Jackson does it all in Pioneers’ 5-4 win over J-M
ROGERSVILLE — At the beginning of the spring, West Greene’s Ben Jackson had two choices, baseball or track & field.
The junior has had two stellar seasons at track, but this spring Jackson chose baseball.
“There’s just that brotherhood with baseball,” he explained. “You are in it together and I just love the camaraderie with the guys. These guys are just fun to play with.”
The Pioneers are sure glad Jackson, who has been a star on the football field and the basketball court the last three seasons, chose baseball this season.
In its Section 2-A opener last Wednesday at Rice Energy Park, Jackson hit an inside-the-park home run, gunned down a runner at the plate from left field with a pinpoint throw in the top of the eighth and then delivered the game-winning hit in extra innings to give West Greene a thrilling 5-4 victory over Jefferson-Morgan.
“It was a good team win,” WG coach Shawn Lohr said. “We hung in there after losing the lead and we never put our heads down. It was still a close game, so there’s no reason to put your head down. Ben is just a superb athlete. He can make an impact for you in a lot of different ways on the field. I’m really glad Ben picked baseball this spring.”
With no outs in the eighth Corey Wise reached first on an infield error for the Pioneers (1-0, 3-1) and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jackson was able to work the count and laced the RBI single to right-center field that scored Wise.
“I knew Corey has a lot of speed,” Jackson said. “As soon as he got on second base, I knew I had to drive the ball the other way and honestly I was just looking for a ground ball. I was able to lift the pitch and Corey did the rest.”
The Rockets (0-1, 0-4) had a chance to take the lead in the top of the eighth, but with two runners on base and two outs they were denied a run after Jackson fielded a hard-hit single by Easton Hanko and then threw a laser to home to get the runner.
“I took some time once I got the ball because I wanted to make sure I was throwing it to the right person,” Jackson said. “Then I saw the runner was headed home and I just threw it as hard as I could. Thank the Lord the ball was accurate and right at home plate.”
J-M stranded 12 runners on base in the road loss.
“I liked our effort today,” J-M coach John Curtis said. “We have come a long way from some bad non-section losses earlier in the year. We had a good day of practice the other day and I just felt the kids were ready. We need to clean up things, but we are heading in the right direction. West Greene is a very solid team and hats off to them for the win.”
J-M’s lead-off hitter Justin Maddich, who had three of the Rockets’ eight hits, scored the opening run after an infield error in the first inning.
West Greene rebounded with a pair of runs in the second, one coming off a deep ball launched by Jackson to left-center field that turned into an inside-the-park home run.
“I made good contact and I just started to run as fast as I could,” Jackson said. “When I made the turn around second base, I knew I had a chance to make it home.”
The Pioneers added two more runs in the third when Joey Reed tripled and scored on an RBI bloop single by Hunter Hamilton, with Hamilton coming home on an errant pick-off throw to third base by the catcher.
Trailing 4-1 in the sixth, the Rockets knotted the game up with a two-run triple by Bryce Bedilion and an RBI single by Hanko.
Dalton Lucey picked up the win in relief and threw 2.1 innings with two strikeouts and two walks. Caleb Rice earned a no-decision after going 5.2 innings and allowing two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and five walks on 101 pitches.
“Our pitchers are young, Dalton is a freshman and Caleb is a sophomore,” Lohr said. “I love their attitudes on the mound, they don’t get down on themselves. I thought both threw a lot of good off-speed stuff today. You can’t always get outs with your fastball.”
Devin Stoneking suffered the loss in relief after Bedilion threw a solid seven innings, allowing four runs on five hits with six strikeouts and a free pass on 100 pitches.
“Bryce was locked in today,” Curtis said. “I thought he threw a lot of quality strikes and had a lot of movement on his fastball. He kept us in the game and never gave up that bad inning. Hopefully he can carry this type of performance into the next game for us.”