RINGGOLD, Ga. – Needing a win on the road against a tough opponent, Cartersville baseball coach Stuart Chester had an easy pitching choice Friday.
Senior left-hander Elliott Anderson has faced an even tougher opponent than what had been Region 7-AAAA’s only unbeaten team.
Anderson, who is battling a viral infection of the area around his heart, handed Heritage its first league loss of the season. He allowed four hits in a complete-game performance as the Purple Hurricanes won 3-1 and moved into a tie with the Generals atop the 7-AAAA standings.
Anderson, who has committed to Auburn, stranded six baserunners total in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings – and (again) earned his coach’s respect.
“Elliott has really battled through this,” Chester said. “They thought he had an enlarged heart, so he was close to being out of the sport completely, but it turned out to be a viral infection that he has to take medicine for.
“He labors to breathe sometimes because of the medicine. He reached his pitch count in the sixth inning and we were going to take him out, but he said, ‘Please, Coach, let me finish,’ so we did and he came through as usual.”
In a matchup of aces, Cartersville (9-7, 5-1) took an early lead when senior Carrington Evans launched a two-run home run in the first inning off Heritage senior Dylan Bice, who allowed only three baserunners over the next four innings.
Anderson cruised through the first three innings, allowing only Josh Gibson’s double in the third. Gibson was stranded at third after advancing on a wild pitch with one out.
It was the first of several frustrating situations for Heritage (11-6, 5-1).
“When you’re facing a kid as good as Elliott is, you’ve got to cash in, and we didn’t do it,” said Heritage coach Eric Beagles, whose team left six runners in scoring position. “It took us a while just to get anyone on base, and when we did, we couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities.”
The Generals had runners at third and second with one out in the fourth, but Anderson struck out the next two batters to end that threat. After leaving another runner at second in the fifth, Heritage finally got to Anderson in the sixth.
Cole Wilcox doubled with one out, and Anderson walked Bice and Jonathan Hickman to load the bases. After a popup for the second out, Blake Bryan laced an RBI single to left field to end the shutout bid. Anderson got out of the inning when Gibson’s slow grounder to shortstop was thrown wide but first baseman Cole Jamieson went off the bag to make the catch and collided with the streaking Gibson.
Though fielder and runner went to the ground, Jamieson held on to the ball for the third out.
Anderson worked a one-two-three seventh against the top of the Heritage order to secure the win.
“This is a huge win,” Chester said. “Heritage is to me still the team to beat because they have more pitching than anyone, so to get one here is big.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.