Bottom of the 7th rally lifts Jackets over War Eagles

Jeff Davis High School’s baseball team made it to the 2nd round of the 2026 state playoffs last week with an improbable 2-game sweep of Putnam County High School Friday in Eatonton.
The sweep was improbable in that it appeared the second game would go to the War Eagles as Putnam had a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 7th with 2 on and 2 outs when JD’s Zack Hulett hit what appeared to be a game-ending, routine fly ball to right.
But the Eagles’ right field overran the ball, tried unsuccessfully to backtrack to make the catch but the ball hit the ground untouched. By the time the ball was retrieved and thrown to home plate, Karter Galbreath had scored from third and Brayden Picanso had raced from 1st and was rounding 3rd, headed for the plate. The throw to home missed the catcher and Picanso crossed the plate with the winning run and a wild celebration ensued.
Entering the bottom of the 7th, the Yellow Jackets had been held to only one hit by Putnam’s hard-throwing senior pitcher Gates Lanzarone, a Reinhardt University commit.
The Eagles had led 3-0 entering the bottom of the 5th and Lanzarone had a no-hitter going with only a trio of walks marring his performance. Andrew Hulett led off the Jackets’ 5th by reaching on an error, and racing all the way to 3rd on a Lanzarone error. Galbreath then singled to center to score Hulett, went all the way to 3rd on the centerfielder’s error and then scored on the 3rd error of the inning, this one by the third baseman. That wild sequence of errors got the Jackets within a run of tying the game.
Not much happened again until the fateful 7th when Jacob Laney took the mound in relief of Jacket starter Zack Hulett. Laney walked the first batter he faced on a 3-2 count. He then struck out the next three batters on just 11 pitches, his best appearance on the mound of the season.
In the bottom of the inning, Galbreath and Picanso drew back-to-back one-out walks from Lanzarone and the Eagles’ senior reliever Wade Johnston came to the mound. Johnston fanned the first batter he faced for the 2nd out and that set the stage for Zack Hulett’s game-winning single.
Hulett’s 2-run single and Galbreath’s run-scoring single were the Jackets’ only hits of the game.
Zack Hulett had 2 shaky innings, giving up 3 hits in the 1st and 4th innings. Other than that, he retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the 5th.
He finished with a 6-hitter, walking 2 and fanning 9. Laney walked one and struck out 3 in one inning.
Friday’s first game was a close one as well but lacked the dramatic finish of the finale. A 5-run 4th inning gave the Jackets a 5-1 lead. The Eagles responded with 3 in the bottom of the 5th and after JD stretched their lead to 8-4 in the top of the 6th, Putnam responded again with 3 in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-7.
Picanso singled in the top of the 7th but was left stranded and Zack Hulett retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the 7th to earn a save.
In the Jackets’ 5-run 4th, Jeremiah Davis and Laney had singles as pinch runner Braylon Varnadore scored. After Andrew Hulett was safe on an error, Galbreath got a bunt single to load the bases. Picanso then hit a 2-run single, Galbreath came home on a passed ball and Picanso scored as Treyton Webster reached first on an error.
In the 6th, Tye Rea hit a 2-run home run over the left field fence. Josh Worthington then reached 1st on a 3rd strike passed ball, took 2nd on the catcher’s throwing error, went to 3rd on another passed ball and scored on Davis’ sacrifice fly.
When Putnam scored 3 in the bottom of the 6th, Peyton Jones relieved starter Seth Saunders with 2 outs and the bases loaded. Jones got the 3rd out on a ground ball to snuff out the rally.
The Jackets out-hit the Eagles 10-4 led by Rea with a double, a homer and 2 RBI. Picanso had 2 singles and 2 RBI, Andrew Hulett singled twice, Davis and Laney both had a single and an RBI, Galbreath and Zack Hulett singled, and Webster drove in a run.
Saunders went 5 2/3 innings, giving up 5 earned runs on 4 hits, walking 4 and striking out 5.
Score by innings:
JDHS 0 0 0 5 0 3 0 -8
PCHS 1 0 0 0 3 3 0 -7

PCHS 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 -3
JDHS 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 -4