Leading the way
♦ Jackets hold a solid advantage in Region 6-3A as the end of the regular season nears.
Two weeks left in the regular season and the Rockmart Yellow Jackets are keeping their engines revved up for a high-octane finish before bursting into the state playoffs.
In a season that has seen Rockmart battle back from deficits and erase mistakes with big surges, the Jackets have set up a solid lead in Region 6-3A, sitting in first with an 11-1 record and having lost just one game in the last month.
Friday’s 11-0 shutout victory over LaFayette on the road put Rockmart’s winning streak at five and shrugged off the Jackets’ sluggish start the day before when the Ramblers got out to a 2-0 lead on Rockmart’s home field before falling 12-2 in five innings.
“We just have to make sure that we’re all taking good approaches at the plate and just kind of coming together as a team, so to speak, and we’re all rowing in the same direction,” Rockmart coach TC Boyd said. “There is still a lot of baseball yet to be played and we’ve got to make sure that we keep playing, keep attacking.”
Rockmart defeated Ringgold 4-3 at home on Monday, April 4, thanks to a walk-off error. The Jackets were down 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Mason Phillips reached on an error, scoring Hunter Atkins and Jake Bailey for the walk-off win.
In the bottom of the first, Trevor Caldwell crushed the first pitch he saw for a mammoth solo homer scoring the first run.
Caldwell started on the mound for Rockmart. The lefty went five innings, allowing two runs on one hit and striking out 13. Jonathan Moore threw one inning in relief, allowing two hits, one run, striking out two. Jake Bailey got the win for the Jackets as he pitched one inning, allowing one hit and striking out two.
The Jackets racked up ten hits in the game. Hunter Atkins, Rob Yagyu, and Colton Leathers all had multiple hits for Rockmart. Atkins led the team with three hits in four at bats.
Rockmart grabbed an early lead on its way to a 12-2 home victory in five innings against LaFayette on Thursday.
The Jackets scored on a single by Jake Bailey, a double by Sam Wilbanks, and a single by Steven Gregory in the first to take a 4-2 lead and never look back.
Rockmart secured the victory thanks to seven runs in the fifth as Mason Phillips, Calliyon Thompson, Trevor
Caldwell, Hunter Atkins, Bailey and Gregory each drove in runs. Phillips got the win for Rockmart on the mound as the righty allowed five hits and two runs over five innings, striking out seven.
The Jackets had 12 hits on the day. Thompson, Gregory, and Bailey each had multiple hits. Thompson went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the team.
Hitting the road on Friday, Rockmart defeated LaFayette 11-0 as three pitchers combined to throw a shutout.
The Jackets opened up scoring in the second inning. Hunter Atkins grounded out, scoring one run. Rockmart scored four runs in the seventh inning from singles by Easton Petty and Steven Gregory and an error on a ball put in play by Drake Dean.
Jake Bailey was credited with the victory for Rockmart. Bailey went four innings, allowing zero runs on two hits, striking out two. Atkins and Dean entered the game out of the bullpen and helped to close out the game.
Rockmart had 15 hits on the day. Colton Leathers, Dean, Gregory, Atkins, and Nolan Clemons each racked up multiple hits. Leathers led the Jackets with three hits in three at bats. Rockmart didn’t commit a single error in the field.
The Jackets were scheduled to host North Murray on Tuesday, April 12, at 5:55 p.m. before traveling to Chatsworth to take on the Mountaineers on Thursday. Rockmart will host Bremen in a non-region contest April 18.
Rockmart’s final region series of the season starts Thursday, April 21, at Adairsville before the Jackets host the Tigers the following day.