Eagles sweep into Area round
Blayne Clower brought home the winning run during Canton’s bi-district round opening 4-2 win over Atlanta May 2, drawing a bases loaded sixth inning walk to score Colbey Johnson.
The Canton Eagles got a jump on the rest of Van Zandt County playoff qualifiers, opening their best-of-three bi-district round playoff series with Atlanta May 2. Canton came away victorious in the contest plating a run in the second, one in the fourth and two more in the top of the sixth in a 4-2 win over the Rabbits.
Simon Miller got the start and win for Canton in the game, allowing five hits and two unearned runs over seven innings of work.
Offensively, Tyler Massey and Johnnie Krawietz helped lead the way with multi-hit outings. Massey finished play 2/4 with a double and a run scored and Krawietz went 2/4 with an RBI.
Other leading hitters for Canton included Colbey Johnson going 1/2 with an RBI and two runs scored, Cameron Sullivan going 1/1 with two walks and a run scored and McGwire Martin going 1/2 with an RBI.
Mother Nature would intervene prior to game two, dropping buckets of rain throughout the area May 3-4 to cause a venue shift from Canton to the turf fields at Rains High School. Despite the move, the Eagles closed out their series against Atlanta with a 5-2 win.
Johnnie Krawietz registered the start and win for the Eagles, allowing three hits and an earned run over five innings. Krawietz struck out seven Rabbits during his stint on the mound.
Cade Shaw came on to pitch the final two innings of relief, earning the save by holding the Atlanta bats at bay.
Offensively, Krawietz led all hitters going 3/4 with an RBI. Other hitters included McGwire Martin going 1/2 with a double, an RBI and a run scored, Blayne Clower going 1/3 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored, Simon Miller going 1/4 with a triple and a run scored and Tyler Massey going 1/3 with a run scored.
With their win, the Eagles advance to the Area round to take on District 16-4A runner-up Carthage in a best-of-three series beginning May 11. Game one between Canton and Carthage is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Mike Carter Field. Game two will be at the same venue beginning at 2 p.m. May 12 and game three, if necessary, will be played 30 minutes following the conclusion of game two.
Canton was the only District 13-4A team to advance past the bi-district round of the playoffs this year with two-seed Van losing to Paris two games to one, three-seed Brownsboro getting swept by Pittsburg two games to none and fourth seed Wills Point losing to Texarkana Pleasant Grove in a winner-take-all game.
