with wins in their final three regular-season games.
"From where we were at the beginning of the week after taking the shellacking we had at Ringgold, this is great," Henderson said. "We need to win out. It's pretty simple - if we win out, we are second. A week and a half ago, we were wondering what was going to happen to us.
"The good thing about where we are is we control our own destiny we get were we want to go. Maybe this will be a little momentum and (we'll) go on a run."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.