The John Milledge Academy (JMA, 8-10, 3-4) Trojans hit another rough patch on the diamond last week, losing to Heritage (15-7, 6-4) last Monday and to Dominion Christian (DC, 11-8, 1-0) in game one of a Saturday doubleheader.
However, the Trojans rebounded in game two against DC, thanks to a five-run sixth inning, then crushed Brentwood 19-3 on Monday and beat region rival Stratford Academy 9-2 on Tuesday. The three-game stretch represented the team’s first back-to-back wins this season.
Grayson Paradise was on the mound for JMA in game two versus Dominion Christian and had a nice start, striking out a pair of batters with no hits allowed.
Neither team had much going on offensively through the second inning. JMA’s David Todd reached base on a single to left field and Cooper Young reached on a single to center field; however, no runs scored as the Trojans were retired on a fly out to left field.
Dominion Christian then broke the scoreless tie in the top of the third with an RBI single with the bases loaded to take a 1-0 lead.
A Trojans double play prevented any more DC runs from scoring, and with JMA at bat, Blake Bellflower reached base in the bottom of the third, then advanced to second on a Knights throwing error. With two outs, Cooper Wilburn hit a double to the right field gap, scoring Bellflower to tie the game.
After another scoreless inning for the Knights, JMA’s Remington Weaver got a base hit up the middle. Weaver stole second base, then reached third on a sacrifice bunt.
Cooper Young hit a sac fly ball to score Weaver putting the Trojans up 2-1 before a strikeout ended the third inning.
Again, there was no scoring until the top of the sixth inning when a Knights double scored a run to tie the game at 2 apiece.
But in the bottom of the sixth, the Trojans reached base and set up David Todd for an RBI single to reclaim the lead at 3-2. Cooper Young then got on base and Paradise hit a sac fly ball to score Weaver and put the Trojans up by two.
JMA added three more runs in the sixth inning to win 7-2 over Dominion Christian. Paradise pitched all seven innings on the mound for JMA and allowed just seven hits and two runs. He also struck out six batters while walking just one. It was a nice change of pace for the Trojans’ pitching staff, whose Achilles heel all season long has been too-many walks.
On Monday in Sandersville, JMA put on another hitting clinic versus Brentwood, beating the Eagles 19-3. That win gave the Trojans their first consecutive wins this year.
Wilburn hit his fourth home run of the season in what turned out to be a two-hit, five-RBI night for the slugging third basemen.
JMA hosted region rival Stratford (10-11, 0-6) on Tuesday and sent them home to Macon with a 9-2 loss.
This Thursday, the Trojans will host Briarwood (7-8, 3-2) at Georgia College & State University’s John Kurtz Field at 6 p.m., followed by a visit to Stratford Academy in Macon Friday evening for JMA’s 2024 region finale.