CALHOUN, Ga. — Chip Henderson is a fan of horror movies, but this is one storyline the successful Calhoun High School baseball coach would just as soon not see again.

For the second time in three years, the Yellow Jackets had a defensive meltdown late in the postseason. Tuesday’s Class AA quarterfinal sweep at the hands of unranked Dublin, 10-4 and 5-1, was eerily similar to the 2007 championship-round loss to Holy Innocents’, when the usually sure-handed Jackets turned into the Bad News Bears.

Despite outhitting the visitors 16-12 on Tuesday, Calhoun was doomed by eight errors, including five in the first game that led to eight unearned runs.

“Any time you get in the postseason against a quality opponent, you can’t give them four and five outs an inning,” Henderson said. “We just picked a bad day to have a bad day. Our errors, our inability to make plays behind our pitchers, were our downfall. Very similar to two years ago.

“You get to the big game — whether it’s the quarterfinals, semis or championships — what sets the teams apart is whether you can make the plays or not, and we didn’t.”

At one point in game one Dublin (24-9) had eight runs on one hit. The game turned sour in the third when two errors, two walks and two wild pitches from Calhoun ace Carter Harrison led to four unearned runs and a 5-1 deficit. After getting solo homers from Mott Hyde and Harrison in the bottom half, the defensive nightmare continued in the fourth.

An errant throw by shortstop Hyde started another four-run inning, which also included a dropped popup by Harrison and ended with consecutive RBI hits from Casey Peacock, Zach Mullis and Blake Register. Harrison added another homer in the fifth for Calhoun’s final run, as Dublin pitcher Kale Watson allowed only two more baserunners the rest of the way.

“We don’t have a lot of big bangers who will hit a lot of home runs,” Dublin coach William Barham said. “We’ve got kids who can run a little bit and kids who can handle the bat and execute. Calhoun did not play their best in the first game. They booted it around a little bit, and we were just fortunate enough to be on the other end when they had one of those games. Everybody has those games, and they had one tonight.

“I can’t say enough about Kale Watson and his pitching. I told the boys, ‘You’re going to get a few kinks in your neck because they’re going to hit some home runs. You’ve just got to keep people off base in front of them and let them hit their solo shots and have their trot around the bases.’ And that’s just what they did.”

Henderson’s nightmare took another sinister turn when he learned his game two starting pitcher, freshman Austin Norrell, would not be able to go after injuring an ankle as the starting catcher in game one. Norrell had posted back-to-back shutouts in the first two rounds.

However, right-hander Landon Turner stepped in and, after a shaky start, pitched into the seventh inning. He walked the first batter he faced but nearly escaped the inning before yet another infield error allowed the run to score. The game stayed 1-0 as Turner and Dublin’s Mullis matched zeros until a dropped fly ball led to a Dublin run in the fifth and a 2-0 lead.

Calhoun finally got on the board in the sixth when the Fighting Irish returned the run with a pair of errors, but they scored three times in the bottom half as Turner tired.

“We’ve been struggling to finish things off, so the most important thing tonight was to finish off a game two against a really good opponent,” said Barham, whose team had gone the distance in its first two rounds. “We’ve become road warriors, I guess, so I’m really proud of these guys. We’ve put some miles on the old bus, that’s for sure.”

They will hit the road again for the semifinals, traveling to either Cook County or Blessed Trinity. Calhoun, meanwhile, ends its season at 27-4.

DUBLIN 10, CALHOUN 4

Dublin 104 401 0 — 10 7 1

Calhoun 102 010 0 — 4 9 5

WP: Kale Watson, CG, 3 ER. LP: Carter Harrison, 51/3 IP, 2 ER, 9 Ks. HR: Zach Mullis, Michael Coffey (D); Harrison 2, Mott Hyde (C). 2B: Mullis 2, Blake Register (D); Hyde (C). Highlights: Mullis 3-3, 2 RBIs, 4 runs; Register 2-3, 2 RBIs (D); Harrison 2-4, 3 RBIs; Hyde 3-4, RBI (C).

DUBLIN 5, CALHOUN 1

Calhoun 000 001 0 — 1 7 3

Dublin 100 013 x — 5 5 2

WP: Zach Mullis, CG, 0 ER, 11 Ks. LP: Landon Turner, 6 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 Ks. 2B: Carter Harrison (C). Highights: Michael Coffey, Kale Watson RBI each (D); Chaz McCormick 2-3; Michael Johnson 2-4 (C). Records: Dublin 24-9; Calhoun 27-4.

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