Maynard Jackson tops Pace Academy for first season unbeaten in region play in program history

Maynard Jackson's Marcus Blash #20, Seth Geter #8 and Maceo White #4 warm up in between innings against Pace Academy

Since coming under the leadership of head coach, Desmond Stegall, the Maynard Jackson Jaguars baseball program has been the definition of consistent progression over the past six seasons and after taking over heading into the Covid shortened 2019-2020 season, Stegall has helped the Jaguars make vast improvements and reach historic marks.

In the 2022-2023 season, the Jaguars finished 22-8, winning 20 plus games for the first time in program history and have since won no less than 22 games for the past three seasons and the accomplishments would not stop there. This past Wednesday, Maynard Jackson picked up a 7-4 win thanks to a walk off grand slam by senior, Marcus Blash, to claim their first region championship in program history.

"It seems like it just keeps getting better and better every year and these guys have put in some crazy work," Stegall, who also reached 100 career wins on Wednesday, told Prep Sports Nation's Daminon Lewis on Thursday as he described the emotions of capturing their first ever region title, which he noted accountability being a factor to their success.

Success that continued on Friday with another win over Pace Academy, as they defeated them 5-0 and completed their region play at 14-0, marking the first time the Jaguars went unbeaten against region opponents. "That means a lot to me personally. Not saying that the program was just a bad program when I took it over, but we weren't as relevant as we are now," Stegall said after Friday's win, praising his players for their "hard work" and dedication to help the program reach their goals.

Now with the just three regular season games remaining, the Jaguars will look to keep momentum as they have now won 14 games in a row and senior second baseman, Seth Geter believes the Jaguars have to remain mentally strong and "not fall below the standard" of expectations for the Maynard Jackson program. "Just stay on the same path we've been staying with," Geter added.