Jackets sew up 3rd straight region championship
Jeff Davis High’s baseball team wrapped up its third straight region championship last week, winning 2 of 3 games against Fitzgerald.
The first two games of the series were close ones as the Yellow Jackets won 3-2 Tuesday in Hazlehurst and the Hurricanes took a 4-1 win Thursday in Fitzgerald. Friday’s game was a blowout as the Jackets won 7-0 in Hazlehurst as Colby Beach and Andrew White threw a 2-hit shutout.
In Monday’s game, Jude Worthington ripped a game-winning double in the bottom of the 7th inning to break a 2-2 tie and lift the Yellow Jackets to the 3-2 win.
Dylan Carelock had singled to open the inning and Josh Worthington came on to run for the senior catcher. After Karter Galbreath walked to put runners at 1st and 2nd, and Josh Worthington was thrown out at 3rd on Brayden Lolley’s bunt, Jude Worthington got his game-winning hit on a 1-2 count.
The game was a scoreless tie through 4 1/2 innings. Carelock opened the bottom of the 5th with a single, Jude Worthington went to first as a pinch runner, moved to 3rd on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a Galbreath single to left. Lolley moved Galbreath to 2nd with a sacrifice bunt and Galbreath scored as Jude Worthington reached 1st on a fielder’s choice.
Fitzgerald scored a pair of runs in the top of the the 6th to tie the game and set the stage for the Jackets’ game-winning rally in the bottom of the 7th
Jude Worthington had a double and 2 RBI, and Carelock had a pair of singles to lead the offense. Galbreath had a single and an RBI and Malachi Smith singled.
Andrew White picked up the win in relief of starter Eli Saunders.
Saunders pitched 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2. White threw the final hitless inning, walking one and striking out 2.
The Jackets couldn’t get their bats working Thursday in Fitzgerald as a Galbreath double and singles by Smith, Saunders and Jonathan Bohannon were the only Jeff Davis hits. Galbreath led off the 3rd with a double, went to 3rd on Lolley’s sacrifice bunt, and scored the Jackets’ only run on Jude Worthington’s sacrifice fly.
Bohannon suffered his first loss of the year. He went 4 innings, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. Seth Saunders pitched the final two innings, blanking the Hurricanes on 1 hit, no walks and 2 strikeouts.
After managing only 9 total hits in the 1st 2 games, the Yellow Jackets got 8 hits in Friday’s final game of the series. But the JD pitching was the highlight of the game as Beach started and reached his pre-determined pitch limit with 2 outs in the fifth. He retired the first 11 batters he faced until a ‘Cane 2-out single in the 4th spoiled his no-hitter. Fitzgerald also got a single to start the fifth, but Beach struck out the next 2 batters before yielding to White. He allowed only 2 baserunners, did not walk a batter and struck out six. White pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, retiring all 7 batters he faced.
Carelock’s run-scoring single and a Fitzgerald error got the Jackets up 2-0 in the 1st. JD made it 4-0 in the 4th on Saunders’ RBI double and a run-scoring single by Treyton Webster. Zack Hulett drove in a run in the 5th, and in the 6th the Jackets got an unearned run and Carelock drove in another run.
Carelock had a pair of singles and 2 RBI, Webster singled twice and drove in a run, Saunders had a double and an RBI, Smith, Beach and Jude Worthington each singled, and Hulett drove in a run.
Score by innings:
FHS 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 -2
JDHS 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 -3
JDHS 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 -1
FHS 0 0 0 2 2 0 x -4
FHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -0
JDHS 2 0 0 2 1 2 x -7
