Carter Wood had a base hit and two RBI in Tuesday's loss at Canton Middle
Carter Wood had a base hit and two RBI in Tuesday's loss at Canton Middle
Baseball

Canton Middle ekes out extra-inning win over Polk Middle

By Staff Reports 2 min read

Polk County Middle School’s baseball team suffered a tough 8-7 defeat in extra innings Tuesday against Canton Middle in a hard-fought Blue Ridge Conference matchup.

The Wolverines (0-2) built an early lead but couldn’t hold off Canton’s late rally, which culminated in the winning run scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning on an error after beginning the frame on second base due to tiebreaker rules.

Polk County started strong, plating three runs in the opening inning. Matthew Foy and Brantley Hall began the game with back-to-back singles before Gavin Waldbillig drove in Foy with an RBI double. Hall scored on an error during Carter Wood’s at-bat, and Davis Holbert added an RBI single to bring home Waldbillig.

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The Wolverines extended their lead to 4-0 in the second inning when Zane McFalls reached on an error and later scored on Waldbillig’s second double of the game.

Canton Middle stormed back with six runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 6-4 lead, but Polk responded in the fourth. With two outs, Hall drew a walk and Waldbillig singled. Wood then doubled to score Hall, with Waldbillig also crossing the plate later in the inning to tie the game at 6-6.

The Wolverines briefly reclaimed the lead in the fifth when Callaway Cameron singled and eventually scored on McFalls’ two-out single, making it 7-6.

Canton tied the game in the bottom of the fifth before claiming victory in the sixth.

“I’m proud of the work the boys put in after a tough loss against R-S Middle,” said Polk Middle head coach Alston Rikard. “They took it to heart and bounced back, swinging the bat much better and putting the ball in play.

“This group isn’t afraid of hard work and before long I’m sure they’ll get to reap the rewards of it.”

Waldbillig led Polk County’s offense with a 3-for-4 performance that included two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. Cameron and McFalls each added an RBI, while Hall scored twice and added a hit.

Polk County Middle will look for its first win of the season when it travels to Rugby Middle on Monday for a 4:30 p.m. contest.

Some Staff Reports content may be produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools. All content is reviewed by a human editor before publication.

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