The Yellow Jackets opened the 2024 baseball season with a dominant 15-1 win at Bledsoe County on Monday. The pitching duo of Jaxon Woodlee and Kaiden Dove held the home team’s bats to one hit in five innings of work.
Woodlee received the start on the mound and a six-run lead in his season debut. The right-hander struggled through the first frame, allowing a walk, HBP and an RBI single, but he settled in and retired the next four batters in a row. He issued three walks in the third, but none of the baserunners scored. He fanned seven en route to the win.
Dove closed out the first win of the season by facing the minimum in the run-shortened contest. He struck out all six batters faced as he breezed through the final two innings.
While the pitchers dealt a gem and the defense was solid with no errors, the Jackets offense was just as impressive with its 12 hits.Â
GCHS went up 6-0 in the top of the first inning. Will Foster plated the first run with an RBI groundout, Peyton McGee singled home a second run and two more scored on passed balls. A Jaime Nunley sac fly and Gavin Knight single helped round out the explosive first frame.
Woodlee doubled home two in the second, and an error on a Colton Rogers batted ball brought home the Jackets’ ninth run. Issac Campbell recorded an RBI single and scored on a wild pitch in the third, and back-to-back singles in the fourth from Nunley and Gauge Marcom made it a 14-1 game. A Rogers RBI groundout later in the fourth plated the 15th run of the contest.
Knight, Campbell, Foster and Woodlee each tallied two hits, and McGee, Nunley and Woodlee each knocked in two runs each. Woodlee finished the night 2-for-2 with a pair of walks to complete his outstanding performance, and Knight led the team with four total bases with the help of a leadoff triple in the third.
Tucker Shaver recorded Bledsoe’s lone hit and RBI in the first inning. Warriors’ pitchers Johnathan Thomas and Jakob White combined for five innings, nine earned runs, seven walks and five strikeouts.
Grundy County returned to the diamond Tuesday with a visit to Van Buren County, but results were not available at press time. The Yellow Jackets begin the Wildcat Classic Thursday, March 14 with a 6 p.m. game at Boyd-Buchanan. The tournament continues Friday at Hixson High School at 7 p.m. A Saturday doubleheader against Silverdale and Lookout Valley at Hixson finishes off the tournament. Game times for Saturday are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. against the Seahawks and Yellow Jackets, respectively.
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