May 26, 2018 at 4:48 a.m.

Good Knight, Norwell

Geesaman shakes off rough inning, shuts down Norwell as Jay County advances to sectional final on Monday
Good Knight, Norwell
Good Knight, Norwell

DECATUR — Wyatt Geesaman felt like he let his teammates down.

As the Patriots led 2-0 entering the third inning, he walked the first four batters and panicked on a squeeze play with bases loaded as the lead vanished.

In the bottom of the frame with the game tied, Geesaman put the team on his shoulders.

And then he shut down the Knights.

Geesaman hit a two-run home run, his first of the season, to break the tie and only allowed one base runner the rest of the way as the Jay County High School baseball team beat the Norwell Knights 10-3 Friday in the Class 3A Sectional 23 semifinal at Bellmont.

“Give that kid a tremendous amount of credit,” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey. “He cruised. They faulted a little bit. [The squeeze] was kind of a goofy play.

“I guess we just realized — and he realized — it’s still early. It’s a long way to go. We can come back and score and answer. And we did.”

Jay County (18-5) advances to the sectional championship at 1 p.m. Monday against the Heritage Patriots, who defeated tournament host Bellmont 7-2 in the other semifinal Friday. Jay County beat Heritage 13-9 May 10 in Monroevile.

Eli Riley, Caleb Kohler and Garrett Weybright all drew walks off Geesaman to begin the third inning Friday. Geesaman then walked Beldon Glasgow with the bases juiced to bring in the first run, and Norwell coach Andy McClain called the squeeze play.

Ian Clark bunted toward the mound as Kohler broke from third. Geesaman fielded the ball and threw to Payton Heniser at first, who was late getting to the bag and Clark reached safely. Weybright, meanwhile, never stopped running from second and scored without a throw to give the Knights (19-8) a 3-2 advantage.

“It was hectic, I think,” Geesaman said of the squeeze play. “That’s the best way I can say it is hectic.”

Selvey said at that point Geesaman’s leash was short, as Isaac Moeller and Gaven Hare were both warming up in the bullpen.

Ethan Myers began the bottom of the third with a double to left center field as he extended his hitting streak to 11 straight games. 

Michael Schlechty singled to give the Patriots runners at the corners. Noah Arbuckle drove in a run on a fielder’s choice before Geesaman’s blast over the fence in left field.

“I was just going up there looking for a fastball,” he said. The junior watched Cole Louison’s first pitch go by for a strike. “The next pitch he gave it to me right where I wanted it and I took advantage of it.”

He felt it was redemption for giving up the lead.

“I wasn’t looking to hit a home run, but I was looking to drive in a couple runs,” he said. Geesaman also had an RBI in Jay County’s two-run first inning. “That just put icing on the cake.”

Geesaman got into a bit of trouble in the fourth inning but worked out of the jam. He hit Garrison Brege to begin the inning, and Korbyn Costello put down a sacrifice bunt to move Brege to second. A balk put Brege at third with one out, but Geesaman put down Levi Leidig and Riley on called third strikes to end the threat.

Leidig and Riley represented the second and third outs as Geesaman — he allowed just one hit, struck out eight and walked five over seven innings — retired the final dozen Knights.

“I was just being me,” he said. “I was spotting my fastball pretty well tonight. My slider was working pretty good. I was just being me. That’s all I can do.”

Jay County wasn’t done scoring, either. It sent nine to the plate as it plated four runs in the fourth inning. Schlechty, who along with twin brother Ryan had a multi-hit game, drove in his brother from third to start the scoring. A balk, an Arbuckle RBI single and a Norwell error allowed three more Patriots to reach home.

Michael Schlechty and Arbuckle — the probable starter in the sectional final on Monday — both finished with two RBIs. Cole Stigleman and Mitchel Frasher also added singles.

“All the kids today had a great approach at the plate,” Selvey said. “Trying to hit strikes and moving runners, doing what they needed to do.

“Defense was good. We had that one little boo boo … I don’t care, it’s a win.”
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