The Jena Giants will have a new look to the team this year as a new man takes the helm as the Giants head coach. Last year the Giants made it to the quarterfinals of the playoffs before losing to state runner-up Erath. That season last year also had the Giants with a big senior class that had been starters since they were sophomores. So, this season the Giants will have a lot of new starters as they only return three starters from last year’s team.
The Giants also will be under new leadership this year as during the offseason Joe Hammett was named the new head coach. Coach Hammett has been at Crowley the past few seasons but brings a championship pedigree as he won a state championship at Junction City, Arkansas. The Giants will have their top pitcher back in junior lefty Collin Jensen. They also return senior Carson Willis as their top returning hitter and sophomore centerfielder Jonas Jenkins, who was at the top of the lineup last season. The biggest question marks coming into the season will be who will round out the rest of the pitching rotation and how long will it take the new starters to gain experience and contribute.
The district appears to be wide open as Buckeye, who has won the district the last two seasons, also lost a lot of starters to graduation. Vidalia and Caldwell have gotten off to hot starts to the season and will look to make their way to the top of the district standings.
The Giants have gotten off to a 9-7 start on the season as a lot of players have played early with the coaching staff still looking to figure out the pitching rotation and lineup.
This past week the Giants bats were hot as they won 3 out 4 games scoring 17, 21, and 11 runs in their three wins. The Giants defeated Grant on Tuesday with junior righty Connor Brunet picking up the win pitching 6.2 innings and striking out 7. Colling Jensen went 3-4 at the plate and Trent Tingle had 3 RBIs.
This past weekend the Giants traveled to New Orleans to play in the Higgins tournament. Jena defeated John Ehret 21-4 with Colling Jensen finishing with 5 strikeouts. Case Riggs had 3 hits and Elijah Gemar had 2 hits in the win.
Jena would also defeat Ellender 11-1 with freshman Quinton Otwell picking up the win only giving up one run on two hits and finishing with four strikeouts. Jonas Jenkins and Carson Willis had two hits each in the game.
The Giants will start district play this week as they will travel to Caldwell on Tuesday, March 10. On Friday, March 13, the Giants will be at Hackberry and on Saturday will play at St. Edmund.
Next Tuesday the Giants will be at Bunkie and if you can’t make it to that game then you can hear all of the action live on 102.7 KJNAFM. If you are not in the listening area, then you can download the MIXLR app and search for KJNAFM or go online at www.mixlr.com/kjnafm.
