Jay goes back-to-back

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DECATUR — “Boy, that’s cold.”

Jay County High School baseball coach Lea Selvey muttered those words after three of his players doused him with the water bucket following his team’s 8-0 victory against the Marion Giants in the Class 3A Sectional 23 championship game Monday afternoon at Bellmont.

“These guys, when they’re focused we’re pretty good,” said Selvey, whose team won back-to-back sectional titles for the first time since the Patriots claimed three in a row from 1991 to ’93. “They were focused. We got a lot of hits (and) another great pitching performance from (Noah Arbuckle).

“Just went on from there.”

Jay County (18-5) advances to the Garrett regional semifinal against Angola at 11 a.m. Saturday. New Haven and Yorktown meet in the second semifinal, and the championship game is slated for 8 p.m.

“It feels about the same,” said JCHS junior Noah Arbuckle, who finished 3-for-4 with a double, two singles and a pair of RBIs.

“It feels good to win a sectional title,” he continued. “Just keep going (on the) road to state.”

After threatening in the first inning and going down in order during the second, Jay County finally got its offense rolling in the third inning. Ryan Schlechty singled to begin the frame, and Wyatt Geesaman walked. Michael Schlecty singled to right field to score his twin brother as Geesaman took third on the play.

An error on a pickoff attempt allowed Geesaman to score and Michael Schlechty to get to second, and two batters later Daniel Fugiett singled in Schlechty for a 3-0 JCHS lead.

“I think that first inning, even though we didn’t score, our kids knew they were getting to them,” Selvey said. “They made a couple mistakes and we could see them start to crack a little bit.

“Then from that point on, just like a shark smelling blood.”

Arbuckle said the slow start offensively is nothing new for this squad.

“It’s been like that a couple games for us this year,” Arbuckle said. “We took a few innings to see (Marion pitcher Ethan Dixon). We put it on them in an inning and just made it hurt.”

Two walks, an error and an Arbuckle RBI single in the fourth inning put the Patriots on top 5-0, and an RBI single from Ryan Schlechty an inning later made it 6-0.

In the sixth, Geesaman and Arbuckle hit consecutive doubles — Arbuckle’s scored Geesaman — and a wild pitch put Arbuckle at third base.

Michael Schlechty hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field for the game’s final run. The Schlechtys, Geesaman and Arbuckle combined to go 8-for-14, score six times and drive in five runs.

“They came through, they did their thing,” Selvey said.

Aside from a tough situation in the top of the first inning and a jam in the fifth, Arbuckle and the Patriot defense kept the Giants (16-13-2) in check.

Anthony Reynolds led off the game for Marion with a single and reached third on a stolen base and a wild pitch. Reynolds, who had three of the Giants’ four hits, was caught in a rundown between third and home on a botched squeeze attempt.

In the fifth, the Giants loaded the bases with two outs, a fielder’s choice and a single, but Arbuckle induced an inning-ending grounder to end the threat.

The junior threw seven shutout innings, allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five.

“I just felt good on the mound,” he said. It was the second consecutive complete-game outing for the Patriots after Geesaman’s went the distance in the semifinal on Friday, a 2-1 win over Heritage. “I felt my stuff was working pretty good. Offspeed was breaking, just mixing stuff up and giving them different looks.

“It felt good.”