But there sure was nothing wrong with the numbers on their scoreboard as they thumped Southeast Whitfield, 17-1, in high school baseball action.
The Purple Hurricanes scored 6 runs in the first and second innings, to go up 12-1 against Southeast Whitfield, which scored its sole run of the evening in the top of the first inning.
The Canes did almost as well in the third inning as their offense pushed five runs across the plate in the run-ruled shortened game.
Assistant coach Kyle Tucker said the Canes took advantage of some charitable pitching early while showing patience.
“In first inning we got a lot of walks and then we got some big hits,” he said.
Tucker noted the Canes have played good ball during spring break and put themselves in position where they can be a factor in their region.
“Because spring break kind of throws everybody off their routine a bit, Coach Chester had challenged the guys to come out focused and to play hard and to play smart baseball,” Tucker said Friday night. “The guys made him happy with their play [Friday] and [Thursday night] against Dalton [a 10-0 win]. They’ve had two pretty good days.”
Tucker said the Canes are in position to be a factor in the region but said it’s still a matter of taking care of business. “You gotta win them one at a time.”
He said some very important business is waiting when the Canes play Cedartown Monday. “They gave us all we wanted the first time we played them, and they’ll be ready for us.”
With Friday’s win, Cartersville improved to 13-3 overall and 10-2 in Region 7-AAA while Southeast dropped to 3-11, 2-8.
The win preserves Cartersville’s status as the No. 2 team in their region, just behind Ringgold, which was 14-3, 11-1, at the start of play.
Providing some of the offensive muscle for Cartersville were Jojo Underwood, who hit a 3-run home run and a double, Zach Ross, who checked in with a 3-run and a triple, Beau Benefield, 2 hits, and Tripp Jamieson, who also donated 2 hits to the cause.
Ty Fowler was the winning pitcher, giving up 4 hits and 1 earned run in three innings of work.
The Canes return to the diamond when they visit Cedartown on Monday. The game is to start at 5:55 p.m.