The North Pike Jaguars knew what was at stake ahead of Saturday’s game: A second-straight loss to Greene County on their home diamond would spell the end of a season full of promise.
But the Jaguars weren’t having any of that as they scored seven unanswered runs to top the Wildcats 7-1 and take the series in the first round of the Class 4A baseball playoffs.
“I’m proud of my guys, they did battle back,” North Pike head coach George Lott said. “We went for several weeks without any adversity. We finally had some adversity and bounced back in (Friday’s) game, scoring 11 runs. And we had some adversity today but they executed and put some runs together.”
The Jaguars faced a challenge in the first inning, when a single and a double during consecutive Wildcat at-bats resulted in 1-0 deficit for the Jaguars.
North Pike managed to put base runners on in the first but could not get anyone home. After giving up the run in the first inning, Jaguar starter Peyton Badon sat the Wildcats down in order in the second, picking up his second strikeout in the process.
Teammate and fellow senior Alex Perry came up big the following inning, helping his team draw even at 1 after hitting a sacrifice fly to left, bringing Jermarius Lewis home.
In the third, the Jaguars’ bats found more consistency. Jace Brown led off with a double before Cade Rush joined him on the base paths with a single.
Next up was Ar’Trell Coney, who followed suit with a single of his own, bringing courtesy runner Keegan Roberts home and giving North Pike its first lead at 2-1.
“I just took my time like coach said,” Coney said. “At first, I was in a rush and I just took my time and slapped it into the hole.”
Coney scored later in the inning after taking advantage of a Greene County error.
Badon continued to deal in the fourth before his offense provided additional help in the bottom half of the inning.
Coney followed up a Jaelon Kapler RBI single later in the inning by scoring his second run of the game when CJ McArthur reached on an error.
Despite the 7-1 lead, Badon didn’t take his foot off the gas and continued to present problems to the visitors. He retired the side in order in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, sealing the series win for the Jaguars.
Badon finished with five strikeouts on the evening while giving up just five hits, one run and no walks. He gave praise to his defense for shining when the Wildcats put the ball into play.
“That is a great hitting team so I didn’t get many K’s,” he said. “I’m really confident in our defense and I am really proud of them today.”
Offensively, Coney led the Jaguars with two hits, an RBI and two runs. Badon also had two hits.
With the win, the Jaguars advance to Round 2 of the playoffs where they will face Newton County.
