The Greyhounds closed out region play last Wednesday with an offensive bashing of ELCA, winning 11-1 and 15-0 in a doubleheader sweep of the Chargers.
Now, a 17-9 record in hand, the job this week takes on greater weight — carrying that momentum to the state playoffs.
JCHS opened the postseason on Wednesday of this week at Blessed Trinity, the top seed from Region 6-AAAA. They did so not only leaning on the long day of last week’s doubleheader, but also earlier in the season within the same day when the Greyhounds bounced back from a 6-3 loss to Lee County before knocking off Tift County.
“When you get into the playoffs, if you lose that first one, seeing how you will bounce back in that second one, that’s important. We did that early in the year when we lost to Lee and bounced back and beat Tift,” Coley said. “When you get to the playoffs, everyone is there for a reason. It’s the best 32 teams in the state, and you better be ready to play because those teams that are in there will be ready. You have to show up, and if you make mistakes, you have to be ready to bounce back. We have a squad that I think is ready.”
Scan this QR code to see more photos and order reprints from Jones County sporting events.
The Titans are a 20-win team, having won four in a row against in-state teams. Of Blessed Trinity’s 10 losses, three came against out-of-state teams in two separate tournaments in South Carolina and Alabama.
The Greyhounds began this week endeavoring to knock out the defending Class AAAA champions, winning six of eight games to end the regular season.
The final two of those came last Wednesday against ELCA. After an 11-1 win was powered by a pair of MJ Lane homers, the Greyhounds continued to tee off on the Chargers in the second game with eight JCHS hitters having at least one hit. Trent Paulk and Cooper Rice each collected two hits, and single hits came from Jay Stinson, Drew Williams, Jonathan Scarbary, Davis Upshaw, Amir Harris, Gavin Simon, and Jaden Thompson. There were plenty of extra base hits to go along with that, with doubles by Rice and Thompson and a round-tripper by Upshaw.
“All in all, it was what we needed,” Coley said. “And our message to them was, ‘You can do that to anybody.’ That’s the goal. We’ll build on this and take it into (this week).”
JCHS, which scored seven runs in the second inning to lead 9-0, won via the mercy rule in the fourth when Drew Williams scored the game-clinching run after a triple to the outfield wall.
