The Greyhounds put the finishing touches on their best finish within the region in six years on Monday, coming alive in the late going to shutout ELCA 10-0 at Cecil Patterson Field.
Barring a loss by Union Grove to last-place McDonough this past Wednesday, JCHS will enter next week’s state playoffs as the region’s No. 3 seed, playing at either Walnut Grove or Flowery Branch Wednesday and if needed on Thursday. JCHS exited Monday with an overall record of 20-5 and 13-4 in the region.
Jones County came away from Monday tied for second place in the region with Union Grove but lost the tiebreaker, setting them up for a road series in the opening round. It’ll be the first time in the postseason the Greyhounds have been higher than a No. 4 seed since 2019, and that finish position was sewn up with Monday’s victory, as two losses this week by JCHS and two wins by Locust Grove could have moved the Wildcats to third.
“There are a lot of people whose season is ending this week, and we’re not one of them,” Greyhounds head coach Noble Coley said. “We have to flip that switch; you don’t want to go in with a sour taste in your mouth and not playing your best ball.”
The Diamond Hounds ensured that possibility was out of the question on Monday as Landon Pettigrew rendered the Chargers powerless to the tune of three hits and walking only two batters.
“He did a good job for us. He made a couple of little-too-close-in-the-zone pitches and allowed some guys to get more contact than we wanted,” Coley said. “He knows that he can fix that.”
At the plate, Brayden Lampkin led the way with three hits, and Kaylob Harris added two.
Jones County picked up two first-inning runs before tacking on two more in the fourth, five in the fifth and one more in the sixth to win 10-0 on the mercy rule. Lampkin got things going in the first on a leadoff triple, and Noah Robinson would go on to drive in Jonathan Scarbary for an early 2-0 lead.
The Greyhounds would eventually put things away. In the fourth, Gage Robinson’s groundout brought in Trent Paulk prior to Lampkin plating home on a wild pitch. Even more runs came in the five-run fifth, an offensive barrage led by two-run doubles from Harris and Scarbary. JCHS added another run in the sixth to clinch the win.
“We did good job of being patient. Their guy got in pitch count trouble and couldn’t throw anything but his fastball, and we started teeing off,” Coley said.
