Rice, Grubbs dominate
The high school baseball season is winding down but there are no signs of slowing down for Pickens. The Dragons advanced to their third GHSA state Elite 8 in the past three seasons by defeating Adairsville two times last week.
The Dragons improved their season record to 31-3 by sweeping the Tigers 8-0 and 4-0 in the doubleheader at Dunn Field. The wins pushed the Dragons over 30 wins for the second-straight season and increased their state playoff home win-streak to nine consecutive games over the past three seasons. Since 2022, Pickens is 14-3 in state playoff games played at Dunn field heading into this week’s series against West Laurens.
“We have played really well at home in big games the last few seasons,” said head coach Adam Williams. “Our guys have embraced playing in big games over the last few seasons and they are accustomed to playing in games of consequence with a lot on the line. I think that is a big advantage for us.”
Last week was not different as Pickens welcomed Adairsville in the second-round of the tournament. As has been the case for the past several years, the Dragons brought a large amount of fire power on the mound along with a solid defense and timely hitting which led to the two-game sweep. Senior pitcher A.J. Rice pushed his record to 10-0 on the year by firing a complete game and had a perfect game through 6.1 innings before allowing the only hit of the game on a soft line drive to right field by Brody Varner. Rice would go on to preserve the shutout by recording the final two outs and end the night with 13 strikeouts and no walks.
The game was scoreless for the first four and a half innings before the Dragons broke the game wide open with seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Pickens sent 11 hitters to the plate and had not scored a run until there were two outs in the frame. The Dragons then put five consecutive hitters on base to put the game out of reach. Senior Kam Jenkins got the scoring started with a two-run single before Everett Grubbs and Christian Starks each had two-run singles to cap the inning at 7-0. Jenkins, who ended the night with three runs driven in, tacked on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to make the final score 8-0.
The second game was much of the same game script as Grubbs (8-0) spun a gem on the mound for Pickens with a complete game three-hitter. Like Rice, Grubbs did not walk a batter and struck out six on the night. When all was said and done, Adairsville did not have a runner reach third base in either of the two games. Offensively, Rice had three hits in the game and two runs driven in to pace the Dragons.
“I was very pleased with our ability to do what was needed in the Adairsville series,” said Williams. “The objective is to win and advance and that’s what we did. You set goals in the beginning of the season and most of them get back to being able to play several games in May. Now, we want to try to play in the very last game in May.”
With the series win. Pickens advanced to play West Laurens, who enters the best-of-three series with Dragons sporting a 22-9 record and a region title in Region 4. The winner of this week’s series will play the winner of the Oconee County/Calhoun series. If Pickens does advance in the playoffs, it would host Oconee but travel to Calhoun in the state semi-finals.
