On Tuesday, the Cedartown Middle School baseball team defeated St. Mary’s to remain undefeated and set up a big clash with Darlington on Thursday.

Against St. Mary’s, Cedartown strolled to a 10-0 win in the Rome-Floyd Parks & Recreation Authority league game.

“We used three pitchers, all of whom pitched well,” head coach Bill Ellis said. “Jack Haney got his first time on the mound this season, going two strong innings. Henley Hays and Jakob Rodriguez each pitched an inning to keep the shutout going.”

Miles Minge hit a triple against St. Mary’s while Jack Haney had a two-run hit.

The victory set up Thursday’s showdown against undefeated Darlington. The two teams played a doubleheader on Thursday, with Cedartown winning game one.

In the first game, Cedartown won 7-1 behind the strong pitching of Rodriguez.

“He pitched a complete game and gave up only one run,” Ellis said, while noting Cedartown scored five runs in the first inning. “Hays hit a double that scored two big runs.”

In the second game, Darlington knocked off Cedartown in extra innings, 7-4.

“This game was very exciting,” Ellis said. “Hays started on the mound and pitched five scoreless innings.”

Going into the sixth and final inning, Cedartown held a 3-0 lead. However, the Bulldogs bullpen was unable to keep that lead as they allowed four runs to score in the top of the sixth inning.

Thanks to clutch hits by Stan Ellis and Rodriguez, the Bulldogs rallied back in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the contest. Cedartown would go on to load the bases with no outs during that frame, but could not drive in the game-winning run.

“Our rules stipulate we play one extra inning and then the game is over no matter the score,” Ellis said. “Darlington scored three runs in the top of the seventh. We got some bases runners during the bottom of the seventh, but could not push any runs across.”

With the loss, Cedartown fell to 9-1 on the season.

“We hated to lose, but it was an exciting game,” Ellis said. “We left quite a few men on base and that came back to haunt us.”

Despite splitting the doubleheader with Darlington, Ellis said Cedartown would still enter the postseason tournament as the top seed.

“As the rules were explained to me, since we have identical 9-1 records the tiebreaker is determined by runs allowed in head to head play,” Ellis said. “This leaves us in first place with the No. 1 seed.”

The postseason tournament is scheduled to start next week.