Wins and losses might not mean much in summer baseball, but Bowdon coach Mark Huggins wanted to still be playing at the 13th Annual Central Shootout when Sunday rolled around.

For his Red Devils to make it that far, he knew they’d have to finish in the top two of their five-team bracket.

They achieved that goal Friday with a game to spare.

Bowdon broke a tie game in the top of the fifth inning with seven runs for a 9-3, five-inning victory over Cedartown at Central High School.

The Red Devils will play Central tonight at 7 p.m. and then play in either the championship or consolation game Sunday afternoon.

“I’m proud of these guys for having already met that goal with a game left,” Huggins said.

As the case has been the whole tournament, Bowdon had no problems producing runs. The Red Devils have scored 31 runs in three five-inning games at the 10-team varsity tournament for an average of more than two runs per inning.

The Red Devils were particularly productive with two outs, scoring five runs in that situation.

“As a coach, you might go two weeks sometimes without getting that clutch two-out hit,” said Huggins, whose team won a pair of games 11-2 on Wednesday. “They’re getting those timely hits, which is a big part of the winning equation.”

With the game tied 2-2 in the fifth, Bowdon began to wear down an exhausted Brent Davidson, who pitched the complete game for Cedartown.

After scoring the go-ahead run on a throwing error, Nathan Urquhart used a triple to center field to drive in a pair of runs and put the Red Devils ahead 5-2.

Robbie Robinson ripped an RBI double down the left field line to score Urquhart on the hit-and-run before Seth Key singled to left field to bring home Robinson.

Josh Jennings ended the inning with a two-run bases-loaded single to give Bowdon a 9-2 lead.

Jennings started on the mound for the Red Devils and pitched four-plus innings to earn the win. His older brother, Jason, came in to finish the game in the fifth.

The younger Jennings, a rising sophomore, gave up two earned runs on a pair of hits while walking two and hitting a batter.

“He gave up a cheap one at one point in the game when we probably should’ve caught it, but other than that he did a fine job of letting his defense play behind him and getting ahead of their hitters,” Huggins said. “That’s the name of the game.”

Josh Jennings spot-started for the varsity team early last season when Bowdon had a few injuries, but he primarily pitched and played outfield for the junior varsity squad.

“He’s another guy that we’re going to need (next season),” Huggins said.

Bowdon’s only defensive problems came in the bottom of the fourth when it made a pair of errors that led to an unearned run.

Cedartown tied the game at 2-2 when three Red Devils converged on a fly ball in shallow center field and none of them came up with the catch.

“It’s been a while since we’ve done communication,” Huggins said. “Communication pops, we hadn’t done that since the high school season. We do that probably five times throughout that year and talk priority for the infield and outfield and those sorts of things.”

At the plate, Urquhart (2-for-3, 2 RBI, run) and Key (2-for-2, 2 RBI, run) each had multiple-hit performances for the Red Devils, who as a team finished with nine hits - more than half of which came in the fifth inning.

From a winning and developmental standpoint, Huggins is happy with how the summer has gone for Bowdon so far.

“We’re proud to be where we’re at right here as we’re wrapping up our summer this week,” Huggins said.