The Jeff Davis High School Yellow Jackets will be flying their first ever state championship pennant next year after winning the 2017 GHSA Class AA Baseball Championship. The Jackets brought the title back to Southeast Georgia by taking both ends of a doubleheader from Elbert County at Savannah’s historic Grayson Stadium. To make it a perfect day, after winning the state baseball championship, the team’s seniors then went back to Hazlehurst to graduate that night, wearing their baseball jerseys beneath their robes.
“The team and community really wanted this,” Paul Glass, Jeff Davis baseball coach, said. “It was like Christmas morning for us.”
On a sunny spring day made for baseball, the Yellow Jackets jumped out early in Game 1 and hung on to a 4-1 victory, then fought tooth and nail to swap leads several times in Game 2 and come out with a 7-6 win over the top-ranked Blue Devils.
Jeff Davis County got 11 hits off of Clemson-commit Bryce Bowen, whom they had prepared for.
“Going in, we knew we would run into front line pitching,” Glass said. “In high school, pitching can dominate a game. One thing we heard was that our hitters had to hit good pitches. They hammered the strike zone all day.”
A day after seeing two other Southeast Georgia teams – Pierce and Wayne – fall in their bids for state championships, Jeff Davis came out charging, plating their first run in the top of the first inning when Alex Sanders drove in Hunter Foster. The Blue Devils answered back in their half of the first with one run, but Yellow Jackets senior pitcher Cody Ogilvie kept them in check with the bases loaded.
“Cody threw well,” Glass said. “He only had one strikeout, but he threw strikes and found another way to win. During the playoffs Cody was more of a pitcher than a thrower.”
A Blue Devil error gave the Jackets another run in the second to give Jeff Davis the lead. Glass played small ball in the third, bunting over Austin Lewis, which allowed him to be driven in by Ogilvie. The fourth and final run came in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Garrett Baucom for the 4-1 final.
Game 2 was an outright battle as the two teams swapped the lead several times. Elbert went ahead first and had a 2-0 lead. The Jackets scored in the second on a single by Seth Graham.
Ogilvie scored on a wild pitch, and Hunter Foster then drove in another run to make it 3-2 Jackets. Elbert tied it up in the fourth inning only to see Jeff Davis score twice in the fifth inning to retake the lead. The Devils scored twice in the sixth to make it 6-5 Elbert County. With two outs in the sixth, the Jackets rallied for another run and then loaded the bases. Hogan White singled to drive in the winning run and make it 7-6.
Jeff Davis High School went 22-7 and was ranked third in the state at the end of the regular season, which started on rocky terms. Shortstop/pitcher Jordan Dubberly had surgery that was expected to sideline him his senior year.
“That was the ultimate shot to the gut,” Glass said. “He pitches 90-91 mph and hit six or eight home runs last year, and ‘boom!’ he’s out of the mix.”
Then, second baseman Justin Kite was lost for the season due to surgery on the base of his neck. That was followed by Hogan White going down for two weeks with an injured knee. The Jackets started the season 5-5.
“We decided we can have a pity party or we can absorb the losses,” Glass said.
As the season progressed, they got word that Dubberly could return on a limited basis.
“That gave us a shot of adrenaline,” Glass said.
The season took a turn, and the Jackets started playing well with big wins over Vidalia, Toombs, and Benedictine. The Jackets won the Region 2-AA championship this season and then went through the playoffs without losing a game to Screven County, Social Circle, Rockmart, or Toombs County before downing Elbert County in two games to win their first ever state baseball title.
SE-SF-0617-Jeff Davis Champs
By Rob Asbell
Jackets Win State
