Jackets win two from previously unbeaten Cook

By Editor | May 15, 2024 |

The Jeff Davis High baseball team broke its 7-game losing streak Friday, winning two games over previously undefeated Cook High School, 5-1 and 1-0.
The win in the first game gave Coach Paul Glass his 500th victory in 24 years as the Yellow Jackets’ head coach.
And Monday the Yellow Jackets completed the 3-game sweep of the Hornets with a 2-0 victory in Adel, bumping Glass’ record to 502-265.
Solid pitching was the order of the day in the series as four Yellow Jacket pitchers did not give up an earned run over 21 innings. Carter Mullis was the winning pitcher in the first game, giving up a trio of singles in five innings on the mound and Andrew White threw two innings without giving up a hit and fanning five of the seven batters he faced. Mullis struck out 10 batters, for a total of 15 Ks for the game.
In the second game, Alex Mason had a complete game shutout, yielding two hits and fanning 14 Hornets. And he had the game-winning RBI with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth inning for the only run of the game.
And Monday, Colby Beach yielded only one hit in five innings on the mound, with White hurling the final two innings, also yielding only one hit. The two combined for nine strikeouts.
In the opener, the Jacket defense committed two errors in the first inning as Cook took a 1-0 lead. For the remainder of the game the Jackets played without an error.
JD took the lead for good with a 3-run second inning. Mullis, Treyton Webster and Jackson Sayer all singled in the inning and Eli Saunders doubled.
In the bottom of the fifth, Ethan Picanso and Hayden Turner got back-to-back homers to open the inning and give JD a 5-1 lead.
On the mound, Mullis got three strikeouts in the error-filled first inning and struck out the side in the third. White took the mound in the sixth and struck out three Hornets, then got a ground out and two strikeouts in the seventh.
Picanso had a single, a homer and an RBI to pace the hitting. Sayer had a pair of singles and two RBI, Turner had a home run and an RBI, Saunders had a double and an RBI, Mason doubled, and Mullis, Webster and Josh Worthington all singled.
The only mark on Mullis’ outing was a hit batter and White gave up a walk.
The nightcap was a pitching duel between Mason and Cook’s Brooks Moore. Mason hurled a 2-hit shutout with no walks and 14 strikeouts. Moore threw a 4-hitter with one walk and 10 strikeouts. Mason needed only 81 pitches over seven innings and Moore used 83 pitches over six innings.
At one point Mason retired 13 straight batters before Cook got a pair of baserunners on in the sixth with a leadoff single and an error. Moore gave up a trio of harmless doubles entering the bottom of the sixth.
That’s when Picanso led off with a single and Turner reached first on a bunt as Picanso beat out the throw to second. Duke Stone then pushed the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Then Mason lofted a sac fly to left to send Picanso home with the winning run.
Picanso again led the hitting with a single and a double. Mason doubled and got the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly, and Webster doubled.
Mason faced only 23 batters, yielding two hits, walking none and fanning 14.
Monday’s finale was another pitching jewel, this time by Beach who walked two and hit a batter, facing only 18 batters in five innings as one of the four Hornets he allowed on base was erased with a 6-4-3 double play — Saunders to Picanso to Mason.
The Jacket defense got the final two outs of the game with a 5-4-3 double play started with a grounder to Sayer at third.
Jeff Davis wasted little time getting all the runs they needed in the first inning as Stone drilled the second pitch he looked at over the left field fence with two outs for a 1-0 JD lead.
The first batter Beach faced singled to left for the only hit he allowed.
Beach retired the Hornets in order in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings before allowing a 2-out walk and hitting a batter in the fifth. But that was all the offense Cook could muster off of Beach.
The Jackets’ second run came in the fourth as Mullis led off the inning with a single, went to second on a Webster sacrifice bunt and scored on a Sayer single to center.
White took the mound in the sixth and struck out the side. But in between the strikeouts he gave up a single and two walks to load the bases. Then White fanned the final batter on four pitches.
After walking the lead-off batter in the final inning, White got a pop out and then came the game-ending double play.
The Jackets had six hits, led by Carter with a pair of singles. Stone’s homer was the only extra base hit. Webster, Beach and Sayer each had a single with Sayer getting an RBI.
Beach had six strikeouts and White three.
Score by innings:
CHS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1
JDHS 0 3 0 0 2 0 x -5