Short, Jeter lift Byrnes baseball to first region title since 2012
With a 3-0 win over Dorman on April 22, Byrnes clinched the region championship for the first time in 12 seasons.
All year long, Byrnes baseball has embraced the “underdog” mentality.
Every Friday this season, star pitcher Jake Short sent the statewide baseball power rankings to the team’s group chat. Week after week, despite blazing through their schedule, the Rebels were left off.
It fueled them.
“Us not getting the love from people that we’ve deserved all year, it really frustrated us,” said Short. “It gave us extra motivation to come out here and show everyone who we are and and make a statement.”
Statement made.
With a 3-0 shutout win over rival Dorman on Monday night, Byrnes (17-5, 9-1 region) officially clinched the region title for the first time since 2012.
Short threw five shutout innings in the win.
“It’s been a long time since this has happened here,” said Short. “It feels good to be the team that finally gets it done again.”
“These guys have grinded and pushed and done all the things we’ve asked of them all year long,” said Byrnes head coach Taylor Hollifield. “This is amazing. They deserve every bit of this.”
Short came out of the game in the fifth inning, finishing with just four hits allowed and seven strikeouts. He made way for relief pitcher Caleb Jeter to enter and finish the job.
Jeter pitched two perfect innings to seal the 5-A Region 2-clinching win. After each of his six outs, he yelled and pumped his fist to fire up his teammates.
“When [Caleb] Jeter’s up there, we call him our ‘psycho lefty,’” said Hollified. “He’s got the antics. He’s quirky, he’s jittery, and that dude competes. There’s no one else that deserved the ball more than him in that moment.”
“I yell at myself on the mound sometimes,” said Jeter, smiling. “I’m just really competitive out there. I try not to turn around and look at the scoreboard at all when I’m out there, just focus on getting outs.”
Byrnes needed to win just one of its three-game series with Dorman this week, but the team wasn’t even thinking about games two and three, said Jeter.
The Rebels wanted to win the region in game one—in front of a packed home crowd.
“We were talking about it all weekend,” said Jeter. “We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to win the region in front of our fans.”
After the game, Hollifield was doused with not one, but two Gatorade baths by his team. The second-year head coach challenged his players before the season to aim high, with the region title being the first goal on the team’s list.
They made it happen, bringing home the first region banner for Byrnes in 12 years.
“Coming into this year, we knew we had a good core. We’ve got eight seniors on this roster and almost all of them play,” said Hollifield. “This is something we thought was possible since the season began…the guys believed in it, too.
“The main thing for us tonight was just to play this as another game. Don’t try to do too much. We did exactly what we had to do and got the job done... I’m so proud of what these guys have accomplished.”
GAME RECAP
Dorman
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0
Byrnes
2 0 0 0 1 0 X - 3
BYRNES STAT LEADERS
Jaxson Camp - 1-2, 2 R, BB
Connor Crenshaw - 1-2, RBI, R, BB
Jake Moss - 1-3, RBI
Winning Pitcher: Jake Short - 5 IP, o ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 K
Save: Caleb Jeter - 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K