Jackets sweep Dodge

By Editor | June 12, 2024 |

Jeff Davis High’s baseball team took a 3-game sweep of region foe Dodge County last week, winning 4-1 Tuesday in Hazlehurst, and taking 4-3 and 14-1 wins in a double header Thursday in Eastman.
The wins capped a 9-game win streak and left the Yellow Jackets with a 9-7 overall record and a 9-0 record in Region 1-AA.
In Tuesday’s opener, starting pitcher Carter Mullis was cruising along with a 1-hit shutout entering the final inning when he gave up single and a run to ruin his shutout.
Mullis got into trouble in the opening inning, giving up a pair of walks. But, with one out, Dodge’s Holden Thomas hit a grounder to Jackson Sayer at third who stepped on the bag and threw to first for a double play.
The Jackets scored twice in the first inning as Duke Stone tripled in a run and scored on an Alex Maxon ground out.
Mullis retired the Indians in order in the second and third innings, then the Jackets added two more runs in the bottom of the third. Ethan Picanso and Hayden Turner drew walks to open the inning and an out later, Mason was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Mullis drove in Picanso on a fielder’s choice and Treyton Webster drove in a run with a single.
Webster had a pair of singles and an RBI, Stone tripled in a run, Turner and Sayer had singles and Mason and Mullis both had an RBI.
Mullis gave up one run on two hits, walked four and struck out four.
Mason started on the mound in Thursday’s first game and went the distance, throwing a 5-hitter.
All three of Dodge County’s runs were unearned as the JD defense committed three errors.
Stone got the Jackets started with a solo home run over the centerfield fence in the first inning.
Entering the 6th inning, the two teams were tied 1-1 when Stone singled and Mason followed with a 2-run shot over the left field fence. Saunders drove in another run with a ground out to make it 4-1.
An error and a single got the Indians a run in the bottom of the sixth and an error, a single and a double got them another run. Three of the five hits Mason gave up came in the final two innings.
Mason had single, a homer and two RBI, and Stone had single, a homer and one RBI to lead the Jackets at the plate. Webster had a pair of singles. Sayer singled and Saunders drove in a run.
In the last game Thursday, the game was scoreless through four innings before the Jacket bats exploded for six runs in the fifth and eight in the sixth to end the game by the run rule.
Colby Beach gave the Jackets their third straight outstanding pitching performance as he gave up a harmless single in the first inning and then shut down the Indians until the sixth and final inning when he yielded a 2-out walk, a wild pitch and a single to lose his shutout.
Eleven Jackets went to the plate in the 6-run fifth. A Stone lead-off double and four straight walks gave the Jackets a 2-0 lead. Saunders plated a run with a ground out, Picanso singled in a run and Stone got his second hit of the inning to make it 6-0.
A dozen batters went to the plate in the sixth, 10 of them after there were two outs. After Beach walked, Sayer singled in a run. Saunders reached on a single and Picanso followed with a 2-run double. After Turner drove in a run with a single, and another run scored on an error, Stone walked and Mason doubled. Then Mullis followed with a 3-run homer to left to end the scoring.
The Jackets had 13 hits, led by Stone who was 3-for-4 with a double, two singles and two RBI. Picanso had a single and a double and three RBI, Webster had a pair of singles and an RBI, Mason doubled, Mullis had a 3-run homer, Beach, Sayer, Saunders and Turner each had a single and an RBI.
Beach went 5 2/3 innings, giving up one run on two hits, waking three, and striking out seven. White closed out the game retiring the final batter on four pitches.
Score by innings:
DCHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -1
JDHS 2 0 2 0 0 0 x -4