GAYLESVILLE - There wasn't a full moon and it wasn't Friday the 13th, but with the way things transpired between Class 1A, No. 5 Spring Garden and Class 2A, No. 8 Sand Rock, it sure seemed like something strange was going on in their Cherokee County Tournament baseball game at Gaylesville.

Spring Garden scored five of its runs off passed balls.

A combined total of six pitchers were used.

Sand Rock right fielder Isaac Arnold had a perfect night at the plate, going 3-for-3, and Spring Garden catcher Jake Grogan blasted his first home run.

When the three-hour-plus marathon was complete, Sand Rock was able to grind out an 11-7 victory and advance to Saturday's Cherokee County Tournament championship game.

The Wildcats (7-5) are scheduled to take on the winner of Saturday afternoon's 2:30 p.m. semifinal between Cedar Bluff and Cherokee County. The tournament championship is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Gaylesville.

Spring Garden (13-5) plays in the tournament consolation game on Saturday at 5 p.m.

"It was a win, and we kind of grinded it out," Sand Rock coach Paul Hawk said. "I was pleased with our defense and our hitting. Austin Chambers, Isaac Arnold and Ethan Jimmerson all hit the ball real well.

"Anytime you can get your leadoff hitter on, it sets the stage, and (Austin's) been doing that for us all year. Isaac came in and really gave us a spark in the two hole, and Ethan's been pretty steady hitting in the three hole all season. I thought we got a little more than we've been getting out of the bottom of the order, but I'd like for them to do a little better as a whole."

As Hawk mentioned, his 1-2-3 hitters helped carry the load offensively. They went a collective 7-for-9 and accounted for 10 of the Wildcats' 11 runs.

Chambers and Jimmerson both went 2-for-3. Chambers had a pair of doubles, a walk and drove in three runs. Arnold had a double and drove in six runs.

Chambers got things going for Sand Rock in the top of the second. He had a two-run double to left off of Spring Garden starter Will Ivey to put the Wildcats in front 2-0. Sand Rock added another run when Arnold reached on an error at second that scored Chambers for a 3-0 lead.

But the Panthers battled back. They tied the game at three, with all three runs in the inning crossing the plate as a result of two passed balls with two outs. Josh Hale scored the Panthers' first run after he walked with two outs.

Andrew McLarty doubled to left and also scored on a passed ball. Colton Lambert also walked in the inning, advanced around and scored the Panthers' third run on another passed ball, tying the game at 3.

Spring Garden coach Tony Benefield said he couldn't recall a game where a team he's coached has scored so many runs off of passed balls. He attributed that to the Panthers' overall team speed.

"That was pretty good coming back from three runs down, but Sand Rock just kept the pressure on, we didn't execute," he said. "We had two scoring situations where we just left runners on. We left a guy at third with one out and we left the bases loaded with one out. If we could have scored a couple more runs there, that would have made things interesting."

Sand Rock regained the lead for good in the third by sending 10 men to the plate and pushing five more runs across the plate. Three of those runs were aided by two Spring Garden errors.

Dylan Mackey accounted for another run on a single to left center off Panther reliever Hale, helping the Wildcats take an 8-3 advantage.

Spring Garden's Will Penton led off the bottom of the third with a single to left and later scored on yet another passed ball to make the score 8-4.

Sand Rock got that run back in the top of the fifth to push its lead to 9-4 on Arnold's single to right that scored Chambers. Chambers led off the inning with a double to left center.

The Wildcats scored their final two runs on a two-run single by Arnold to make the score 11-4. Ivey made it 11-5 when he was hit by a pitch, advanced around the bases and scored on the Wildcats' fifth passed ball of the game. Grogan blasted a solo home run to left field for the final.

Ivey went 2-for-3 in the game, while Grogan was 2-for-4. Grant Benefield had a 3-for-4 performance at the plate. Chase Howell went 1-for-3 with a double.

Austin Godshall was 2-for-3 with a walk for Sand Rock. Zane Farrar added a hit and a walk for the Wildcats.

Dylan Mackey earned the win for Sand Rock after working the first two innings. He left with an 8-3 lead in the third in favor of Jimmerson, who worked the next four innings. Chambers finished out the game's final inning.

Ivey suffered the loss for the Panthers after working 2 1/3 innings before being relieved by Hale. Hale worked the next 2 2/3 innings before giving way to Will Westbrook in the sixth.

"I thought we beat a good team," Hawk said. "They're pretty solid and well-coached. I'm pretty pleased with our effort. We played good defense and made a lot of plays."

Cherokee County 11, Gaylesville 1

GAYLESVILLE - Logan Pierce had a pair of hits, a pair of walks and a pair of stolen bases, while Zach Bedwell belted a two-run triple and finished with three RBIs to lead the Cherokee County Warriors to a 11-1 victory over host Gaylesville in the Cherokee County Tournament on Friday.

Tyler Sterling picked up the win for the Warriors (4-11). He tossed all five innings and gave up just one run on three hits.

Sterling was aided by four runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Warriors sent 10 batters to the plate, with the big blows coming from the bats of Josh Higgins and Michael Spurling. Higgins belted two-run single to center, while Spurling added a run-scoring single to left off Trojan starter Cole Murphy.

"It's always good to get a lead for your pitcher," Warrior coach Jim Garmany said. "We haven't done that much this year, so it's good to be able to do that for him. He threw strikes for us and we played really good defense behind him tonight to help him out. All the ingredients were there for him."

Cherokee Coutny tacked on three more runs in the second inning. Wade Griffith walked and Pierce followed with a double to right center. Griffith and Pierce scored on Bedwell's ensuing triple.

The Warriors scored four more runs in the fifth for the final. Griffith and Pierce had a pair of run-scoring singles in the inning.

Gaylesville (2-12) scored its lone run in the third on Gable Lawson's single to center that brought home Murphy, who doubled to left center with one out. Murphy went 2-for-3 in the game. Lawson was 1-for-2.

Murphy also suffered the loss for the Trojans.

With the win, Cherokee County advances to face Cedar Bluff in the tournament semifinals on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. It will be the third time the two teams have met this season. The Tigers have taken the previous two.

"We wanted to have a chance to play them again," Garmany said. "They're a good baseball team and so are we. Our record doesn't show it, but we've played good baseball. We've been in a lot of tough games and come out on the losing end. I think it's good we get to match up with them again. They're good from top to bottom, and that's the kind of teams we need to play."