"They jumped on us early," Colonels coach Todd Eubanks said. "We were down 6-1 after 1 1/2 innings. In the bottom of the [second] inning, Taylor Bentley hit a big-three home run to kind of get momentum back in our favor."
Bentley's three-run bomb began a string of six unanswered runs for Cass, which also scored one run in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
From there on out, Brandon Etheridge took care of the Wolves' hitters. Etheridge pitched 4 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts, two hits and one walk.
"Brandon Etheridge came in and threw shutout ball for us into the seventh," Eubanks said. Tyler Gates pitched the final inning for the save, striking out three.
Producing hits for the Colonels were Sam Ayers, 1 for 4; Dalton Weightman, 4 for 4 (double, home run, RBI); Dalton Parham, 1 for 4; Connor Law, 1 for 3 (RBI); Chad Taylor, 1 for 3; and Bentley, 2 for 3 (home run, four RBIs).
"We hit the ball well. We had a couple of home runs, [and we] put them on the defensive. [They] had a couple of mistakes," Eubanks said. "When we hit the ball, we tend to do well."
Though Cass will need help the rest of the way to qualify for state, the win guaranteed at least one thing for the Colonels (14-10, 10-8 Region 7-AAAA).
"The big thing this win does is it ensures us of a winning record," Eubanks said. "That's five straight years we've had a winning record. It's proof that we have the program headed in the right direction."
That does not mean Cass has given up hope for a state berth.
"We're not out of it yet," Eubanks added. "We'll play down to the last out of the last ball game and let the chips fall where they may."
The Colonels play home games Wednesday and Thursday -- vs. Northwest Whitfield and Creekview, respectively -- to close out the regular season.