A home-and-home series delivered two region wins for John Milledge Academy (JMA) over Mount de Sales Academy (MDSA) late last month, but the Trojans suffered a pair of losses to league rivals Tattnall Square Academy (TSA) the first week of April.
An 8-2 victory came for the Trojans March 28, in game one against the Cavaliers in Macon, followed by a 4-3 extra-inning victory two days later in game two at home in Milledgeville. The Trojans then hosted TSA April 4, and took a 10-5 loss before returning to Macon April 6, where Tattnall Square scored a 3-1 victory.
After a scoreless first inning in the first game against the Cavaliers, JMA scored two runs in the top of the second and another in the top of the third before MDSA scored their only runs in the third inning. Two more scores came for the Trojans in the fifth and seventh innings to reach the 8-2 final.
Freshman Bradyn Harrison scored twice for JMA, with Cayden Avant, Bud Veal, Briggs Eady, Cooper Wilburn, Jackson Thomas and David Todd contributing one run apiece. Wilburn earned the win after going the distance on the mound, throwing just 90 pitches that included 10 strikeouts while allowing only one hit.
On March 30, the visiting Cavs scored first with two runs in the top of the third inning, but the Trojans responded with a run of their own, also in the third. JMA added another two runs in the fifth, but Mount de Sales tied things up at 3-3 with a run in the top of the seventh.
After JMA failed to respond in regulation play, the game went to an eighth inning. However, MDSA wasn’t able to score in the eighth and a single run by JMA ended the game 4-3 in the bottom of the inning.
Veal scored twice against the Cavaliers, with additional runs coming from Briggs Eady and Wilburn. Sophomore Kolt McMichael handled the bulk of the pitching, while Veal was credited with the win after going 2.1 innings and freshman Cohen Brooks had the remaining 0.2 innings.
Both JMA and TSA entered the April 4 game with 3-1 region records and it delivered plenty of drama to the hometown crowd as John Milledge rallied from a 5-0 deficit with 5 runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh to force the extra inning.
Wilburn again started on the mound for the Trojans and opened by getting three outs with two runners on. JMA had an unusually slow start to the game offensively, though, going three up, and three down in the bottom of the first.
Tattnall Square started the scoring in the top of the third on a solo home run to take the lead. JMA again had no answer offensively but was able to keep TSA from scoring in the fourth inning.
Another Tattnall solo homer in the fifth inning gave them a 2-0 lead, however. Meanwhile, JMA remained unable to score and Wilburn was taken out in the seventh after giving up a hit on an error and a single. He was replaced by Cohen Brooks and the Trojans gave up another run on a fielder’s choice to give TSA a 3-0 lead.
Tattnall Square then scored two more runs on their third homer of the game to make it a 5-0 lead with just one more chance for JMA to respond.
The Trojans answered the call with a two-run homer of their own off the bat of Thomas with Blake Bellflower on base. Banks Eady then drilled a solo homer to center field to make it 5-3, followed by Briggs Eady sending a single to center field to score Wilburn and Remington Weaver tied things up at 5-5 and sent the game to extra innings.
The JMA rally was short-lived, however, as TSA put five more runs on the board in the top of the eighth while JMA was unable to answer and led to the 10-5 final.
Two days later, JMA was back in Macon at Tattnall Square Academy but again came up short, though by a much closer 3-1 final.
McMichael got the start on the mound and wound up going the full seven innings. He finished with 89 pitches and recorded three strikeouts but gave up seven hits and three runs. Wilburn scored the lone JMA run on an RBI by Banks Eady.
Last week ended with JMA even at 3-3 in region play and 9-4 overall after beating Thomas Jefferson Academy (TJA) 6-2 last Friday night at Louisville.
Veal accounted for two runs against the Jaguars, while Avant and Briggs Eady each contributed home runs. Banks Eady and Wilburn also scored, and Thomas threw all seven innings for the Trojans, with 100 pitches, 13 strikeouts and five hits allowed.