The Concord Yellow Jackets faced the Stockbridge Panthers in a thrilling Tuesday night baseball game. The Jackets lost in a close 7-5 battle. Going into the game, the Jackets were 5-6 and 0-5 in conference play, in contrast to the Panthers, who entered the game 2-11 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
The Jackets had a slow offensive start, going scoreless throughout the first 4 innings until a big hit from catcher Dustin Hamilton, sending Jordan Meddellin to home plate in the 5th. That run gave the Jackets lots of momentum, seeing as it was directly after Charlie Cole got a line drive to get him onto first base. After a few swings, sophomore Waylon Mandrelle hit a line drive to send Cole and sophomore Adam Miller to home base and get himself onto third. Going into the sixth inning, the Jackets had a 3-2 lead. After a few walks by Jordan Medellin, the Panthers took a 3-4 lead late in the sixth. The Jackets ended up losing 7-5 after a slow last two innings for them.
One player who stood out was sophomore Landon Lynn. Lynn pitched extremely well for the 4 innings he was pitching, only giving up one run while he was on the mound. When asked how he thinks the team can keep the momentum they had in the fifth inning throughout the whole game, he says, “Honestly, we just need to stay focused and trust each other. The game is 7 innings, and we need to keep going hard even if we have one good inning.” When asked his overall thoughts on the game, Lynn notes, “ I think our defense and hitting are starting to get better than it was when the beginning of the season, and improvement is always good. Our pitching needs some work, it is our biggest weakness right now.”
Another instrumental part of the Jackets team is senior Jordan Medellin. Medellin stepped to the mound in the 6th inning and made it count! Medellin believes the team did a great job fighting and not giving up when they were down. Jordan says, “I’m proud of the fact that we didn’t give up when we went down and kept on clawing back, it shows who we are.” Medellin is someone who makes such a big impact on the game and someone who knows the game very well. When asked what his team could maybe improve on, he says, “We need to cut down on mistakes, and we definitely could have hit better.” Jordan is such an extraordinary player, and he changes the game so much for the Jackets.
Senior team captain Dustin Hamilton is irreplaceable on the team, bringing leadership, skill, and smarts all to the team. Hamilton brings a mature and different perspective to the team; Hamilton says with confidence, “ Our main goal is to get ready for the postseason, we will be playing our best baseball by May to make a deep run in the postseason, trust me.” According to Dustin, “ The biggest thing we need to work on is our energy and positivity, even if we’re losing, we need to always lift each other up
As Dustin Hamilton says, “We’re a lot better than what our record shows; our wins and losses don’t define us.” Good luck to the Yellowjackets for the rest of the season. The Yellowjackets play at Concord Field on May 1st and May 2nd. Make sure to come out and support!
