Jackson Sellers whips the ball to first baseman Landon Cheeks, No. 6, as the Yellow Jackets attempt to pick off a Hiawassee Dam baserunner.
Hayesville whipped Swain County, 10-0, Monday to set the stage for a doozy of a finish in the race for the Smoky Mountain Conference baseball crown.
The high-flying Yellow Jackets pushed their SMC record to 10-0 by triumphing over the visiting Maroon Devils with just four games remaining in the regular season.
A win over the Wildcats, 17-0 overall, 10-0 SMC, at Scott D. Penland Field on Thursday would clinch at least a tie for the SMC title for the defending conference champ Jackets. Another win on Friday at Andrews would clinch the crown — assuming that the Jackets don’t get upset by Rosman, 3-9 overall, 3-7 SMC, next week.
That scenario seems unlikely considering the way Hayesville is playing.
“I’m proud of this team and their effort at each game,” Hayesville Coach Joe Jack Sellers remarked after his boys rebuffed Swain.
The Jackets gave last year’s SMC Coach of the Year plenty to be proud of Monday with their 11th straight victory.
Hayesville 10, Swain 0
Brady Reynolds lowered his ERA to 2.22 with another impressive ‘Reynolds Wrap,’ this one a one-hit, five-strikeout shutout. At the plate, he helped himself by driving in three runs with a deep fly to center and single.
Jackson Sellers led an eight-hit attack by crushing the horsehide for a pair of doubles that raised his SMC leading batting average from .552 to .564 and an already gaudy slugging percentage to .923. Sellers’ prodigious power display extending his hitting streak to 12 games.
Action Jackson had Hayesville’s only extra-base hits, but smart, aggressive play was evident from the top of the order to the bottom.
Sure-handed shortstop Peyton McGaha was pivotal on a pair of double plays, one as instigator with second baseman Jacob Cody and another as the wheelman on a comebacker to Reynolds. Sellers had the putout both times.
On the basepaths, Hayesville took advantage of five Swain errors, five walks, three hit batters and a few wild pitches.
The hosts broke a 2-0 game open with six runs in the third inning when a pair of Jackets kept their hitting streaks alive with singles: Reynolds, seven games, and Landon Cheeks, eight games.
Adrian Fuentes pushed his hit streak to six games with a walk-off RBI single that scored McGaha with the mercy-rule 10th run in the fifth-inning.
Cheeks was the top run producer with two.
“The kids came ready to play,” Coach Sellers remarked. “Pitching and defense were the keys. It helped to get out of some potential big innings. We hit well. Gotta drive those runs home when the opportunity presents itself.”
That’s exactly what Hayesville did in fine fashion in games last week:
Hayesville 8, Towns County 3
Mound master Reynolds pretty much owned Towns County, winners of 17 of 24 games prior to visiting Hayesville last Wednesday.
Reynolds scattered four hits and struck out nine and had a pair of three strikeout innings — the second and the fourth.
He also lashed a hit and scored three runs.
Towns County drew first blood with a lone first-inning run on a walk, passed ball and single, but Hayesville shut the door with a slick double play, McGaha to Cody to J. Sellers.
The Yellow Jackets took control for good with four runs in the bottom of the first when Ben Bethel rocketed a double, McGaha followed with a single and Towns County enabled runners to move along with three errors, a hit batter and a wild pitch.
Hayesville added three insurance runs in the second when Bethel boogied into third base after pulverizing a fastball to the centerfield fence, McGaha knocked him in, Sellers reached on a walk and stole, Reynolds reached on an error and stole and Cheeks singled.
Bethel, Sellers and Cheeks had two hits apiece. Bethel, Reynolds and the Sellers brothers, Jackson and Rhett, plated twice.
Cheeks preserved the win by shutting down the top of the batting order, one, two, three, in the top of seventh.
Hayesville 28, Hiwassee Dam 10
McGaha accounted for 11 runs and the Yellow Jackets batted .480 in pummeling Hiwassee Dam, 28-10, on the Eagles diamond last Tuesday.
McGaha drove in six runs and scored five times on three raps, including a thrilling home run.
Hayesville set the tone right out of the gate with 11 runs in the first inning and a five-spot in the second.
McG’s firestorm was his fourth three-hit game. He also stole home with a daring dash that just beat the tag and handled most of the pitching duties.
Big Red wasn’t the only terror. Rhett went 3-for-3, drove in a pair and scored twice. Reynolds chased home three teammates with two hits, while Jackson doubled, knocked in three and scored three runs. Fuentes was hit by pitches three times but still contributed two RBIs with two hits in as many at bats.
Bethel, who was plunked by pitches twice, drove in two runs. Cheeks also had two RBIs.
Brady Gerdes scored four runs and Micah Moss and Bethel crossed the dish three times each. Jaxson Caruso scored twice.
Hayesville 15, Hiwassee Dam 1
This one was never in doubt.
Hayesville scored five first-inning runs two doubles by Reynolds and another by Jackson, singles and stolen bases by Fuentes and Rhett, and three errors by the Eagles.
Doubles by Action Jackson and Fuentes sparked a three-run second inning that emphatically shut the door on the visitors. A four-run third that began with Bethel’s sharp single and culminated with Cheek’s two-RBIs knock added emphasis.
Hayesville finished with 14 hits, which was about 13 more than mound maestro Jackson needed. Big 21 threw his third no-hitter, struck out six and didn’t issue a walk. The lone blemish was a hit batter, who was promptly thrown out trying to steal by bazooka-armed Rob Barter.
Cody relieved and kept the door shut by taking care of business the final two innings.
The offense was sprear-headed by Jackson’s two doubles, Fuentes’ four RBIs and Cheeks’ three runs driven home and three runs apiece by Gerdes and Caruso.
Bethel, Cheeks, Fuentes, Reynolds and Jackson had two hits apiece. Bethel and Fuentes also scored two runs each.