Staff Photo by Margaret Fenton Heard County second baseman Zach Jarney tags out Calhoun High School's Michael Johnson during the second of two games Wednesday afternoon at Calhoun. Calhoun won the first game 2-0.

CALHOUN, Ga. — It wasn’t Heard County’s fault that the Calhoun Yellow Jackets were angry entering the teams’ GHSA Class AA second-round baseball series Wednesday. The Braves, nontheless, got to feel the full force of that anger which was forged when the Jackets were unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs in this round a year ago.

Thus motivated, Calhoun used a pair of pitching gems from Carter Harrison and Austin Norrell and the reawakened bat of first baseman Jordan Poole to pull off a 2-0, 14-0 sweep. The Jackets (27-2) await the winner of the Appling County-Dublin series in next Tuesday’s start of the quarterfinal round.

“We finished 26-4 last year and got put out in the second round, so we don’t feel we accomplished much aside from the gaudy record,” Calhoun coach Chip Henderson said. “It left a bitter taste in our mouths, and I’m proud of the guys for accepting the challenge to go farther this year.”

Wednesday’s sweep, by Henderson’s account, was everything a coach could have wanted. His pitchers allowed six hits in 13 innings, his defense committed one harmless error and his offense mashed four homers in putting last year’s disappointment behind them.

“There definitely is a little more motivation this year after what happened a year ago,” said Poole, who his a solo homer in game one and a pair of two-run blasts in game two. “We lost a bunch of good players from last year, but we wanted to prove we sill have a lot of talent and that we can go deep in the playoffs.”

Poole had been slumping of late, but a minor tweak in his approach at the plate paid off big. His solo homer in in the fourth inning of game one gave Calhoun an insurance run and gave Harrison a little wiggle room.

“We’ve worked hard with him in just staying behind the ball and taking it the other way,” Henderson said. That first one he hit got out of here in a hurry. He scorched that one, and it was a big run for us in a couple of ways.”

Harrison had only a pair of trouble spots in game one. He escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the second inning by getting Wesley Cannon to ground into a forceout at third. In the seventh, a leadoff single by Clay Holtsclaw, one-out walk to Zack Janney and groundout moved the potential tying runs into scoring position.

Harrison quickly got ahead of leadoff hitter Lowery with two breaking balls, and on a 2-2 pitch ended the game by getting Lowery to fly to left.

Freshman Norrell had a little more room for error in game two, but he didn’t need it. He used a sneaky fastball and sharp curve to keep the Braves (22-7) off balance. He allowed just two hits and struck out seven in improving to 7-0 this year.

“Anytime you have pitching going for you, and we had that today, you’ve got to like your chances to win,” Henderson said. “We made some big-time plays behind them, and that’s a key for us because we don’t have guys who will just throw it by you.”

Poole got the Jackets going quickly in the first with an opposite field two-run shot, then sent one soaring deep over straightaway center field in the third for a 4-0 lead. Fellow slugger Mott Hyde got in the act in the fourth with a three-run shot to put the game out of reach.

Michael Johnson went a combined 6-for-8 with four RBIs and three runs scored for Calhoun, while Poole drove in five and scored four times.

CALHOUN 2, HEARD COUNTY 0

Heard County 000 000 0 — 0 4 2

Calhoun 001 100 x — 2 4 1

WP: Carter Harrison (8-0), 8 Ks, 2 BBs. LP: Clint Lowery, 6 Ks. HR: Jordan Poole (C). Highlights: Micheal Johnson 2-3, RBI (C).

CALHOUN 14, HEARD COUNTY 0

Calhoun 202 325 — 14 11 0

Heard County 000 000 — 0 2 0

WP: Austin Norrell (7-0), 7 Ks, 0 BBs. LP: Tyler Cash. HR: Jordan Poole 2, Mott Hyde (C). 2B: Michael Johnson (C). Highlights: Johnson 4-5, 3 RBIs, 3 runs; Poole 2-2, 4 RBIs, 3 runs; Hyde 3 RBIs; Carter Harrison 2-2 (C). Records: Calhoun 27-2; Heard County 22-7.