CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – No. 1 ranked Cullman dominated a pair of Tennessee schools Friday in the first day of the Rawlings Select Baseball Classic at Lake Point.
Behind a grand slam from Jacob Heatherly and home runs by Owen Lovell and Caleb Lipsey, the Bearcats slammed Signal Mountain out of Chattanooga, 10-0.
Then it was a solid day on the mound by Levi Thomas and timely hits for the Bearcats to blank Ensworth, out of the Nashville area, 3-0.
The Bearcats take a 17-3 record and a seven-game winning streak into the semifinal round on Saturday.
Cullman's opponent was to be determined later on Friday.
Heatherly got the Bearcats on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first in the opener with Signal Mountain when he ripped a pitch over the fence in right field for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead.
Lipsey had a run-scoring single, and two other runs dashed home for Cullman to go up 7-0 once the first was completed.
In the second, Lovell went deep over the left field fence to make it 8-0. Lipsey added to the home run derby with his solo blast in the third and another run gave the Bearcats a comfortable lead to get the game over in the fifth by the run rule.
Heatherly was strong on the hill with a one-hit shutout and a game-high 12 strikeouts.
In game two, the Bearcats snapped a scoreless tie with three runs in the fourth to take command of the game at the plate and on the mound with Thomas having a strong outing.
Thomas allowed two hits for a complete game performance, no runs and ended the contest with a strikeout, his seventh of the evening.
In four of their last five victories, Brent Patterson's Bearcats have shut out the opposition and produced 37 runs from the batter's box.
Cullman came to Georgia fresh off dominating Fort Payne in three games to open the 6A, Area 14 schedule. Now the Bearcats are looking to keep the momentum going for the rest of the week against quality opposition from outside the state of Alabama.
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