North Augusta dropped to 4-5 for the season after a close loss to Harlem at SRP Park on March 21. The Jackets have reached the midpoint of their season on a three-game losing streak.
The Bulldogs scored solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead while the Jackets fell flat at the plate. North Augusta set up a comeback opportunity in the seventh with two runners on base and no outs but quickly lost the wind in its sails after a double play.
“It's obviously frustrating,” said head coach Kevin Lynn. “Every time you suit up to play, you want to win. So that's what we come out here for. But we ran into a good baseball team that's playing well right now. And we knew that we couldn't make mistakes to give them extra advantages and extra opportunities to do what they do, and that's exactly what cost us tonight. We made mistakes at the wrong time. And we tell them all the time, good teams are going to find ways to beat you.”
The Jackets have experienced highs and lows during their first nine games, including a sweep of South Aiken and a series loss to Aiken. With a 4-2 record in Region 4-AAAA, Lynn is looking for North Augusta to make a lot of adjustments going into the second portion of the season.
“We're young in a lot of areas that we need to be experienced in,” he said. “And we knew that coming into this year that we're going to have to have some growing pains and some learning moments with some of the younger guys that are stepping on the varsity field for the first time. But at the same time, we're nine games in, we need to start making those adjustments.”
The defense was an area Lynn pinpointed as being the most in need of improvement, citing over 10 errors in the Jacket's last three games.
“Some of the things that we're making mistakes on are not tough plays, they're plays that are fundamental,” he said. “Those aren't experience-based plays; they’re plays that you should have been doing your whole life. Just not being prepared or not being ready in the moment mindset-wise. And we've got to fix that.”
A bright spot for North Augusta has been the team’s ace, Jaxon Jean. He commands both sides of the ball and is a leader in the dugout for the Jackets.
Jean was an asset in North Augusta's wins against South Aiken and its sole win against Aiken when he struck out 11 on the mound with three RBI.
“Jaxon is a competitor,” Lynn said. “He's one of the toughest competitors that I've coached as a pitcher and he wants to win and anytime he gets the ball, we feel like he's going to win. We've got to play, we've got to play good defense behind him and he can only do so much. He does everything for us. He's our leadoff guy. He's our No. 1 pitcher. He's our leader in the clubhouse and leader on the team. And we got to be able to rally behind him and play well when he's pitching and help him out.”
Jean kept North Augusta in the game against Harlem through six innings. The Bulldogs won their last five games by 10 runs or more, while Jean held them to just two runs on March 12.
“It was a good experience for everybody,” Lynn said. “It was a great atmosphere. It was a good night of baseball; just hate we were on the losing end of it.”
North Augusta plays one more game against Harlem on March 23 before finishing off March with a series against Airport. The Jackets end their Region 4-AAAA season with a series against rival Midland Valley in April.
“We've still got everything in front of us,” Lynn said. “We can make some strides. But we've got to play clean baseball. We can't kick the ball around, we're not good enough to do that right now. We've got to find ways to not beat ourselves and force teams to beat us.”
