By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Jackson Sellers was a one-man wrecking crew in leading Hayesville to a pair of lopsided baseball shutouts in a Smoky Mountain Conference doubleheader at Robbinsville Friday.
Action Jackson threw a nine-strikeout no-hitter, smashed a 320-foot two-run homer over the left field fence, belted four hits, three for extra bases, in five at bats, drove in six runs and scored four times as the Yellow Jackets whitewashed Black Knights, 12-0 and 10-0.
The big kid swung the largest sledgehammer in raising his batting average to .471 and extending his streak of innings pitched without giving up an earned run, but Sellers had plenty of help knocking the hosts for a loop.
Brady Reynolds also shot the Graham County boys down from the hill and hurt them from the batter’s box. Reynolds wrapped with four runs, scored twice and struck out nine without issuing a walk during four scoreless innings.
Ben Bethel also smoked four hits in five at bats. The SMC’s leading hitter a year ago also scored five runs and drove in a pair in upping his batting average to .533.
Peyton McGaha busted two doubles, hit .500 in six at bats, scored three times and drove one in, Adrian Fuentes went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, and Rhett Sellers was 2-for-2 with a run.
Rob Barter and Jacob Cody scored two runs each as the Jackets recorded their first wins of the season after an 0-4 start.
“We finally put together a complete game times two. We pitched great, our defense was spot on, we threw out some base runners and ran the bases well aggressively,” Hayesville Coach Joe Jack Sellers remarked.
Hayesville outhit Robbinsville 7-0 in the five-inning first game and 13-3 in the four-inning nightcap.
In the first game, Jackson Sellers’ homer accounted for all of the scoring until Hayesville exploded for nine runs on four hits, four walks and four errors in the fourth frame.
Hayesville spread things out in the second game, scoring three runs in the first, three in the second and four in the fourth.
“Our hitting was in spurts. We need to be more consistent up and down the lineup going forward,” Sellers remarked.
The Jackets put their 2-0 SMC record on the line Tuesday when Cherokee visited and again when Hayesville travels to Cherokee on Friday.