The journey is over for Cullman baseball’s star-studded senior class as far as Bill Shelton Field is concerned.

The group’s journey for the Class 6A state title, however, is still very much alive and well thanks to a hard-earned Saturday sweep of Decatur.

Owen Lovell launched a tiebreaking three-run homer in the fifth inning to lift the Bearcats to a 4-1 Game 1 win, and Will Morrison rode a pair of early runs off Red Raider ace Tanner Burns to a tight 2-1 triumph in Game 2, sending the top-ranked Black and Gold on their merry way to a fourth straight semifinal appearance.

Cullman (35-7) will head to either No. 6 Hueytown or No. 8 Hartselle next week for the fourth round. The two split their Saturday doubleheader and will have to wait until Monday to determine a series winner.

No such suspense is necessary for the ‘Cats, who brought third-ranked Decatur’s dream season to a screeching halt at 32-5. Though bittersweet, Lovell couldn’t dream of a better way to bid farewell to the field he’s long called home.

“These were two big wins today,” the state’s reigning Mr. Baseball said. “We all played great. I’m really proud of the team. We’re going to miss playing here. We won’t ever come out here as players again, other than practice. We’re going to miss it a lot.”

Lovell drove in all four of Cullman’s runs in the opening tilt, following Noah Fondren’s bunt single to lead off the game with a screaming RBI double down the right field line for a quick 1-0 advantage. The Mississippi State signee then struck again almost immediately after Burns tied it up with a sacrifice fly, blasting his seventh home run of the season to give the Bearcats just the breathing room they needed.

The shot brought around Noah Fondren and Levi Thomas, who’d started off the fifth frame with back-to-back singles.

Fondren finished the opener 3-for-3 with a double. Wheeler Eastman and Caleb Lipsey capped off Cullman’s hit club with a single apiece.

Bearcat Jacob Heatherly didn’t mess around on the mound early, striking out the side in each of the first two innings. He wound up with 13 K’s in six no-hit innings to improve to 8-1.

It wasn’t always the prettiest of outings — Heatherly issued seven walks and had to work out of a number of jams — but Brent Patterson was still plenty impressed with his ace.

“Jacob was struggling so bad, but he competed,” the longtime Cullman coach said. “He’s learned and he’s grown so much. In those situations in previous years, we’ve seen him kind of fold. And he just competed. I’m just really proud of him.”

Kade Williams set up Morrison’s two-pitch, one-out save with a couple of strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh inning.

While Cullman went with its pro prospect on the hill in the opener, the Red Raiders saved theirs for Game 2. The strategy didn’t end up paying off, though, with Burns beaning Fondren on his very first pitch and then quickly falling in a 2-0 hole following back-to-back, two-out RBI hits by Heatherly (double) and Carter Bowen.

Getting to a high-caliber pitcher like Burns early was key to Patterson.

“I don’t study a lot of the other team, because I think I can get a little too wrapped up in it,” he said. “But with Tanner, I’ve got to believe he hadn’t given up a lot of runs, especially two in the first. I think maybe it took him an inning or two to recover. It definitely helped us.”

Morrison was his usual unshakable self in a strong complete game effort, walking none, striking out four and allowing six hits. The junior Mississippi State commit retired 12 consecutive Decatur batters after giving up a towering solo shot by Burns — his 16th home run of the season — before rebounding from a seventh-inning single with the final two outs.

Morrison improved to a perfect 10-0, besting Burns, who was tagged with his first loss and finished the spring 11-1.

“Golly, Will’s so steady,” Patterson said. “And reliable. You know what you’re going to get.”

Fondren, Grayson Taylor, Eastman, Trent Price and Lovell all contributed singles in the quarterfinal-clinching affair. Eastman also caught Red Raider speedster LaDarius Woods stealing second in the second inning.

“We just faced one of the best pitchers in the Southeast and struck out four times,” Patterson said. “We knew if we could limit our strikeouts that we would have a chance. Turns out, we limited our strikeouts and he limited us to two runs. It goes to show you how good he is. I just thought it was a great high school baseball game. I was proud of our at-bats.”

With the Hueytown-Hartselle series extending past the weekend, it’s a safe assumption that Patterson and Co. will hit the road Monday to do a little scouting. As for which opponent the skipper would prefer the ‘Cats see in the semis, there’s no telling.

At least not that he’s willing to publicly admit.

“We don’t think about who we’re playing really,” Patterson said. “We’re going to just focus on us and do the things it takes to win. We’ll just wait and see what happens.”