Jay closes strong

BLUFFTON — With a combined four errors, four walks and three hit batsmen in the first three innings, neither team was happy with its effort. The Patriots were able to turn theirs around.
Toby McCallister’s two-run home run keyed a four-run seventh inning for Jay County, which pulled away late for an 11-7 victory over the Bluffton Tigers.
The win was the third in a row for the Patriots to close the regular season, guaranteeing them their first winning record since going 25-3 in 2008.
“The thing I’m most proud of is our kids just hung in there … and found a way to win,” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey, whose team is 15-12 heading into Thursday’s sectional opener against Huntington North. “The bottom line is we just kept battling and finally we got a couple big hits at the end.
“I’m happy. I’m proud of them.”
The two biggest hits came back-to-back in the seventh inning.
With a run already home thanks to a Chandler Jacks single to left field, a wild pitch, a bunt single by Josh Lykins and an error, Alex Dunn found the gap in deep right-center field. Dunn slid into third without a throw for an RBI triple, and McCallister took care of the rest.
The junior hit a blast that zoomed over the fence between a couple of pine trees to the right of the scoreboard in left-center field for his first career home run.
“It was awesome,” said McCallister. “It felt good coming off the bat.”
The homer capped a four-run seventh for the Patriots, who outscored Bluffton 7-2 over the final four innings.
“We had to get behind each other and keep pushing each other,” McCallister said. “Whenever people get down, you have to keep their heads up.”
The Tigers (10-15) had their chance to claim the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning as they loaded the bases against Chaz Carroll thanks to two walks and an error. With clean-up hitter Jacob Antrim coming to the plate and JCHS clinging to a one-run lead, Selvey made a stroll to the mound and urged his pitcher to be aggressive.
Carroll attacked Antrim with the curveball, inducing a pop out to first baseman Tanner Reynolds in foul territory to escape the inning unscathed.
“That was huge,” said Selvey. “He’s done that a couple times for us and got us out of the inning.”
Carroll got the win, giving up his only run in 3 1/3 innings on a solo homer by Dane Hoffman to lead off the bottom of the seventh. He retired the next three batters in a row to end the game.
While the Patriots came through late, neither coach was happy with was his team played early.
Jay County gave up two unearned runs in the first inning, and each of the Tigers’ first five runs came from batters who reached base by walking or being hit by a pitch. Bluffton committed three errors in the first two innings to give up three unearned runs.
“Through four innings really neither team wanted to win it seemed like,” said Bluffton coach Todd Morgan. “No one helped their pitchers out. Both pitchers struggled. It was pretty ugly.”
The Patriots trailed 5-3 through three innings, but scored three times in the fourth thanks to a double from Dunn and a triple from Kyle Selvey. They took the lead for good with a run on an RBI single by McCallister in the top of the fifth.
Dunn had two extra-base hits, three RBIs and three runs, and McCallister went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run. Jason Houston added two hits, two RBIs and a stolen base, and Jacks notched two hits and two[[In-content Ad]]