Jacksonville checks all the boxes in run-rule win over Wellborn; Glencoe wins wild one with Donoho, PV loses a late lead
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Choccolocco Park Spring Break Challenge
Jacksonville 11, Wellborn 1
Glencoe 19, Donoho 11
Other games
WestView (Tenn.) 9, Pleasant Valley 5
By Al Muskewitz
OXFORD – Jacksonville baseball coach Jamison Edwards describes his team the same way basketball coach Shane Morrow described his eventual state championship team a lot of times early in the season.
The Golden Eagles have a lot of Jekyll and Hyde in them, Edwards said. He isn’t that versed in the story to know which is which, but he knows the good one showed up Wednesday.
Jacksonville pitched, hit and made the plays in the field in beating Wellborn 11-1 in a five-inning game on the Signature Field at Choccolocco Park.
The Golden Eagles collected 11 hits – two each by brothers Tito and Melo Canales – pitchers Nick Salmon and sophomore Ryan Mitchell combined on a two-hitter and the defense was charged with only one error. It all added up to a second win in as many games in the Choccolocco Park Spring Break Experience.
“We have a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde about us,” Edwards said. “I don’t know which is the good or the bad, I just know we have a tendency to let them both show up.
“It didn’t take me long to see that our big hurdle was going to be consistency. When we play well I think we’re a really good baseball, but we do some things on certain days that make us not as good as a baseball team.
“I feel like this week was one of our more consistent weeks. Against Oxford I thought we played well, but not well enough. Against Muscle Shoals we played lights out for six innings and almost choked it away, but I was proud of them for figuring out a way. Today would’ve been really easy to come in and be flat – last game, just beating a 6A – but I thought they did a really good job coming out and playing.”
The key to the Golden Eagles’ consistency this season is the pitchers keeping the walks down and the hitting striking out less. Both happened against the Panthers.
Salmon and Mitchell walked only two batters. Jacksonville’s hitters fanned only four times 30 plate appearances. Salmon gave up a single and both walks – all in the third inning – and Mitchell gave up two-out single in the fifth. They struck out five and faced only four batters over the minimum.
“When we get into the area series Nick is one of our starters and we’re going to need him to throw at a high level, so that was really good,” Edwards said. “The other day I felt he was a little tight and pressing a little because it was Oxford and I pulled him because I didn’t think he could get his arm right. Today he didn’t try to force anything. It wasn’t like he was trying to do too much.
“Mitchell has tremendous potential. His last couple outings have been shaky, but today was good to see because today is what he’s capable of doing, just filling up the strike zone.”
The pressure was off after the Golden Eagles opened a 9-0 lead after two innings. Gavin Peeler walked it off with an RBI double in the fifth. It was one of Jacksonville’s five extra-base hits.
While the Golden Eagles had a lot of heroes in the game, the real MVP might have been the park grounds crew that had the field ready to play despite nearly five inches of rain that fell overnight and turned the adjacent lake into a small inland sea.
“When I pulled up and started into the park, the lake was covering up the walking track and I’m thinking this is going to be rough,” Edwards said. “I know they had the tarp out, but it’s going to be a little bit soft out there … but there wasn’t a slip or a slide.
“You never even knew it rained – until you looked over at the lake. You wouldn’t have played a game at Henry Farm today. I think we’ve got a field as good as anybody in the county, but what we don’t have is eight guys who’s that’s their full-time job. That’s aa great field and those guys do a fantastic job taking care of it. That’s a great place to play a ballgame.”
Wellborn 001 00 – 1 2 4
Jacksonville 451 01 – 11 10 1
WP: Nick Salmon. LP: Brennan Talley. 2B: Nick Salmon (J), Tito Canales (J), Gavin Peeler (J). 3B: Tito Canales (J), Jacoby Zackery (J).
Glencoe 19, Donoho 11: The Yellow Jackets took the lead with an eight-run third inning, then scored 10 runs over the last three innings to take wild one from the Falcons, who won an eight-inning thriller that was scoreless through seven the day before.
Grayson Kellett went 4-for-5 with five RBIs, Kade Kueny went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and five players had at least two hits in the Yellow Jackets’ 19-hit attack. Kellett drove in three runs with two hits in the third and had a two-run double in the fifth. Garrett Gaskin hit a two-run homer in the third.
Slade Haney had a pair of doubles and three RBIs for Donoho. Haney drove in the first two runs of the game with a two-run double in the first. Judson Billings had two hits and two RBIs, and Marcus Lawler and Will Folsom each had two hits.
In addition to the 30 runs and 30 hits, the game featured six pitchers, 94 plate appearances (75 at-bats), nine extra-base hits and 342 pitches (211 by Donoho).
Glencoe 018 052 3 – 19 18 4
Donoho 311 050 1 – 11 12 3
WP: Aaron Mann. LP: Peyton Webb. 2B: Grayson Kellett 2 (G), Will Folsom 2 (D), Slade Henry 2 (D), Nic Thompson (D), Judson Billings (D). HR: Garrett Gaskin (G).
WestView 9, Pleasant Valley 5: The Tennessee opposition put together a six-run rally in the top of the seventh inning to win. It was the second time on their spring break trip the Raiders have lost when leading in the fifth. [*** read more]
