By Brooke Reynolds
Guest Writer
The 2023 HMS Baseball season came to an end on Monday when they faced the Murphy Bulldogs. The Jackets were unable to leash the Bulldogs in the final game of the season.
The Bulldogs got an early jump on the Jackets in the second inning and the Jackets were unable to catch back up. There was a start of a Jackets rally in the fourth with Daemien Soto, Porter Hood and Jacob Cody all reaching base on balls for Rhett Sellers to come up to the plate hitting a double scoring the first run of the game. Brady Reynolds came up next, driving a double to left field, scoring 2 more runs for the Jackets. The final for the game was 15-3. Robbie Barter pitched four batters shy of 2twoinnings with 0K, 5H and 5BB. Reynolds came in to pitch in the second inning with 3K, 5H, 4BB.
The Jackets had a great season with Coaches Zach Moss, Charlie Cheeks and Clayton Vandiver finishing the season with 10 wins and only three losses. Zach Moss shared a few words to close out the season. “Our baseball team consisted of a good mixture of experience and new players. With seven returning players we hoped to continue the excellence in baseball Hayesville is known for each year. New additions to the team from the seventh and sixth grades both strengthened the team’s depth. In 14 games the team scored a total of 176 runs. The team finished 10-3 in conference games this year. Throughout the year we had several great games, but one of the highlights of the year was a win against a highly talented and experienced Andrew’s middle school team at home. Five players had more than 40 at bats and still managed to keep more than .700 batting averages: Reynolds, Barter, Landon Cheeks, Micah Moss and Sellers. It was a great year of baseball at Hayesville Middle. The teams represented the community and school well.” The community is so proud of how well the Jackets have done this season. The team and coaches want to thank everyone for their support.