Andrew Jackson Academy Clinches Region Baseball Title With Win Over Beaufort Academy
Andrew Jackson Academy Clinches Region Baseball Title With Win Over Beaufort Academy
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Ehrhardt—With their 10-0 win over Beaufort Academy at home on April, 10 the Andrew Jackson Academy Warriors baseball team earned a region championship while improving their record to 11-5, 4-0 on the season.
Head coach Jason Mathys has seen vast improvement in the AJA baseball team that had not won a region game in the past two seasons, coming into the 2025 season. AJA did win a SCISA Class A baseball state title in 2022, with a win over Richard Winn in the finals when Mathys was an assistant coach.
The play of a pair of 8th graders, Channing Terry and Kaiden Kinard has helped the team have a successful 2025 season, along with the consistent play of senior leader Jack Walling.
Channing Terry has worked 30 innings on the mound and he has 33 K’s with an ERA of 2.10 At the plate he has batted .321 with four RBI’s. Kinard, a first baseman, bats in the two-hole and he is currently hitting .467 with 19 RBI’s including five doubles and two triples.
Walling, a shortstop batting third, has been a very consistent hitter over the past three seasons and he leads the Warriors in hitting at .468 including 23 RBI’s, 9 doubles and a home run. “Walling can get hits when no one else can,” said Coach Mathys. “He is a very dedicated baseball player.”
Walling has also seen 24 innings of mound duty with 27 K’s to his credit.
Another key player has been senior lead-off batter Hayden McClung who started out the season as a catcher, but has recently moved to center field. McClung is batting.442 with 13 RBI’s.
“Hayden is not afraid to play anywhere we need him,” said Coach Mathys. “He can play about anywhere on a baseball field. “He even came in the last inning to pitch against Beaufort Academy earlier in the season with our team up by one run when we had made three straight errors to help them load the bases. He had not pitched in three years and he got the batter to pop up for the third out, and get us out of a jam.”
Junior Walker Terry is the DH who is hitting .292 with 13 RBI’s in the clean-up slot. Terry has also contributed on the mound with 15 K’s in 17 innings of work.
Hall Sease is a solid glove at second base. Sophomore outfielder Eli Mathys bats in the 6th hole, and he has 8 RBI’s along with one double. Hunter Tucker is a freshman who starts at catcher when Channing Terry pitches.
Freshman Jaxson Brandt is having a very good season as an infielder and he is currently batting 333. Landon Johnson bats in the 5th spot and in 11 innings on the mound he has 24 K’s.
Other key reserves include senior pitcher/outfielder Hunter Zorn, senior spot starter Tim Willimas who has seen action in both left and right field, along with base running specialist Grayson Hays. Junior third baseman Conner Mount Brad Hightower round out the 16- member team.
“One of my concerns is that we only have two non-region games left against Patrick Henry and Dorchester Academy in the regular season, and then we also have a very late Spring break that starts on April, 21,” said Coach Mathys. “I am concerned about how much quality practice time we can get in with our school on Spring break and many of our players, and their families, already having made Spring break plans before the season started.
“We will have some voluntary practices but getting ready for the play-offs is a concern of mine,” said Coach Mathys.
Coach Mathis is assisted by Kevin Kinard and Kip Terry.
