Before the semifinal series against Valwood, if you had told John Milledge Academy head baseball coach Chad Starley that his team was only going to give up one and three runs in the first two games, he would have said his team was going to compete for a third consecutive state title.
But that turned out to not be the case.
The two-time defending state champion Trojans were eliminated one round shy of the finals after losing the series 2-1 to the visiting Valwood Valiants over the weekend. Eighth-seeded Valwood took Game 1 1-0 behind an outstanding pitching effort from eighth-grader Asher Wells. Game 2 Saturday went to the fourth-seeded Trojans 10-3 after the Valiants struggled mightily with their bunt defense.
Game 3 was another knock-down, drag-out 1-0 affair. The difference on the scoreboard was a controversial call on the field when Valwood had the bases loaded with two out in the top of the fifth as JMA third baseman David Todd fielded a grounder away from his bag. By the time the ball reached his glove, his best option was to try and win the footrace either to third or to tag the Valiant baserunner quickly heading his way. Todd extended his glove and looked as though he tagged the runner before he reached the base, but the umpire in that area ruled the runner safe. The game’s lone run scored on the play.
“He missed it. It was an obvious out call,” Starley said. “David beat him. I mean the guy never reached the bag. It was just one of those things. Wasn’t meant to be this year I guess. It hurt the guys knowing it was an out and we were going to get out of that inning. It was a massive momentum swing if we could’ve gotten out of that.”
The Trojans weren’t without their chances to at least match, but they couldn’t cash in as the series went the Valiants’ way.
Valwood and its pair of 1-0 semifinal wins is going to the championship round to face second-ranked Terrell Academy at Luther Williams Field in Macon later this week. Those two teams will duke it out to become the first school not named John Milledge to win the Class AAA title since 2021.
The Valiants, who had upset No. 1 Pinewood in the quarters, got out to a 1-0 series lead over JMA thanks to the aforementioned great pitching effort from the eighth-grader Wells. He pitched out of trouble in the fourth and sixth while the game still sat scoreless. Valwood took the lead in the seventh on a walk, sacrifice bunt, and a single just out of reach of shortstop Blake Bellflower’s glove. That hit was fielded in left by Remington Weaver, who gunned it home accurately and in time to nail the runner, but the ball was mishandled on the receiving end, allowing the Valwood player to touch home. John Milledge went down in order in the seventh.
Wells allowed only two hits and struck out six.
“He kept throwing us away and we didn’t make the adjustment to take the ball up the middle and the other way, which we worked on all week,” Starley said before adding that the umpire’s high strike zone hurt as well.
For the Trojans, Wilburn was no slouch from the mound. He threw all seven frames and gave up just three hits while striking out nine.
Saturday afternoon’s Game 2 saw more runs in the first inning than the series’ two bookend games combined. The lefty-batting Bellflower yanked a triple down the first base line to put his team up 2-0 quickly. Valwood answered on a Dalton Smith solo homer out to left, but the Trojans had more in the tank. The fourth inning was the big one as JMA plated 5 en route to the 10-3 victory. Valwood’s defense was suspect as six errors were committed. John Milledge senior first baseman Cooper Young started heating up as he went 3-for-4 with an RBI while Bellflower was 2-for-3 with three RBI.
Then came the rubber match. The game to decide the entire series. Starley sent out senior Bud Veal to start against Valwood senior Jake Goff. Things were pretty uneventful until that fifth inning where the Valiants threatened then got their lone run on the close play at third. In John Milledge’s bid to answer, catcher Will Adams took a pitch to the face when he was caught between swinging and trying to get out of the way. He was tended to on the field and ultimately stayed in the game, but had struck out as his bat went around. Young smacked a two-out double into right to try and get things going, but following a balk he was stranded at third on a 6-3 groundout.
Veal worked around trouble in the sixth to keep the Valiants’ lead to one run.
Backed into a corner, the Trojans continued to fight. The speedy Bryce McDonel reached on an infield hit and stole second before being bunted over to third by Veal. When the next batter Weaver grounded out via fielder’s choice, Starley saw an opening and gave McDonel the green light to run home on the throw to first.
“I tried to make something happen by sending Bryce home,” said Starley. “I was hoping the first baseman would get his heart rate up a little too high and make a bad throw.”
Conner Hutto’s throw was a good one though, as it cut McDonel down at the plate.
Still another opportunity presented itself with the season on the line in the bottom of the seventh. Wilburn led off with a strong double into right-center. John Milledge was in incredible position to at least tie with Bellflower up to bat. When he made contact, it flew out to right and sent the Trojan faithful to their feet. But the ball was caught mere steps away from being a walkoff game-winner. Instead it sent Wilburn to third. The next two JMA batters were retired on groundouts to short and first, setting off a celebration on the visitor’s side of the field.
“It’s heartbreaking, but it’s baseball,” Starley said. “Hopefully our younger guys will keep receipts on losing those two games 1-0 and not let it happen again. I probably demanded more out of this team than the last two. It was a grind year full of ups and downs. It was a rollercoaster. We were Jekyll and Hyde. It almost paid off and got us to the championship again, but fell short. I’ll miss those four seniors (Bellflower, Veal, Wilburn, and Young). They’ve been with me for three years and are really good kids. They love to compete and know how to win, so they’ll be missed.”