TYRONE, Ga. — Austin Smith pitched a complete-game 2-hitter and the Spalding Jaguars baseball team played a great offensive and defensive game, defeating the Sandy Creek Patriots 4-1 Thursday evening to win the 2012 Region 4-AAA championship.

Spalding (17-5 overall, 15-1 region) made school history with the win over Sandy Creek (11-13, 8-8), becoming the first Jags team to win consecutive region titles. The Jags won the 2011 Region 4-AAA title in the midst of their 21-game win streak last year. This year, Spalding finished ahead of second-place Eastside (20-4, 14-2) by one game to win the region title.

The Jags have won their fifth region title in 9 years, also winning crowns in 2004, 2006 and 2009. Two of those years — 2004 and 2011 — Spalding advanced all the way to the state Final Four and it faced Columbus in the 2011 Class AAA state finals.

“I’m very proud of the guys. To win back-to-back region titles with all the adversity we’ve had this season is a testament to the guys’ will to win. They’ve grown up a lot in the second half of the season,” said Jags head coach Mickey Moody. “We’re going to enjoy this win tonight and get ready for the state playoffs. We have a set of goals for state we’ll have to prepare for in the next few days.”

The Jags committed only one error for the second straight game and belted 12 hits at the plate, with Michael Martin getting 3 of them including a triple. Casey Moody went 2 for 2 with an RBI and two walks and Robert Green went 2 for 4. Also collecting hits for Spalding were Matt Hayes, Powell Krepps, Chase Pruitt (a double), Parker Powell and Austin Smith.

And speaking of Smith, the senior probably pitched his best game of the season. He was strong for all seven innings, striking out 5, walking 2 and giving up the 1 unearned run. Smith was so dominant that he got 13 ground-ball outs against the Patriots.

Spalding has three more non-region games to close out the regular season: A contest today against Northside-Columbus at 1 p.m. at Jaguar Field; a home game against East Coweta April 27 at 6 p.m.; and a road contest at Class AAA No. 3 state-ranked Crisp County April 28 at 1 p.m.

The Jags will look to get a measure of revenge on their final two opponents: East Coweta defeated Spalding 8-5 in Sharpsburg on April 6 and Crisp County blanked the Jags 4-0 on March 10 at Jaguar Field.

SPALDING HIGH

Date |Opponent |Time

2/25 |LaGrange |L 2-0

3/2 |Greenbrier |L 8-5

3/6 |@ Henry Co.* |W 15-7

3/8 |@ L. Grove* |W 3-1

3/10 |Crisp Co. |L 4-0

3/12 |Drew* |W 9-0

3/14 |@ Eastside* |W 13-10

3/16 |Jackson* |W 7-6

3/20 |@ E. Landing* |W 11-0

3/22 |Stockbridge* |W 8-1

3/24 |@ Handley, Ala. |W 18-10

3/24 |@ Jacksonville, Ala. |W 7-4

3/26 |Sandy Creek* |W 7-5

3/30 |Henry Co.* |W 6-1

4/3 |Locust Grove* |W 7-6

4/5 |@ Drew* |W 9-0

4/6 |@ E. Coweta |L 8-5

4/9 |Eastside* |L 7-4

4/11 |@ Jackson* |W 16-1

4/13 |E. Landing* |W 12-2

4/17 |@ Stockbridge* |W 13-1

4/19 |@ S. Creek* |W 4-1

4/21 |Northside-Col. |1:00

4/27 |East Coweta |6:00

4/28 |@ Crisp Co. |1:00

5/4-26 |State Playoffs |tba