Jackets sweep Fitzgerald
Jeff Davis High School’s baseball team got their third consecutive 3-game sweep of a Region 1-AA opponent last week as they won three close games against Fitzgerald, to improve to 18-5 overall and 11-1 in the region.
This week the Jackets have a 3-game series with Worth County. The Rams, like the Yellow Jackets, are ranked among the top 10 Class AA teams in the state. The opening game of the series was played Tuesday in Hazlehurst with a double-header planned for today (Wednesday) in Sylvester.
In last week’s games, the Jackets squeaked by with 1-run wins in the first two games, 3-2 Tuesday in Hazlehurst, and 7-6 Wednesday in Fitzgerald, and then took a 6-4 victory Thursday in Hazlehurst.
Tuesday’s game was a pitchers duel between the Jackets’ Duke Stone and the Hurricanes’ Landon Kight.
The teams were tied 2-2 through 4 1/2 innings and, in the bottom of the fifth, Alex Mason and Ethan Griffin both doubled with Griffin’s double driving in Mason with the game-winning run.
After that Fitzgerald threatened in both the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, the Hurricanes got runners on second and third with no one out. But Stone struck out the next batter, catcher Dylan Carelock fielded a bunt and threw to first for the second out, and the next batter flied out to Hayden Turner in right to end the inning.
In the seventh, Fitzgerald’s leadoff batter reached on an error, but Stone struck out the next three batters swinging to end the game.
Wednesdays game in Fitzgerald was another pitcher’s duel through the first six innings as the Jackets’ Cason Clance, Andrew White and Jonathan Bohannon battled the Canes’ Dustin Williamson as Fitzgerald led 3-2 entering what turned out to be a wild seventh inning.
In the Jackets’ half of the seventh, nine players went to the plate and got five hits with singles by Ethan Picanso, Clance and Treyton Webster, and doubles by Mason and Stone. Webster drove in a run to tie the game, Mason doubled to put JD up 4-3, Griffin reached on an error as another run scored, and Stone drilled a bases-loaded double to plate two more runs to up the Jackets’ lead to 7-3.
At that point, it looked like the Hurricanes were down for the count but they got up off the deck and fought back. A single, a double, a walk, back-to-back Jacket errors and another single got Fitzgerald within 7-6 with two outs, and the bases loaded. Relief pitcher Eli Saunders then struck out the next batter on four pitches to end the game.
Thursday’s final game was highlighted again by Stone, but not with his hard-throwing pitching, but rather with his bat as he drilled a grand slam home run in the third inning with the Jackets on the short end of a 2-1 score.
Fitzgerald got the first two JD batters out in the third. But then Mason and Carter Mullis got back-to-back singles and Griffin was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Stone then drilled high homer over the left field fence and, suddenly, the Jackets were up 5-2.
After Fitzgerald got within 5-4 in the top of the fifth, Clance singled with runners on second and third to drive in a huge insurance run.
Six Yellow Jacket batters had multiple hits in the 3-game series led by Mason with two singles and two doubles, and Stone with a single, a double, a home run and six RBI.
Griffin had a single and two doubles, Mullis and Picanso both had two singles and a double, Clance and Webster both collected a trio of singles, Saunders had a double and a triple, and Turner added a single.
The Jackets’ pitching staff was not as effective as normal as they gave up 19 hits in the three game and 18 walks, compared to JD’s 24 hits. Stone fanned 14 batters in his seven innings on the mound, Mason had eight Ks and freshman Webster struck out the side in his only appearance on the mound. The deepness of the pitching staff was evident as Coach Paul Glass used eight pitchers in the series.
Score by innings:
FHS 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 -2
JDHS 0 1 1 0 1 0 x -3
JDHS 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 -7
FHS 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 -6
FHS 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 -4
JDHS 1 0 4 0 1 0 x -6
