BASEBALL HOUNDS
The Greyhounds began region play this past Tuesday at Union Grove with a bit of wind at their back after splitting a pair of games last week.
And as gratifying as that span that included an 18-3 rout of Howard last Tuesday was, Jones County also came away from the week seeing a missed opportunity.
On Thursday against Perry, a furious six-run seventh inning ended up being just short as the Panthers held on to win 11-9. The Greyhounds spent the game playing catchup after spotting Perry a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Jones County battled back, trailing 4-2 after one inning and 5-3 through three. The effort to battle back was made tougher due to some early self-inflicted miscues by way of two errors and a pair of fly balls lost in the lights during pre-darkness.
“To put up six runs in that last frame, if you combine that with taking away our miscues, we win that baseball game,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Paulk said.
Even still, JCHS, which fell to 1-3 with the loss, battled back, something that Paulk is counting on helping the Greyhounds going into region play. The Greyhounds host Union Grove for a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Friday.
Even before the final inning, Jones County had a chance to draw closer.
Trailing 5-3, the Greyhounds loaded the bases in the fourth, seeing the chance to run the score up with a lineout turned into a double play.
Given a chance to coast to the end down 11-3 going into the final and seventh, the Greyhounds did otherwise, getting a combo of timely hitting and patience at the plate to draw closer.
Davis Upshaw got things started with a basesloaded RBI single, and Cohen Barfield drew a walk to score Kaylob Harris. After Upshaw scored on a wild pitch, JCHS added another run on an infield fly with the final run coming on a Jonathan Scarbary single.
Scarbary had two hits against Perry with one from Upshaw while RBIs came via Upshaw, Barfield, Scarbary, and Dalton Lowe.
Cason Taylor and Landon Pettigrew saw a bulk of the time on the mound, pitching a combined five innings and yielding a combined six hits with Scarbary and Harris also coming along in the later innings. “I’m still positive about our chances going into region, and I still like to see our fight,” Paulk said.
“We were not giving up at any point, and we had a chance to possibly win it there in the end.”
The Greyhounds wasted little time taking control against Howard, leading 10-1 through two innings. Upshaw’s three hits and two RBIs led the way at the plate against the Huskies with single hits by Taylor, Junior Holloway, MJ Lane and Brayden Lampkin.
RBIs also came from the four of Lampkin, two by Holloway and one by Lane and Barfield.
Lane, a freshman, has seen increased time early in the season as Scarbary, predominantly a catcher last season, has shifted to the outfield.
He backstopped things this past week for the JCHS pitchers, which saw Upshaw give up three hits over three innings against Howard with Harris striking out three batters in one inning.
“MJ has kind of moved to that primary role for us,” Paulk said. “I feel comfortable with him back there. His defense is solid, he threw out guys (Thursday) and is knowledgeable about the game and has a good feel for what’s going on. His upside is huge, and he’ll continue to get better and stronger, We trust him back there.”
