Yellow Jackets baseball wins four in a row

WCHS jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first and extended its advantage to 4-1 in the fourth, but Grundy’s bats came alive in the fourth and fifth innings to fuel a seven-run rally. Following a RBI groundout from Issac Campbell, Will Foster ripped a double to right to plate Knight in the bottom of the fourth. Trailing 4-3 in the same frame, Woodlee sent a single through the right side to score Foster and Colton Rogers to give the Jackets a 5-4 lead.

Foster added to the lead with an RBI single in the fifth, and Rogers reached on an error a batter later to make it a 7-4 game. Peyton McGee singled home Grundy’s fourth insurance run at the end of the fifth. Foster and Woodlee each tallied two hits and two RBIs to pace the offense.

GCHS followed up the Friday win with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday of Cumberland County and Whitwell. In the first game, Grundy again worked from behind to earn a hard-fought 9-5 victory. 

Cumberland went ahead 3-0 in the first, but two runs in the first, three runs in the third and three in the fifth from the Jackets’ offense doused the Jets’ hot start. Rogers saw the ball well from Jets pitcher Aaron Miniard, going 2-for-3 with a double and triple. The senior catcher drove in two runs and scored two more.

Against Whitwell, the Yellow Jackets controlled the game from the start en route to the 11-3 win. Starting pitcher Campbell retired the first eight Tigers he faced in order before allowing his only hit and one of two walks in the third. He escaped the inning unscathed, did not yield an earned run through 4.2 innings of work and left the game with a 4-1 lead in the fifth.

Relief pitcher Cadon Dove got the Jackets out of a two-error fifth that saw Whitwell cut the GCHS lead to one, and a big seventh inning at the plate for the host team put the game out of reach. Grundy plated seven runs on six hits to close out the weekend tournament with an unblemished record. 

Campbell, who contributed one of the six seventh-inning hits, was 2-for-5 at the plate with three runs batted in and one run scored. He, along with Foster, Woodlee and Trey Nunley, each collected two hits against the Tigers.

Riding their momentum from the big weekend, the Yellow Jackets jumped back into district play Monday and routed Community 14-1 on the road. The offense blasted the Vikings 13-2 in the hits column, led by a three-hit performance by Knight. The second baseman was 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs while pitcher Woodlee twirled a two-hit gem.

Woodlee tossed all five innings of the run-shortened contest, giving up no earned runs along the way with eight strikeouts. 

It was all Grundy from the get-go as the Jackets put up seven runs in the first. The offense totaled five hits in the frame, highlighted by a Knight two-run double. GCHS added to its lead in the second and third innings with one run each, and tacked on five more in the fourth to round out the scoring. Dove provided the Jackets’ other extra-base hit with a two-run double to center to make it an 11-1 game. 

Grundy hosted a rematch against Community on Tuesday, but results were not available at press time. The Yellow Jackets visit Marion County on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and host the Warriors Friday at 5:30 p.m. GCHS travels to Whitwell on Monday and hosts the Tigers again on Tuesday. Both games are scheduled for 5:30 p.m.