Baseball: JCCHS strikes late in lopsided win

This play was the momentum shift that led Panthers (1-2) to their blowout victory over Washington-Wilkes 10-1.
Jackson County returns to action Friday night at home against Clarke Central.

At the start of the game, Washington-Wilkes jumped up to an early 1-0 lead. It was a defensive battle between two teams with only a handful of hits but the Panthers would prevail.

“If you throw strikes and play good defense, you’ll win a lot of games,” Panther head coach Tommy Fountain said.

At the top of fourth inning, the Panthers made a pitching change taking out senior Kolin Zimmer (due to amount of pitches thrown) and replaced him with senior Jesse Tallent.

Tallent would start well by forcing two fly-outs and a strikeout.

The fifth inning changed everything. With a runner on first, sophomore NickCorso hit a textbook bunt that gave the Panthers that spark that they needed by putting two runners on base.

“It made sense to lay a bunt down at that time,” Fountain said.

Robinson then took that spark and turned it into a fire. His line drive single not only tied the game, but paved the way for his teammates. The Panthers’ bats caught fire after that point. To make the situation even better, Tallent’s pitching heated up as well.

He ended the night with six strikeouts and no runs allowed.

The sixth inning was the nail in the coffin.

“I feel everything would come, when we gained confidence at the plate, the flood gates opened,” Fountain said.

It was a slugfest. The Panthers ended the inning with two singles from seniors Andy Williams and Quinn Grogan and also two doubles from Robinson and Tallent. This amounted to seven runs that turned a close game into a blowout.

“After 19 innings the bats finally came around,” Fountain said.