BASEBALL HOUNDS
BONAIRE – Jones County wrapped up its non-region schedule last week against Houston County, leading into this week’s start of region play. And odds are good that the competition that the Greyhounds face won’t match what Jones County encountered last Thursday at Houston County.
The Bears are unbeaten and nationally ranked, their wins coming against AAAAAAA Lowndes and Marist. That prowess was evident last Thursday, as the Bears scored once in the first and four more times in the second to slowly work their way to a 10-0 win.
“They’re a top 20 team in the nation for a reason. For us to go toe-to-toe with them and make it as competitive as we did for a long as we did, we’re happy with how we competed,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Paulk said. “We threw a junior, sophomore and freshman, and if you take a few walks away, it’s closer.”
On paper, an unbeaten team would have walked over a winless team. But the Greyhounds, throwing a trio of younger pitchers, dug in before being overcome by the Bears, whose big second inning included two triples and a homer. They got some help from the Greyhounds in the field early on, using two baserunners reaching on error to extend innings.
“We still have some growing up to do,” Paulk said. “We have some young guys out there. Of the players starting, we only have two with significant playing experience last year. I feel like we’re still growing, and there’s still a learning curve. But I feel with what we’ve done with our schedule and practice, outside of young mistakes, we’re as ready as we can be.”
While not coming away with a win, it’s a bit of forward progress that the Greyhounds hope to parlay into region play, which began this past Monday at Union Grove with a home game Wednesday between the teams with the third on Friday at Union Grove.
The Hounds lost 5-0 to Union Grove on Monday.
After that, Jones County plays next Monday and Friday at Eagles Landing with the teams playing at home next Wednesday.
“We’ve played competitive teams, and we have room to grow, learn and get better,” Paulk said. “That’s what we’re stressing to them; we’re now 0-0. I feel like with the teams we have played, I don’t know how much more prepared we can be.” Having three games against region teams stands to put more pressure on teams’ pitching depth and rewarding teams with pitching arms that can throw quality innings. Paulk believes that could be Jones County’s advantage.
“It really comes down to keeping guys healthy and understanding when a guy needs to throw and how much he needs to throw,” Paulk said. “I feel like it plays a bit to our strengths. We feel like our three (top pitchers) can compete with anybody else’s.”
