July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

Defending champs top Jay County (04/21/04)

JCHS Baseball
Defending champs top Jay County (04/21/04)
Defending champs top Jay County (04/21/04)

By By RAY [email protected]

PORTLAND — Despite the final score, the Jay County baseball team proved Tuesday it can play with some very good teams. Especially if it eliminates some mistakes.

The Patriots lost to the defending state champion Norwell Knights 9-5 Tuesday, but five of the runs they gave up were unearned and they didn’t start swinging the bats until the fourth inning.

Jay County (3-4) batters struck out six times in the first three innings as Norwell jumped ahead 5-1. The Patriot bats came around with doubles by Mike Smith and Adam Brandt to score a run in the fourth inning, but then the lightning struck.

The electric sky sent the teams into a mandatory half-hour delay at the end of the fourth inning, and everything fell apart for the home team in the fifth. The Patriots opened the frame with an error, and starting pitcher Josh Shatto gave up a walk, a balk and a wild pitch as four unearned runs crossed the plate.

Jay County coach Lea Selvey acknowledged he should have gone to the bullpen after the long lightning layoff. However, he also said he hoped his sophomore starter would take something away from the game.

“It was a good learning experience,” said Selvey of Shatto, who had a bunch of wild pitches, allowed seven stolen bases and was hurt by four errors. “It’ll make him come away a little wiser.”

After the error to open the fifth inning Norwell got a singled, a walk and then a two-run sacrifice bunt from Harry Jauert. Cale Grzych and Drew Dafforn followed with doubles before Shatto came out of the contest.

Fellow sophomore Josh Atkinson relieved Shatto he tossed 21/3 scoreless innings and gave up just one hit.

The Patriots scored three times in the final two innings — including twice on Heath Williams’ fourth home run of the year — but by then the deficit was too great.

“You take away a couple of errors and unearned runs, and we win this game,” said Selvey.

Tyler Baatz earned the win for Norwell, allowing five runs on seven hits in seven innings. He struck out 10 batters — five looking — and did not issue a walk.

He also helped his own cause in a big way with a two-run home run to right-center field in the second inning. He finished 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, three runs and two RBIs.

“Tyler is our No. 1,” said Norwell coach Kelby Weybright. “We look for him to throw our No. 1 schedule. He did a good job of mixing up pitches and changing speeds.”

Baatz is now 3-1 in replacing Andy De La Garza, who beat Jay County in last year’s sectional and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins.

“I think he’s handled it pretty well,” added Weybright. “He threw the state championship game for us last year. He knew this would be his role.”

Baatz, who hit eighth in the Norwell order, got plenty of help from the other five through nine hitters.

No. 7 hitter Drew Dafforn went 2-for-4, mashing a solo home run in the third inning. He scored twice and drove in two runs.

Jauert also had two RBIs from the No. 9 hole, and No. 6 hitter Kyle Putt scored once. No. 5 hitter Mitch Harnish singled and scored twice.

In the meantime, No. 3 and 4 hitters Jason Schortgen and Shane Dunwiddie combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts.

“To see Harnish, Baatz and Dafforn step up was great,” said Weybright. “The front part our lineup looked horrible at the plate and those other guys stepped up.”

Heath Williams continued to look good at the front of the Patriot lineup, finishing 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBIs and a stolen base. He accounted for Jay County’s first run as he led off the game with a single, stole second base and scored on an error.

Cory Locke was the only other Patriot with two hits, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run.

“I started to see our bats come around more than they have,” said Selvey, whose team got six of its seven hits in the final four innings as they keyed on Baatz’s fastball. “We told our guys to step back a little in the box and knock it up the middle and we started to hit it.”

Jay County will try to get back to .500 today when it visits Fort Wayne Wayne at 4:30 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]
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