The Prowlers played in the Champs Wear the Rings Classic this weekend at the Cartersville Baseball Complex.  The Prowlers faced the WPB Canton Cyclones in the first game of the day on Saturday morning.  Though the Prowlers only had four hits, they were able to capitalize on RBI opportunities and pulled out a 5-4 win over the Cyclones.  After hitting a solo home run in the first, Hunter Giles racked up another RBI in the fifth.  Justin Cawthon, Brendon Harris and Alex Hayes also got on base with hits and Tristan Hollon-Brooks had an RBI.  Hunter Giles started on the mound for the Prowlers.  The Cyclones scored only three runs in the 3 innings Hunter pitched.  Hunter had a good outing, allowing only one earned run and striking out two.  Alex Hayes came to the mound in the 4th and the Cyclones couldn’t get anything going with Alex on the mound.  The Cyclones managed just one hit off Alex who allowed no earned runs, walked one and struck out two in his three innings on the mound. 

After celebrating Cinco de Mayo with lunch at Los Arcos in Cartersville, the boys were back on the field facing the tough Bremen Demons.  Grayson Nix was 2 for 2 at the plate, singling in the first and the sixth, and scoring on an error by the Demons.  Carson Kitchen had 2 hits and 2 RBIs.  Deven Harris had a hit and an RBI, while Hunter Giles had an RBI.  Aaron Hayes had a hit and with good base running was able to score on an error by the Demons.  Other than two innings where the Prowlers let the game get away from them defensively, the Prowlers held the Demons to two runs in four innings.  Despite their efforts, the Prowlers lost to the Demons 11-7, leaving the Prowlers the runner up in their bracket and the Demons the winner of the bracket.

Sunday saw the Prowlers up against the ATPP Diamonds in the first game of the day and the first game of bracket play for the Prowlers.  The Prowlers blew out the Diamonds 14-2 in four innings.  The Prowlers racked up eight runs in the first inning, including a two run double by Deven Harris, two singles with an RBI by Luke Wiggins, a single with an RBI by Grayson Nix, a single by Carson Kitchen, an RBI by Justin Cawthon and Alex & Aaron Hayes scoring on errors.  After the Diamonds scored two runs in the 2nd inning, the Prowers responded with four more runs of their own.  The Prowlers scored on an RBI single by Deven Harris on which Aaron Hayes scored, an error on which Deven Harris scored, an error on which Alex Hayes scored, and an RBI single by Grayson Nix on which Jack Warren scored.  The Prowlers increased their lead yet again with two runs in the third.  Brendan Hester kicked things off with a single, bringing home Aaron Hayes. That was followed by an RBI by Tristan Hollon-Brooks that scored Hunter Giles.  Brendon Hester got it done on the mound, pitching all four innings.  He allowed two runs, struck out one, walked three and surrendered three hits.  The Prowlers also had a double play in the 4th to help end the game with Tristan Hollon-Brooks stopping a hard ground ball at third and throwing to Jack Warren at second for the first out, and Jack turning and throwing to Justin Cawthon at first for the second out.

After a quick lunch, the Prowlers faced the Allatoona Bucs in the semifinals of the tournament.  After the first two innings, the teams were scoreless.  The Prowlers finally got on the board in the top of the third.  Alex Hayes singled to ignite the Prowlers' offense.  Luke Wiggins then had a line drive single to third base.  Alex Hayes scored on a groundout by Grayson Nix.  The scoreboard lit up again for the Prowlers when Luke Wiggin scored on a groundout by Carson Kitchen.  Behind the pitching of Carson Kitchen, the Prowlers were able to keep the Bucs scoreless through the 3rd inning.  After 3 innings, only 12 Bucs had come to bat.  Carson pitched no earned runs, two strike outs, three hits and two walks.   The Bucs were able to tie the game up in the bottom of the fourth and went up by one in the bottom of the 5th.  The Prowlers couldn’t get anything going in the top of the 6th and the Bucs won 3-2.

Though the one run loss to the Allatoona Bucs kept the Prowlers from the Championship game and from winning the tournament, the Prowlers had a good weekend giving up an average of 5 runs per game and scoring an average of 7 runs per game.

Final results from the tournament can be found at the following link:

http://www.usssa.com/sports/tournament3.asp?TournamentID=828577