2025 Jacksonville Golden Eagles Team Preview
December 18, 2024
The 2025 high school baseball season is quickly approaching and as usual, excitement abounds throughout the state. Players and coaches have been working in preparation for the upcoming season and, as is the case each year, there are some very talented players and teams across Alabama.
Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in the Jacksonville/Oxford/Montgomery area at the AISA or AHSAA state championships, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview individual teams across Alabama. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews and by continuing our scheduled podcasts and releasing our preseason top-10 rankings in each AHSAA classification.
Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across the state.
Each week we will be releasing our Players of the Week, updating the top-10 ranks in each AHSAA classification, as well updating our Power 25 overall rankings. One thing, especially, you don’t want to miss are our scheduled podcasts with guests from across the state, as well as the recaps and previews of the big games we’re covering.
*Please note the information has been gathered from head coaches across the state, based on their replies to the questionnaire we distributed over this offseason.
High School: Jacksonville Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Jamison Edwards
Classification: AHSAA Class 5A
Area Number: Class 5A, Area 11
2023 Record (Finish): 17-15 (Eliminated in 1st Round)
No. of Returning Positional Starters: 5
No. of Returning Pitchers: 2
Team Strengths: Returning Starters
TOP RETURNING PLAYERS
- UTL Zachariah Lemon (2025)
- 1B Jackson Bonner (2025)
- SS Matt Salmon (2026)
TEAM OUTLOOK
The Jacksonville Golden Eagles continued their recent trend of successful seasons by winning their area once again last spring and hosting the 1st round of the Class 4A playoffs. This year's team features some of those same faces that helped lead them to last year's success and are hoping to once again carry them deeper into the playoffs in 2025.
The Golden Eagles will make the jump from Class 4A to Class 5A this spring, but Coach Edwards feels like they'll be ready for the jump with a strong core of returning talent coming back, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Golden Eagles made some noise last spring by winning 17 games, but ultimately fell to a strong North Jackson squad that made the Elite 8 in Class 4A. One of those strong returning starters coming back this season will be UTL Zachariah Lemon (2025), who led the team in a few offensive categories as a junior in 2024. Now a senior, Lemon brings back a .400 batting average from last season and posted an OPS of 1.065. He also led the team in runs scored with 33. He'll look to be the engine of the offense once again this spring. 1B Jackson Bonner (2025) is another key piece who will be looked upon for valuable contributions in 2025. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound first baseman is a returning four-year starter and is a very consistent defender at first base. In addition to these two seniors, SS Matt Salmon (2026) is another upperclassmen who experienced some success last spring in his first year starting at the varsity level. The junior hit .350 in batting average last spring and showed some growth defensively throughout the year. He is also expected to help out some on the mound.
Moving up a classification this spring will be a challenge for the Golden Eagles, but it appears they'll have the experience from returning starters to help lead this team to another playoff appearance. They'll compete in Class 5A, Area 11 with Lincoln, Moody, and Saint Clair County. Keep an eye out for Jacksonville in Class 5A throughout the spring, as they have aspirations of reaching deeper in the playoffs in their first season in Class 5A.
Find more information on the 2025 Jacksonville High School program below:
+ Follow them on X: @Jamison_Edwards
+ Visit the Prep Baseball Alabama, 2025 HS Team Previews
FOLLOW PREP BASEBALL ALABAMA THROUGHOUT THE SPRING
+ Prep Baseball Alabama on X
+ Prep Baseball Alabama on Instagram
+ Prep Baseball Alabama on Facebook
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