Newton Citizen

Luke Cathcart got the Heritage baseball team back even Monday night in Conyers.

The left-hander fired five innings of two-hit ball and struck out nine in the Patriots' 11-1 victory over Douglas County at Danny Blue Field. Heritage (2-2) bounced back from a loss to Woodland last week, getting another strong start from Cathcart and two hits each from Jordan Martin, Phillip Kelley and Fred Umland, and three hits from Ryan Sutton.

The Patriots continue their homestand with a non-region game against Locust Grove today at 5:55 p.m., then head south to Brunswick for this weekend's Baseball at the Beach Tournament.

Seminoles, Bulldogs lose tight games Monday

Salem had its brief, two-game winning streak snapped in an 8-7 loss to Archer. Eric Bechet homered, doubled and drove in four runs and Zach Bailey had three hits and stole three bases to pace the Seminoles, who fell to 2-2. Adam Hood, Reed Hill and Bailey combined to allow five earned runs in six innings pitched.

"Our pitchers have got to start getting ahead in the count and working more to our strengths, (but) that is what these games are for, though, is to figure those kinds of things out before region starts," Salem coach Chad Kitchens said. "I am looking forward to getting back to work ... and correcting some things I know we can do better."

Rockdale got four innings of one-hit ball from Aaron Barfield, but was shut out 1-0 at Alcovy. Barfield, a Young Harris College commitment, struck out seven and allowed one earned run, while Zach Powell and Anthony Banks combined to throw three innings of hitless relief.

"Good game, tough loss," Rockdale coach Justin Arrington said. "Just couldn't move runners over or string some hits together to score some runs."

Salem and Rockdale both return to the diamond today. The Seminoles travel to McDonough for a game with Henry County at 5:30 p.m., while Rockdale heads west to play Douglas County at 5:55 p.m.