JCHS snaps eight-game streak against Wildcats
Before Friday, Jones County was in a position where it could likely drop its final five games of the regular season, backing into the postseason.
There’s none of that for the Greyhounds after last Friday, however. Instead of coasting to the postseason, Jones County is ramming its way in.
With a Friday doubleheader sweep of Locust Grove by scores of 11-5 and 4-0, Jones County wrapped up last week with a pair of wins against the Wildcats. Locust Grove was in the state quarterfinals last year and had won a combined eight in a row against the Greyhounds coming into Friday.
That included Tuesday’s 8-1 loss at Locust Grove.
All of that changed Friday as Jones County matched the Wildcats’ pitching, avoided mistakes and got key hits when they were needed most. The pair of victories also kept hope alive for JCHS to finish third in the region. With three wins against Warner Robins this week and a threegame sweep of Locust Grove by first-place Ola, the Greyhounds would finish third. Otherwise, Jones County would finish fourth in the region and likely face McIntosh in next week’s opening round of the state tournament. The Chiefs came into this week leading Harris County by three games.
By winning last week, the Greyhounds (13-12, 8-7) avoided the pressure of having to win in the season’s final week in order to punch their postseason ticket.
“We didn’t want that pressure going into the last week of the season. It’s a huge confidence boost for our guys, to see what we’ve been talking about for the last year start to click,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Paulk said. “For us to take two out of three against them, it’s huge for them and our future. Those who played for us in the past and look at that and say that our program is on the rise.”
Friday came after Tuesday’s 8-1 loss, but Paulk said that the Greyhounds bouncing back was not a surprise.
“I knew that we had the ability to play like we did. Locust Grove is a great team. They’re wellcoached. We just made plays, our pitchers threw strikes, got some good plays behind them and we got some key hits.”
Multiples of those key hits came in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader.
With the Greyhounds up 5-4 after four innings after each team scored three times in the fourth, Jones County was looking to pull away. With two runners aboard in the fifth inning, the Wildcats opted to intentionally walk Davis Upshaw to get to Noah Robinson. It was a mistake that Locust Grove would pay dearly for, as Robinson ripped a two-run single to extend the lead to 7-4.
“Even when I was over there in the (third-base coaching box), I said, ‘that’s a mistake’ because Noah has been really coming through for us in the back half of the season,” Paulk said.
Upshaw, who had three hits and four RBIs in Friday’s first game, would join Colin Evans in adding two run singles in the sixth to enable JCHS to inch away even further as Evans drove in three runs overall.
After Kaylob Harris allowed four runs on five hits through the first four innings kept the Hounds in position to win, Cayden Tidwell and Landon Pettigrew finished things off.
Tidwell gave up a run and three hits in two and a third of an inning with Pettigrew closing things out, giving up a hit as he sat down the game’s final two batters.
Friday’s second game took the feel of a pitcher’s duel, but Dalton Lowe was up to the task. He went all the way into the seventh with two outs, one shy of a complete game before Pettigrew once again came along to ice the win.
Evans continued to torment the Wildcats pitching in the second game, blasting a homer over the left-field wall for a 3-0 lead.
“The numbers won’t show it, but Colin’s been hitting it hard all year. He’s been hitting it right at people,” Paulk said. “His batting average is not indicative of his ability, and (Friday) it showed.”
That plus an insurance run when Brayden Lampkin scored after a throwing error as he stole third was plenty with the way that Lowe was pitching. Kaylob Harris had two hits in the win for JCHS.
“Dalton and I have a conversation inning-to-inning. I try to see how his arm feels, and we look at his pitch count,” Paulk said. “The last two games, he has wanted the ball. We let him go there at the end. I wanted him to get a complete game, but it just wasn’t for us (Friday).”
