The Jackson County Panthers got their 2010 season off to a strong start last week, winning their first three games against Lumpkin County, Forest Park and Johnson.
Up next for the Panthers is a trip to Gainesville to again face Johnson Thursday. The Knights enter play this week with a 2-1 record, their lone loss having come at the hands of Jackson County.
First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Lumpkin County
The Panthers opened their season last Friday by playing host to the Indians of Lumpkin County.
The Indians jumped out to an early lead, but the Panthers stayed close by putting two runners across in the bottom of the inning to make it a 3-2 game. After hitting the leadoff batter, pitcher John Florentine settled in and held the Indians to one run in the top of the fifth. Meanwhile, the Panthers’ bats came to life in the bottom of the second, putting five runs on the board to take a 7-4 lead.
With Larry Evans now on the mound for the Panthers, both teams remained scoreless through the next two innings. Lumpkin County would add two runs in the top of the fifth, but the Panthers answered by putting four runners across in the bottom of the inning. Lumpkin County again tried to mount a comeback, putting three more runs across in the top of the sixth, only to see two of them answered by Jackson County in the bottom of the inning. The Indians would try again to close in the top of the seventh, but got only two of the runs they needed, as the Panthers held on to win 13-11.
Evans got the win from the mound, with Matt Bridgman coming on in the seventh to get the save.
Ken Miller led the Panthers at the plate, going 3-4 with a double and three RBIs.
“It was freezing cold outside and the game was sloppy at times, but we’ll take a win,” said coach Tommy Fountain. “Lumpkin County is a good ball club that was ranked in the top ten for most of last season. They graduated a good bit of seniors, but they’ll win plenty of ball games this year.”
Forest Park
The Panthers played host in a pair of games Saturday afternoon. The first came against Forest Park.
Forest Park took a brief three-run lead in the top of the first only to see it tied as Jackson County put three runs across in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-3.
After holding Forest Park scoreless in the top of the second, the Panthers put a single run across in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-3 lead. Forest Park would retake the lead after getting two runners home in the top of the third, but then find themselves trailing again as Jackson County put two runners across in the bottom of the third.
The Panthers broke the game wide open in the bottom of the fourth, scoring eight runs including a double by junior Kelley Moates that scored three RBIs and a single by John Florentine that scored two RBIs. By the time the smoke cleared, Jackson County held a commanding nine-run advantage.
Forest Park would score three more times, all in the sixth inning, but would get no closer as Jackson County got the 18-8 victory.
Ken Miller recorded the win, coming in as relief and pitching two hitless innings.
Rob Williams went 2-3 at the plate with a double and four runs. Zach Stickler went 2-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and scoring two runs.
“For the second game in a row, we swung the bat extremely well,” Fountain said. “We played better defense than the night before, but once again struggled finding the strike zone consistently on the mound. But give Forest Park credit, they came out swinging the bats very well.”
Johnson
The second game on Saturday for the Panthers came against the Knights of Johnson.
The Panthers took control early on, moving out to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first. Jackson County added two more runs in the second. Johnson got their only runs of the game in the third and fourth, with one in each inning.
The Panthers put the game away in the fifth inning, scoring eight runs that included RBIs from Kelly Moates, Quinn Grogan, Rob Williams and Austin Robinson. That put the game away due to the 10-run rule, as Jackson County won 13-2.
Austin Robinson allowed just four hits, pitching the entire game for the win. Rob Williams went 3-2, with two RBIs and two runs on the game.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.
