E.A. Sports Today

JCA shut out, all others washed out

Thunder blanked in its Class 1A playoff twinbill; 5 county teams postponed to Saturday

By East Alabama Sports Today

DECATUR – The weather was miserable, but knowing Jacksonville Christian had already made the lengthy drive over, officials were determined to play the games.

And play they did, but it was a tough day all around for the Thunder. JCA lost to the third-ranked Eagles 10-0 and 7-0 in the opening round of the Class 1A state baseball playoffs.

The Thunder (3-9) went hitless in both games. Grayson Wakefield struck out 13 in a no-hitter in the opener and Clay Shaw threw a five-inning perfect game in the nightcap.

“I’ve never played a baseball game like it was,” JCA coach Tommy Miller said. “I’ve had a softball game or two, but never played baseball. But I have no complaints. The folks knew we drove two hours to get there. It’d be hard for us to go back-and-forth 2-3 days in a row.”

Miller was impressive with the way Jonah Parker pitched for the Thunder in the opener. The Thunder also mounted a scoring threat in the fourth inning, putting runners at second and third with one out, but couldn’t get either one home.

“We were playing a really good team,” he said. “We saw two very good pitchers, probably the best we’ve seen all year. The second game got to the point we played to get the game in. The first game we did some things right. I thought we played a pretty decent first game until the conditions got bad.”

All of the other action involving county teams was washed out and rescheduled for Saturday.

Third-ranked Alexandria will start its home Class 5A doubleheader with Springville at 1 p.m.; Piedmont will play Glencoe in its Class 3A doubleheader at Jacksonville State starting at 3; Wellborn starts its 3A doubleheader at Westbrook Christian at 1; Jacksonville will play its Class 4A home doubleheader with Cherokee County at 3; and Donoho will start its Class 1A home doubleheader with Meek at 11:30 a.m.

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