Dragons Eliminate Pierce County in 3 Games....ELITE 8 BOUND!!! - Game 3 Pictures

Pictures from Game 3 vs Pierce County...

Pre-game team prayer

On the line for the National Anthem

Jake Franklin going to work

Ethan Garner ready to receive the pick-off throw

Hunter Thompson sets to throw the ball in

Listening to Coach Knight give some instruction during a timeout

Taylor Wilkes on the bump

Zack Boobas reaches for an outside pitch

Will Breese squares up a pitch

Joshua Hutch with his lead at 2nd

Christian Hutch driving one of several line drives

Jake Franklin slides in safe at 1st

Micah Carpenter looking to drive the ball

A rare Pierce County timeout :-)

Asher Standridge in to shutdown the Bears in Extras

Celebration time!  Ballgame

Coach V getting some air as the Dragon pile begins

Elite 8 Bound!!!!

Dragons Sweep Lumpkin County in Round 1 of State Playoffs - Sweet 16 Bound - Post 2 of 3

Game 1 Pictures vs Lumpkin County

A little pre-game Wickets

Micah Carpenter goes to work on the mound

Ethan Garner stepping off at 1st base

Zack Boobas makes the tag at home stopping a rally

Zack now stands in to drive a Double

Joshua Hutch squares for the Sac Bunt

Will Breese loads up for the swing

Taylor Wilkes stands in to drive a Single

Hunter Thompson drops the bunt

Throw it up, Hunter!

Christian Hutch drives a Sac Fly RBI

Micah Carpenter makes the catch in foul territory

Will Breese sliding into 2nd

Brandon Clinton trying to be the intimidator in the dugout

Hunter McCaslin greeted at the dugout after scoring

Dragons Sweep Lumpkin County in Round 1 of State Playoffs - Sweet 16 Bound - Post 3 of 3

Game 2 Pictures vs Lumpkin County

Taylor Wilkes celebrating at 2nd base

Ethan Garner keeping the Indian bats silent

Throw it up Jared!

Hunter Thompson makes the diving catch attempt

Hunter Thompson loads up to drive a Double

Christian Hutch loads up for Single

Jake Franklin driving a 3 Run Bomb

Jake is mobbed by the team after crossing the plate

Ethan Garner drives an RBI Double

Taylor Wilkes blows the game wide open with a Grand Slam

Taylor celebrating on his trot home

The team mobs Taylor at the plate

Dragon Sniper Team 6 (Taylor Wilkes and Brandon Clinton)

Ethan Garner mobbed at home after his solo homer

Devin Humphries working behind the plate

Jake Franklin closing out the game and the win

Reinforcements have arrived

Dragons Sweep Lumpkin County in Round 1 of State Playoffs - Sweet 16 Bound - Post 1 of 3

Horace J. Jackson Field was the site for the 1st round of State Playoffs where our Jefferson Dragons hosted the Indians of Lumpkin County.  The Dragons took control of the best of 3 series in the Friday night Double header as they went on to sweep Lumpkin County by scores of 7-1 in game 1 and 10-0 in game 2.

In Game 1, the Dragons stayed quite through the 1st 2 innings and fell behind 1-0 after an RBI single in the 1st inning for Lumpkin giving them an early lead.  By the 3rd inning, however the Dragons began to heat up scoring 2 runs on 4 hits in the 3rd.  #12 Zack Boobas (2-for-3 2B 2Runs) led the 3rd off with a Double.  After advancing to 3rd on a Sac Bunt by #10 Joshua Hutch (1-for-2 Run), and RBI single for #18 Will Breese (1-for-3 RBI 2Runs) put the Dragons on the board.  Two more hits followed by #20 Taylor Wilkes (2-for-4 Run) and #8 Hunter Thompson (2-for-4 3B 2RBI).  Breese then scored on a RBI Sac Fly to left by #19 Christian Hutch (0-for-2 RBI BB).  Jefferson tacked on 3 more runs in the 5th, captilizing on 3 Indian errors in the inning.  The final two runs came in the 6th after back-to-back hits for Zack Boobas and Christian Hutch to lead off the inning, who later scored on a Hunter Thompson Triple.  #22 Micah Capenter took to the mound for game 1.  After a shaky 1st inning that saw the Indians score their only run of the night, Carpenter settle in to shut down Lumpkin County the rest of the way.  Carpenter pitched 7 complete game innings recording 6 Ks for the night and allowing just 1 run on 3 hits.

The Dragons picked up in game 2 where they left off in game 1.  The first run came in the 1st inning when Taylor Wilkes (1-for-3 4RBI HR 2Runs) reached based on an Indian error at 3rd.  Wilkes later scored on an RBI Single by #9 Jake Franklin (2-for-3 4RBI HR Run).  The big offensive surge, however, came in the 3rd inning.  Hunter Thompson (2-for-3 2B Run) led the inning off with a Double, followed by Chrisitan Hutch (1-for-3 Run) with a Single.  Jake Franklin then followed with a 3 Run Home Run.  Micah Carpenter (1-for-4 Run) started right back with a Single and then scored on an RBI Double by #7 Ethan Garner (2-for-4 2B HR 2RBI).  Zack Boobas (1-for-3 Run) then followed with a Single and #13 Jared Bates (1-for-2 Run) reached after being hit by a pitch and Will Breese (1-for-2 Run)followed with Walk.  This set things for Taylor Wilkes who came up big with a Grand Slam shot to Right Center scoring 4 more runs.  Jefferson's final run came in the 6th when Ethan Garner drove a Solo Home Run giving the Dragons a 10-0 lead.  Garner also got the start for the Dragons on the mound for Game 2.  Garner pitched 5 shutout innings, recording 7 Ks an allowing on 3 hits.  Jake Franklin came on to close the game out in the 6th, facing 3 batters with 2 Ks and securing the win.

The Dragons will now advance to the Sweet 16 for Round 2 of the State playoffs.  They will travel 250 miles south to take on the Pierce County Bears in Blackshear with a Double-Header on Wednesday evening and then Thursday if neccessary.  Good Luck to our Dragons this week!

(Pictures to Follow)

Playoff Bound Dragons Sweep Elbert County To Cap Off Successful Regular Season

The Jefferson Dragon closed out their regular season last week in a final 3 game region 8AAA series with the Blue Devils of Elbert County.  Jefferson took control of Elbert County in game 1 on Tuesday and continued that success to end the regular season with a 3 game sweep of Elbert County and lock in 2nd place Region 8AAA and home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

On Tuesday night, the series started off on the road at Elbert County.  Jefferson took a little bit to get their offense going as Bryce Bowen for Elbert held the Dragons to just 3 hits and 0 runs through 5 innings with 8 runners left stranded on base.  The Dragons fell behdind 4-0 going into the 6th inning when the game began to shift.  #12 Zack Boobas (1-for-4 1Run) led things off with a single followed by #18 Will Breese (1-for-3 2B) driving a shot for a double.  #8 Hunter Thompson and #13 Jared Bates both then walked back to back, with Jared's walk bringing in the Dragons first run.  2 more runs scored with #20 Taylor Wilkes and #19 Christian Hutch were both hit by pitches bringing the score to 4-3.  #9 Jake Franklin (3-for-3 3RBI BB) then followed up big with a bases loaded Triple that gave the Dragons a 6-4 lead.  #22 Micah Carpenter got the start on the hill for Jefferson for his final regular season start as a Dragon.  Carpenter threw 6 innings and recorded 7 Ks, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits.  Jake Franklin came in to close things out in the 7th recording 2 Ks and line-out to left on a diving catch by Taylor Wilkes securing the win for the Dragons.

Moving to the double-header Friday evening, game 1 saw a similar slow start offensively as the Dragons only manage 1 hit through the 1st 3 innings.  They broke things open in the 4th however, with a 6 run inning.  Christian Hutch (2-for4 RBI Run) led things off in the 4th with a Double.  After Jake Franklin (1-for-4 Run) reached on an error, Micah Carpenter (1-for-3 RBI Run) drove the Hutch with a Single to left.  #7 Ethan Garner (1-for-3 RBI Run) followed with another RBI Single.  3 more RBI hits came when Jared Bates (1-for-3 RBI 2Runs) drove another RBI single, followed by Taylor Wilkes (2-for-4 2RBI) with a 2 RBI Single and Hunter Thompson (2-for-3 RBI) with an RBI Single which gave the Dragons a 6-0 lead.  One more run came in the 6th when Christian Hutch drove in Thompson on a RBI shot to center.  Ethan Garner started off on the hill for Jefferson for game 1.  In his final regular season start for Jefferson, Garner recorded 6 innings of work wit 7 Ks and allowing just 1 run on 3 hits.  #14 Asher Standridge came in to close in the 7th for Jefferson.  Standridge recorded 1 K and allowed 2 runs on 1 hit.  Despite the rally, the Dragons held on for a 7-3 win.

In the final game of the regular season, the Dragon jumped on the board early as they cruised to 13-3 win in 5 innings.  Taylor Wilkes (3-for-4 3RBI 3Runs) led the the 1st off with a single.  After stealing 2nd, Wilkes scored on a RBI single by Hunter Thompson (3-for-4 3RBI Run) to take an early 1-0 lead.  The Dragons then exploded for 5 runs in the 2nd.  Zack Boobas (1-for-1 2BB 3Runs) started things with walk.  This was followed by 4 Singles in a row by #10 Joshua Hutch (2-for-3 RBI 2Runs), Will Breese (2-for-2 2RBI Run), Taylor Wilkes (3-for-4 3RBI 3Runs), and Hunter Thompson (3-for-4 3RBI Run, including RBI hits by Breese, Wilkes, and Thompson.   Wilkes drove in another run the 3rd scoring Boobas.  Jefferson capped off the offense in the 4th with 6 more runs including RBIs from Micah Carpenter (1-for-3 RBI Run), Joshua Hutch, Will Breese, Taylor Wilkes, Hunter Thompson, and Jake Franklin.  Jake Franklin took to the mound for Jefferson for what would be his last regular season start for Jefferson.  Franklin recorded 4 innings of work with 6 Ks and allowing 3 runs on 3 hits.  Taylor Wilkes came in to close in the 5th facing 3 batters with 3 Ks securing the win.

The Dragons finished the 2015 regular season and their first season at AAA with a 20-4 record (15-3 in Region 8AAA).  Jefferson secured 2nd place in the region and will host Lumpkin County in the 1st round of the state playoffs Friday night.  Come out and support the Dragons as they begin their playoff run.

Senior Night - Riverside MA (2) @ Jefferson (12) - Post 1 of 3

On what turned out to be a great night for baseball on Tuesday evening, the Jefferson Dragons hosted the Eagles of Riverside Military Academy. Tuesday was Senior Night and a great evening to honor the 5 Jefferson Seniors.  The Seniors for the 2015 squard are  #7 Ethan Garner, #9 Jake Franklin, #13 Jared Bates, #19 Christian Hutch, and #22 Micah Carpenter.

The Dragons didn't disappoint for the home crowd tonight as they jumped on Riverside in the bottom of the 1st after falling behind 2-0, to have 8 runs cross the plate in route to a 12-2 win in 5 innings.  8 batters reached base in the 1st inning and all 8 of them crossed the plate.  #20 Taylor Wilkes (2-for-4 2RBI) started things off with Single, followed by a Christian Hutch (1-for-3 2RBI 3B) walk, and Single by Jake Franklin (1-for-3).  Micah Carpenter (1-for-3 2RBI) then drove in two runs to get the Dragons on the board.  #12 Zack Boobas (1-for-2 2RBI) added a RBI Single and #8 Hunter Thompson (1-for-2 2RBI)also added a 2RBI Single.  The Dragons remained quite through the next 3 innings, but turned it back on in the 5th to score 4 more and close out the game.  Boobas added another RBI with a Sacrifice Fly scoring #14 Asher Standridge (1-for-1).  Wilkes then later followed with a RBI single scoring #18 Will Breese (1-for-2 RBI).  Christian Hutch closed the game out next with a 2RBI Triple which secured the mercy rule win in 5 innings.

On the mound, Jared Bates got the start for Senior Night.  After a tough start in the 1st inning where 2 runs scored for the Eagles, Bates settled in through 3 innings where he fanned 5 batters, and only allowed the 2 runs on 1 hit.  Asher Standridge came on in relief in the 4th and controlled the rest of the game.  In 2 innings of work, Standridge recorded 4 Ks and allowed 0 runs and 0 hits.

Jefferson now stands a record of 17-4 (12-3 Region 8AAA).  The will close out the regular season next week with Region series against Elbert County starting off at Elbert Tuesday and then home for a Double-Header Friday to close out the 2015 regular season. 

Senior Night - Riverside MA (2) @ Jefferson (12) - Post 2 of 3

Senior Night Ceremonies:

Jefferson AFJROTC in formation for the Senior Night ceremony

#7 Ethan Garner

#9 Jake Franklin

#13 Jared Bates

#19 Christian Hutch

#22 Micah Carpenter