Patriots fall at SA

BERNE — The Patriots managed to get hits off the Starfires’ ace.

They just weren’t able to string them together to consistently score runs.

And the defense didn’t do them many favors, either.

Jay County High School’s baseball team didn’t quite capitalize on chances offensively and committed four errors in a 7-2 loss to the South Adams Starfires on Tuesday at Harry F. Anderson Field.

“They answered everything we did which is the mark of a good team,” said JCHS coach Lea Selvey, whose team dips to 5-4 (1-1 Allen County Athletic Conference). “First inning we left them off the hook, then they came and put a run up.

“I don’t want to use young as an excuse, but you’re looking at a (Starfire) group that is pretty good. They took advantage of us.”

Jay County, which hosts Shenandoah tonight, had runners on the corners with one out in the top of the first inning, but they were both thrown out on a botched double steal.

Then the Starfire offense got the game’s first run on an RBI single from Adam Besser, who also got the win on the mound.

South Adams went ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the third before the Patriots ended the shutout with a run in the top of the next inning. And in the fourth, the Starfires added a pair of two-out RBI singles to go on top, 4-1.

Down 5-1 in the sixth, Jay County started the frame with three consecutive singles but only managed to push across one run. Then a pair of errors in the bottom of the inning gifted the Starfires the final runs of the game.

“There were stretches where we didn’t stay within our approach of what we wanted to do,” Selvey said. “We were our own demise, I felt like.”

The aforementioned Besser kept the Patriots off balance most of the night, working in his curveball to keep hitters guessing. Although he scattered six hits, he gave up two earned runs with seven strikeouts and two walks in 6 2/3 innings.

“For one, he’s a guy that knows how to pitch and he knows how to pitch in a big game,” South Adams coach Brad Buckingham said. “That can’t be underestimated. We have some guys that have some good arms but they don’t have the same game experience, they don’t have the same — I guess you could say moxie — that he has on the mound.

“For our team when he’s on the mound everybody can breathe a little bit easier.”

Blake Caldwell led the JCHS offense with a double and two singles. Crosby Heniser, who suffered the loss on the hill for the Patriots, also had two singles. Austin Curts recorded the team’s only RBIs.

Offensively, Besser led the Starfires with a double, two singles and two RBIs. Aidan Wanner, AJ Dull and James Arnold each had hits as well.

“We’ve had games this year where we’ve had mistakes by the other team and we haven’t been able to capitalize,” Buckingham said. “Tonight we could. That’s big when you can scratch a run across. It puts a little breathing room.”