CALHOUN, Ga. — This was supposed to be the season in which other high school baseball teams got a little payback on the Calhoun Yellow Jackets. After all, you don’t lose three players to the pro draft and not see a difference on the diamond.

However, while Josh Smoker, Charlie Culberson and Brodie Pullen prepare for their Class A professional seasons, the GHSA Class AA Jackets keep winning. At 13-2, Calhoun already has given Class AAAA Rome its only two losses this year. The Jackets beat 12-3 Rockmart 18-3 and last week put a rare loss on Gene Etter’s Baylor Red Raiders, who have beaten up on Georgia schools this spring.

If you listen to three-year starting second baseman Tre Lamb, there are two key reasons for the hot start: The Yellow Jackets are working even harder because of lower expectations, and they aren’t exactly void of talent.

“We knew this year there would be a big target on our backs, and we knew a lot of people didn’t think we could be as good as last year,” Lamb said. “We’ve also got a lot of leaders on this team. We’ve got seven seniors and we want to prove something.”

The lineup won’t blow people away as it did last year (the 2007 team hit nearly 100 home runs), but it puts the ball in play and makes things happen. The speedy Lamb inherited the leadoff spot from Culberson, while senior catcher Brad Moss, the team’s leading hitter, bats second. College prospect Jarrett Didrick, a .450 hitter last year, follows, giving coach Chip Henderson three batters getting on base more than half of their at-bats.

“Last year, we just got people on base and hit bombs,” Lamb said. “Now, mentally, we’ve got to think every run counts and play every inning that way.”

Also driving the Jackets is the memory of how last season ended. A prohibitive favorite to win its second state title in three years, Calhoun routed Holy Innocents’ in game one of the best-of-three finals but was shocked in the next two. Accepting the runner-up trophy was not easy.

“It definitely left a bad taste in our mouths,” said Moss, whose three-run homer Tuesday helped turn around Calhoun’s Region 7-AA opener at LaFayette. “It lit a fire under us this year, and it taught us you can’t overlook any team. This team is just very hard-nosed. We work hard at every thing we do. We know we’re going to be gunned at, but that’s OK.”

Calhoun lost its top three ’07 pitchers in Smoker, Pullen and Culberson, but sophomore Carter Harrison (7-0) has emerged as a legitimate ace and Didrick and senior Josh Wyatt have been solid.

The 12-5 win at Baylor proved to any doubters that dismissing the Jackets would be foolish. Harrison went the distance against the powerful Red Raiders, Zach Bradley hit a grand slam, sophomore Jordan Poole also homered and Chaz McCormick had two hits and two RBIs.

“That game was big and it was probably the best game we’ve played,” said Lamb, who is headed to Tennessee Tech on a football scholarship. “Baylor is the best team we’ve seen, with great pitching and hitting. That game showed us we can play with any team.

“Now I believe we can go as far as we want to. There’s no reason we can’t get back to the finals.”

Looks like that payback will have to wait.