Patriots hold off Knight rally

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For the second time in as many days the Patriots built an early lead.



Tuesday the advantage was never threatened.



A day later they had to hang on for the win.



Payton Heniser hit a two-run home run in the third inning that proved to be the game-winning runs as the Jay County High School baseball team held off a rally Wednesday to beat the Norwell Knights 6-5 at Don E. Selvey Field.



“We’ve done that a couple times, scored early,” said Jay County coach Lea Selvey, whose team moves to 11-5 on the year ahead of an Allen County Athletic Conference tilt on Thursday at Heritage. “They are a very good team. We’re fortunate enough to hang in there in the end.”



Norwell (14-5) trailed 6-1 after Heniser’s homer and scored three times in the fifth inning to trim the deficit to two. Caleb Kohler drew a one-out walk, and Beldon Glasgow also walked one out later. Ian Clark hit an RBI ground-rule double to right center, and Christian Buhata traded spots with him in driving in two runs of his own.



The next inningr, Korbyn Costello tripled to score pinch-hitter Cole Louison, who walked, to make it a one-run game.



In the top of the seventh with Beldon, Clark and Buhata — the heart of Knights’ order that was 4-for-8 already — due up, Jay County starting pitcher Noah Arbuckle closed the door on any threat. Glasgow grounded out to second and Clark flew out to right field. Buhata reached on an error and Garrison Brego hit a soft pop fly to Max Moser at third base to give Arbuckle the complete-game victory.



“Had some guys, thought the right guys at the right spot,” said Norwell coach Andy McClain, whose team meets Class 4A No. 3 Huntington North on Thursday. “That’s baseball. They didn’t get it this time. They’ll get it next time.”



Arbuckle, a sophomore, needed 107 pitches to stay perfect on the year with a 4-0 record. He allowed five runs — four earned — on eight hits while striking out three and walking a pair. He labored through the fifth inning, throwing 21 pitches and prompting Selvey to have a pair of relievers warm up in the bullpen.



But despite the right-hander nearly blowing the lead, Selvey never lost confidence in the youngster.



“Noah did a nice job on the hill for us once again,” he said. “Staring to be a pretty good force for us. That’s kind of what we wanted to see today.”



After scoring four runs in the first inning to start a 6-1 win Tuesday against Southern Wells, Jay County wasted little time Wednesday with its bats. On a gusty evening with wind blowing to straightaway center, Cole Stigleman led off the home half of the first inning with a triple over the head of Kohler in center.



Ryan Schlechty lofted the first pitch he saw into center, and Kohler again misjudged the ball’s trajectory and it one-hopped the fence. Schlechty tried to stretch it into a triple but was cut down on a relay from Brego at shortstop.



The Knights evened the score in the top of the second on a Logan House RBI squeeze bunt, but the game wasn’t tied for too long.



Arbuckle singled to start the home half of the second, and Heniser reached on an error before Mitchel Frasher hit an RBI double to right field.



With bases loaded, Schlechty plated Heniser on a fielder’s choice, and Frasher scored on a Max Moser groundout to make it 4-1.



One inning later, Wyatt Geesaman drew a one-out walk, and after another out Heniser lofted a ball to left field that carried over the fence for his second home run of the season.



“You tell your kids not to uppercut, but you’re kind of better trying to elevate it to the outfield,” Selvey said of the strategy of playing in windy conditions. “A line drive, you get it up above the fence, it’s going to go out.”



Ethan Myers was 1-for-3 before exiting the game in the sixth inning. He pushed his hitting streak to seven games, during which he is batting .500 (12-for-24) with three doubles, a home run and nine RBIs.