Jackets get off to 0-3 start

By Editor | March 6, 2024 |

Jeff Davis High School’s baseball team got the 2024 season off to a 0-3 start last week as they opened with three tough opponents.
Last Wednesday in Valdosta, defending Class 7A State Champion Lowndes County showed why they are one of the premier teams in Georgia as they took an 11-7 win over the Yellow Jackets.
And Friday in Jesup, Yellow Jackets were swarming as Jeff Davis, Wayne County and Thomas County Central — all Yellow Jackets — played a round-robin. Jeff Davis lost to both teams by 2-1 scores.
In Valdosta, the hosts took a 6-0 lead after four innings.
In the top of the fifth, the Jackets put five on the scoreboard to close within 6-5. In the bottom of the fifth, the Vikings scored another five runs to up the tally to 11-5. But, again, JD fought back, scoring two runs in the top of the seventh before giving out of gas.
Back-to-back, 2-out doubles got the Vikings on the scoreboard with a run in the second.
In the third, Lowndes threatened with a lead-off double and single, putting runners at the corners. But the next batter grounded to JD’s Alex Mason on the mound and the senior alertly threw to third catching the runner off base to get the first out. After a walk loaded the bases, Mason struck out the next batter and got the next batter to ground out to Jaxson Sayer at third.
The bottom of the fourth was a nightmare as, after retiring the first batter, Mason gave up a walk, a single and a walk, loading the bases and bringing Coach Paul Glass to the mound, hailing Chad Beach to come on in relief. Beach walked the first batter on four pitches to give Lowndes a 2-0 lead. He struck out the next batter looking but the next batter walked on a 3-2 count, making it 3-0.
That brought Lowndes’ Jordan Hudson to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Beach worked to a 2-2 count and threw a pitch that was barely off the plate which brought a howling protest from Coach Glass who thought the pitch should have been a strike that would have ended the inning.
Given a second chance, Hudson ripped a towering blast to left center that fell at the wall and Hudson wound up at third with a 3-run triple, and a 6-0 Viking lead.
In the top of the sixth, the Jackets battled back. Beach started things with a single. After a fly out, Treyton Webster walked and Hayden Turner singled to load the bases. Mason followed with a 2-run single to left to cut the score to 6-2.
That brought on a relief pitcher who threw eight straight balls to Carter Mullis and Duke Stone to make it 6-3 with the bases still loaded.
After another pitching change, Mason came home on a wild pitch and Sayer walked to reload the bases. Mullis then scored on a wild pitch but a pop out and a strikeout ended the inning.
Lowndes ripped five hits in the sixth to up the score to 11-5.
In the final inning, a walk and an error put two Jackets on and, after a pair of outs, Eli Saunders had a 12-pitch at bat, singling in a run and putting runners at the corners. Webster singled in another run but that was all JD could muster.
The Jackets had eight hits, all singles, one each by Ethan Picanso, Saunders, Turner, Webster, Beach, Mullis, Sayer and Mason. Mason had two RBI and Stone, Saunders and Webster had one apiece.
Mason started on the mound and took the loss, going 3 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits, walking three, and fanning three. Beach went 1 2/3 inning, giving up two runs on one hit, two walks and a strikeout. Andrew White pitched 2/3 inning, giving up five runs on five hits, two walks and no strikeouts. Mason Ragland closed out the game, retiring the only batter he faced.
Both of Friday’s games were pitchers duels as, in the opener against Wayne, both teams managed only four hits and, against TCC, Thomas got four hits and Jeff Davis two.
In the Wayne game, all the scoring was done in the fourth inning. Jeff Davis struck first in the top of the inning. Mason drew a 1-out walk, Mullis singled to send Mason to third, and with two outs, Mason scored on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the inning, a single, a wild pitch and another single tied the game. Then a stolen base, a balk and another single gave Wayne all the runs they needed.
Stone’s double was the only extra base hit Jeff Davis managed. Picanso, Mullis and Sayer each had singles.
Mullis started on the mound and went three innings. He shut out Wayne, gave up no hits, walked one and struck out six. Webster pitched two innings, blanking Wayne on a hit, no walks and four strikeouts. Turner pitched one inning and took the loss, giving up two runs on three hits, walking none and striking out two.
Thomas County Central got both its runs in the second inning via a pair of walks and a 2-run double. They threatened to put a third run on the board as, with one out and a runner on third, Turner fielded a fly ball in right and threw a rocket to the plate, easily throwing out the runner who had tagged up at third.
In the sixth, Saunders reached on a ground ball error and, with two outs, Turner doubled to left to score Saunders to make it 2-1.
But that was all the scoring for the game.
Turner’s double and a single by Stone were the only Jacket hits and Turner got the only JD RBI.
Beach started on the mound and took the loss. He went four innings, giving up two runs on three hits, three walks, and six strikeouts.
White went three innings, giving up no runs on one hit, walking one, hitting one and fanning five.
Score by innings:
JDHS 0 0 0 0 5 0 2 -7
LCHS 0 1 0 5 0 5 x -11