Jay Co. bears down

PARKER CITY — Lea Selvey was frustrated by mental mistakes and a lack of plate discipline.
With his Patriots facing the possibility of dropping below .500 for the first time all season with a fifth straight loss, he let them know it.
The Jay County coach came storming out of the dugout to meet his players as they came off the field after the fourth inning, telling them he was sick of the mistakes and sick of losing.
Apparently, they were as well.
The Patriots responded with three runs in the top of the fifth inning and scored three more in the top of the sixth to rally for a 6-2 victory over the host Monroe Central Golden Bears.
“We were losing focus,” said JCHS junior Alex Dunn, who had three hits. “We knew that we were better … We just had to get our focus back and get our bats going.
“I think that finally kind of snapped us into it and got us going. Sometimes we need that.”
After the spirited meeting outside the dugout between innings, Keenan James finally got the Jay County offense going. The Patriots’ No. 9 hitter smacked the hardest-hit ball of the game for a one-out double to left field.
Chance Fuller followed by reaching base on an error, and a Kyle Selvey ground ball, which also resulted in an error, brought James to the plate to tie the game. Jason Houston delivered a single to left field to give JCHS (9-8-1) the lead for good, and later scored on an infield single by Dunn to complete the three-run frame.
“I was worried about getting on base and putting the ball in play,” said James of his double. “I just squared up … and tried to hit it down the third base line.”
After Monroe Central scored once in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull to within 3-2, Andy Haffner, James and Fuller delivered three consecutive singles to open the sixth. Kyle Selvey drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and Houston added an RBI with a ground ball to shortstop Jake Combs.
“We had talked the other day about our approach at the plate and being smarter hitters and being more selective,” said Lea Selvey, whose team had gone down on just three pitches in the fourth inning. “We were going up there swinging at the first pitch. …
“I thought we had a couple of mental mistakes in the field. …
“I have to jump on them sometimes. I don’t like to, but I think the time had come tonight.”
Devin Nott took the loss for the Golden Bears (8-11), who were coming off a three-game run to the Randolph County tournament title. He gave up six runs — two earned — on eight hits in five-plus innings as his defense committed two errors in the fifth inning and one in the sixth.
“We made four errors today, and we only made four errors in three games in the county tourney this past week,” said Monroe Central coach Don Duncan. “I was disappointed in that.”
Dunn finished 3-for-4 for the Patriots, and Chance Fuller had two hits, two runs, one RBI and a stolen base. James had two hits, including the key double in the fifth, and scored twice.
Houston reached base three times, drove in two runs and stole a base.
The victory, which was the first for Jay County since topping Union City on April 24, halted a four-game skid.
“It was definitely a big confidence builder after we lost a couple close games,” said Dunn. “To finally outlast a team and come out with a win definitely felt good.”
Dustin Selvey fell behind in the count against the Monroe Central hitters all night, but still only gave up one earned run on six hits. He struck out six batters, and the bottom five batters in the Golden Bears order went a combined 0-for-13 against him.
Braken Barga scored both Monroe Central runs and also had a stolen base. Kaiser Phillips had three hits for Monroe Central, and Devin Nott added two.[[In-content Ad]]