If Cartersville had any nerves prior to Monday night's baseball game with Gilmer, the Purple Hurricanes did not let on as they utilized a big first inning to deliver their head coach a milestone victory, doing so in front of the home fans at Richard Bell Field.

With a 15-5 victory, Cartersville gave coach Stuart Chester his 400th win, a mark that only 37 other Georgia coaches have accomplished.

Afterward, Chester diffused praise while addressing those who hung around for the postgame ceremony.

"Great players make you a great coach," he said. "I'm just fortunate to be in this position. ... I haven't swung the first bat or thrown the first pitch. ... I'm just very, very fortunate, and I appreciate [all of] you very much."

Canes shortstop Connor Justus said players were determined to win the game.

"He [Chester] talked to us before the game and just said go get it today. I mean, really, we all made a pact that were going to win this game, and we just put our minds to it and got through it," Justus said. "That's all we could do."

Cartersville did so much more, particularly in the first inning when Ben Venters' 3-run homer to right-center field put the Canes on the board, scoring Justus, who singled to left to lead off the inning, and Luke Daniel, who followed Justus with a walk.

Colin Bennett then singled to center, starting pitcher Cory Collum was hit by a pitch and Taylor Wilson singled to left to load the bases.

The Bobcats managed to record their first out, but Harris Battle got hit by a pitch to bring in another Cartersville run.

With the bases still juiced, Gilmer's Brooks Hale struck out the next batter to bring Justus to the plate with two outs. It did not take long for Justus to clear the bases as he drilled Hale's second pitch to the parking lot just over the left field wall.

"I thought, offensively, we carried over from last Thursday the approach at the plate, and the pitch selection was good," Chester said in reference to the Canes' 17-0 win against Cedartown. "[We were] being patient [in] getting a pitch we [could] drive. It was a very good approach at the plate."

"We always come out with our approach. In practice we always work middle away, and that really helps so we've just been scoring it up lately [and we'll try to] keep it going," Justus added.

The Bobcats cut into Cartersville's eight-run lead with a Colt Henderson home run in the second, which made the score 8-2.

Zach Ross' bases-loaded walk in the bottom half of the inning gave the Canes a 9-2 lead before Gilmer struck again with another long ball.

Bobcats catcher Forrest Bramlett hit a home run to left in the third, pulling Gilmer within 9-5, the closest margin of the game.

Cartersville responded with Venters' RBI single in the bottom of the third and put up four runs in the fourth as Bobcats reliever Philip Henri walked the first five batters he faced, including Tyler Will and Justus, whose RBI-producing walks gave the Canes an 12-5 lead. Daniel hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Battle, and Venters pushed through yet another run with his RBI single, which went through to right field.

In the bottom of the fifth, with a 14-5 lead and needing one more run to bring the game to an end via the mercy rule, Michael Goss singled to lead off the inning for Cartersville. A couple of batters later, Ross took first base on an error off his deep fly to center field then Battle walked to load the bases with one out, and Kendall Hawkins hit a run-scoring groundout to shortstop to seal the win.

Collum earned the win for the Canes, but had to leave the game early after throwing just 18 pitches.

"He's fine. He strained a muscle in his arm," Chester said. "[With] it being so early in the season, instead of pushing it and hurting anything, we just decided to get some work in from some of our other guys."

Collum lasted one inning, giving up one hit and striking out two, before being relieved by Ben Dittmer. Dittmer gave up two runs on one hit and three walks and added a strikeout in one inning pitched.

Teigh Dooley (two innings, three earned runs, two hits, a walk, and a strikeout) and Drew Flatford (one inning, a walk, two strikeouts) also took the hill for Cartersville.

The Canes had 13 players reach base Monday, among them Justus (2 for 2, grand slam, two walks, five RBIs), Daniel (walk, RBI), Venters (3 for 4, home run, five RBIs), Bennett (1 for 3, hit by a pitch), Collum (hit by a pitch), Asa Williams (hit), Michael Willard (walk), Goss (hit), Wilson (1 for 3, walk), Ross (two walks, RBI), Battle (two walks, hit by a pitch), Will (two walks, RBI) and Hawkins (fielder's choice, RBI).

When asked if he would allow himself to savor the moment, Chester replied, "Nope. We'll have study hall tomorrow and at 4:15, we're gonna get after it."

The longtime Cartersville coach did acknowledge that the win meant plenty for him.

"Of course, making a career in coaching, it is gratifying to have some success. But my success, the No. 1 reason [for it] is Cartersville," Chester said. "I'm very blessed and fortunate to be the head coach here. It just is a blessing to be here and in this position."

The Canes (5-2, 5-0 Region 7-AAA) host Heritage-Catoosa, another region opponent, on Thursday. The game begins at 5:55 p.m.