Canton Takes Series Opener From Carthage, 5-2

TYLER — The Canton Eagles took Game 1 of their Class 4A Region II area best-of-three baseball playoff series with a 5-2 win over Carthage on Friday night at Mike Carter Field.

The series resumes at 2 p.m. Saturday with Game 2. A third game, if necessary, would immediately follow.

Canton (28-3) broke a tie with three runs in the sixth inning, and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve the victory.

John Adams went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in leading Canton’s 11-hit attack. His bloop single to shallow center field gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead in the sixth.

Eagles starting pitcher Simon Miller picked up the win, allowing one run on three hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. He threw 88 pitches.

Cade Shaw got the final five outs for the save. He stranded two Carthage (17-9) runners in the sixth, and after allowing a run, escaped a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the seventh.

Carthage lefty Callahan Baldree suffered the loss. He allowed four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 5 1/3 innings, throwing 89 pitches.

Seth Smith drove in both Bulldogs run, while Jackson Blissett was 2-for-4 with a double.

Adams singled with two outs in the fourth, moved to third on Shaw’s hit up the middle, and scored when Tyler Massey beat out an infield single for a 1-0 Canton lead.

Carthage knotted the game in the fifth when Smith hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Si Schumacher.

Following Adams’ go-ahead single for Canton in the sixth, Cameron Sullivan singled home a run, and Shaw came home a wild pitch to push Canton’s lead to 4-1.

The Eagles added a fifth run in the top of the seventh on a wild pitch.

Carthage got the bottom of the seventh started with back-to-back singles from Baylor Collie and Kelan Foster. Smith’s single to left trimmed the Bulldogs’ deficit to three runs.

But then Foster was thrown out at home on a ground ball to third, and Shaw retired Blissett on strikes and Dylan Leach on a grounder to first to end the game.