June 10, 2018 at 12:15 a.m.
Semi-state stumble
Jay County falls to top-ranked Andrean 13-2 in five innings
Semi-state stumble
Copyright 2018, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
KOKOMO — The Patriots needed to be flawless.
Against the top-ranked team in the state and playing for a trip to the state final, the margin of error was miniscule.
That’s about how small the strike zone seemed for the Patriot pitchers, too.
The Jay County High School baseball team issued eight walks — twice with the bases loaded — and committed four errors in a five-inning, 13-2 loss to the Andrean Fighting ’59ers in the Class 3A semi-state championship on Saturday at Municipal Stadium.
“Teams like these guys, Andrean, you just don’t give them opportunities and we gave them extra opportunities and easy base runners with walks and four errors,” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey, whose team finished its dream season 20-7. “It’s tough. It’s tough. I knew for us to have a chance it probably would have to be we would have to score three runs and hold them under that. It was a tall order.”
Andrean (30-6) advances to the state championship for the seventh time in program history. It plays third-ranked Silver Creek (25-2), which beat No. 5 Indian Creek 1-0 in the southern semi-state.
“Fantastic,” said Andrean coach Dave Pishkur. The ’59ers have won five state titles, most recently going back-to-back in 2014 and ’15.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s the kids you’re excited for.”
Jay County starter Noah Arbuckle, who suffered his first loss of the season, walked Andrean leadoff hitter Charlie Jones, and an error in the outfield put runners at the corners for the ’59ers. Following another walk to load the bases, Mike Doolin bounced into a double play to push across the game’s first run.
Andrean broke the game open one inning later by scoring four runs, including a bases-loaded walk to Jones, who walked in his first three plate appearances. Jay County also helped, committing two errors in the frame.
“It’s no surprise, anybody’s top of the order is the key to your offense,” Pishkur said. “If the top of your order gets on you’re going to have a good day. If the top of the order struggles, you’re probably going to struggle.
“They did a good job of setting the tone and the other guys did a good job of putting the ball in play.”
Jones, Tyler Nelson and Clay Thompson make up the first three batters in the lineup, and they combined to go 4-for-5 with six walks, four runs and five RBIs.
Tom Schutz, the No. 6 hitter, finished with three singles. He drove in a pair of runs during Andrean’s five-run fifth inning which put the game well out of reach for the Patriots.
Jay County practiced all week in preparation to face Doolin, a junior who committed to Vanderbilt. The right-hander got through the Patriot lineup once without allowing a hit and issuing a walk to Ethan Myers.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning that Max Moser ripped a single up the middle with one out to break up the no-hit bid. Moser later scored on an RBI single from Arbuckle, but by then it was 8-1 in favor of Andrean.
“If we could have been a little bit closer when we started to time him up — that’s been the characteristic of these guys all along,” Selvey said. “It was too big of a hill to climb against too good of a pitcher today.”
Doolin allowed two earned runs — Stigleman scored in the bottom of the fifth on a Ryan Schlechty single — on four hits. He struck out nine and walked one.
“The kid is good,” Selvey said. “He is flat-out good.”
Doolin helped his cause with a two-run single in the fifth inning.
Myers, one of nine Jay County seniors who had their careers end, singled up the middle in the fourth inning for the only other Patriot hit. He was also Doolin’s ninth and final strikeout victim.
Selvey was grateful for the likes of Myers, Stigleman and their classmates for guiding the squad to the program’s third regional title in program history and first in 25 years.
“They can look back at this at some point and realize what an accomplishment it is to get this far,” he said.
Gabe Faulkner, the Patriots’ junior catcher, took the loss the hardest. After the post-game handshake he buried his head in his hands, first along the dugout railing and then along the wall in foul territory down the third-base line.
“Proud of our guys, and we’ll just celebrate what we ended up doing,” Selvey said. “We had a good year.”
All Rights Reserved
KOKOMO — The Patriots needed to be flawless.
Against the top-ranked team in the state and playing for a trip to the state final, the margin of error was miniscule.
That’s about how small the strike zone seemed for the Patriot pitchers, too.
The Jay County High School baseball team issued eight walks — twice with the bases loaded — and committed four errors in a five-inning, 13-2 loss to the Andrean Fighting ’59ers in the Class 3A semi-state championship on Saturday at Municipal Stadium.
“Teams like these guys, Andrean, you just don’t give them opportunities and we gave them extra opportunities and easy base runners with walks and four errors,” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey, whose team finished its dream season 20-7. “It’s tough. It’s tough. I knew for us to have a chance it probably would have to be we would have to score three runs and hold them under that. It was a tall order.”
Andrean (30-6) advances to the state championship for the seventh time in program history. It plays third-ranked Silver Creek (25-2), which beat No. 5 Indian Creek 1-0 in the southern semi-state.
“Fantastic,” said Andrean coach Dave Pishkur. The ’59ers have won five state titles, most recently going back-to-back in 2014 and ’15.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s the kids you’re excited for.”
Jay County starter Noah Arbuckle, who suffered his first loss of the season, walked Andrean leadoff hitter Charlie Jones, and an error in the outfield put runners at the corners for the ’59ers. Following another walk to load the bases, Mike Doolin bounced into a double play to push across the game’s first run.
Andrean broke the game open one inning later by scoring four runs, including a bases-loaded walk to Jones, who walked in his first three plate appearances. Jay County also helped, committing two errors in the frame.
“It’s no surprise, anybody’s top of the order is the key to your offense,” Pishkur said. “If the top of your order gets on you’re going to have a good day. If the top of the order struggles, you’re probably going to struggle.
“They did a good job of setting the tone and the other guys did a good job of putting the ball in play.”
Jones, Tyler Nelson and Clay Thompson make up the first three batters in the lineup, and they combined to go 4-for-5 with six walks, four runs and five RBIs.
Tom Schutz, the No. 6 hitter, finished with three singles. He drove in a pair of runs during Andrean’s five-run fifth inning which put the game well out of reach for the Patriots.
Jay County practiced all week in preparation to face Doolin, a junior who committed to Vanderbilt. The right-hander got through the Patriot lineup once without allowing a hit and issuing a walk to Ethan Myers.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning that Max Moser ripped a single up the middle with one out to break up the no-hit bid. Moser later scored on an RBI single from Arbuckle, but by then it was 8-1 in favor of Andrean.
“If we could have been a little bit closer when we started to time him up — that’s been the characteristic of these guys all along,” Selvey said. “It was too big of a hill to climb against too good of a pitcher today.”
Doolin allowed two earned runs — Stigleman scored in the bottom of the fifth on a Ryan Schlechty single — on four hits. He struck out nine and walked one.
“The kid is good,” Selvey said. “He is flat-out good.”
Doolin helped his cause with a two-run single in the fifth inning.
Myers, one of nine Jay County seniors who had their careers end, singled up the middle in the fourth inning for the only other Patriot hit. He was also Doolin’s ninth and final strikeout victim.
Selvey was grateful for the likes of Myers, Stigleman and their classmates for guiding the squad to the program’s third regional title in program history and first in 25 years.
“They can look back at this at some point and realize what an accomplishment it is to get this far,” he said.
Gabe Faulkner, the Patriots’ junior catcher, took the loss the hardest. After the post-game handshake he buried his head in his hands, first along the dugout railing and then along the wall in foul territory down the third-base line.
“Proud of our guys, and we’ll just celebrate what we ended up doing,” Selvey said. “We had a good year.”
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