An upper hand was there for the taking in the race for a postseason spot last week on the baseball diamond. After sweeping three games from Dutchtown, that advantage belongs to the Greyhounds after outlasting the Bulldogs each time.
After a seven-run sixth inning powered Jones County to a 14-5 midweek win, the Greyhounds took two more from the Bulldogs in a doubleheader on Friday at Cecil Patterson Field 13-3 and 15-7 in the night cap.
As a result, Jones County holds a three-game lead for fourth place. Dutchtown, which also has one game with first-place Ola to play, plays last-place Eagles Landing and second-place Union Grove in three-game sets with JCHS to play third-place Locust Grove next week with the regular season ending with three games against next-to-last Warner Robins.
That means, if Jones County has a three-game lead going into the final week of the season, it would clinch a postseason spot by of tie even if Jones County and Dutchtown have the same record.
“It’s huge for us. It whittles our magic number down. To take the series against them, it’s huge. That’s what we preached all week, that we control our destiny,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Paulk said. “If we can play to our standards, the rest will take care of itself. We just went in with a mindset of it doesn’t matter what’s in the other dugout, we’ll play and focus on what we know.”
Pitcher Landon Pettigrew played a key role in two of those wins.
After teaming with Cason Taylor to get the win on Wednesday with Pettigrew giving up a run and hit in three innings, another clutch situation awaited in Friday’s second game.
Jones County led 6-2 through four innings before the Bulldogs loaded the bases with no outs.
That prompted Pettigrew to make his way from the bullpen, striking out three batters in a row to get Jones County out of the inning. He’d pitch the final three innings, allowing four runs on three hits.
“He’s been probably one of our best team guys.
He understands his role on the team. He comes in, works and doesn’t complain or gripe,” Paulk said. “He came in, and that’s exactly what we preach. You have to be ready when it’s your time, and we’ve had different guys do that all year.
When everyone does their role, good things will happen.”
He wrapped things up on the mound in a game that began with Dalton Lowe yielding two runs and four hits in three and two-thirds of an inning before Cayden Tidwell came along prior to Pettigrew entering the game.
Pettigrew’s entry and setting Dutchtown down seemed to energize things for the Greyhounds, who extended their lead to 10-3 on a bases-loaded RBI by Colin Evans, Davis Upshaw drawing a bases-loaded walk and a hard-hit ball by Noah Robinson scoring two runs.
Jones County, which began the game with a 3-0 lead, added five more in the sixth inning. Robinson had three hits to lead the Greyhounds with Evans and Cohen Barfield each driving in two runs.
Evans and Upshaw came up big in Friday’s first game, a 13-3 JCHS win. Evans drove in three runs and Upshaw plated two runs with Evans and Kaylob Harris also having four hits apiece. The Greyhounds trailed 1-0 early before blowing things open in a nine-run third inning.
Jones County came back to Gray after taking one from Dutchtown in Wednesday’s 14-5 win.
The Hounds, who saw a 4-0 lead equalized, pulled away with a run in the fifth, seven in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Evans and Brayden Lampkin paced the run-scoring with two RBIs with Evans along with MJ Lane ripping a double. Two hits also came from Lampkin, Upshaw, Barfield and Harris.
