JC ends year vs. No. 9 Vikes

FORT WAYNE — The Patriots were able to handle a Giant obstacle in their tournament opener. Facing a state-ranked team in the semifinal round proved to be too tall a task.
Jay County High School’s baseball team defeated the Marion Giants 5-3 Saturday in the first round of the Class 4A Sectional 6 tournament at Homestead, but fell 15-0 in five innings to the No. 9 Huntington North Vikings in semifinal action Monday.
Huntington North (27-6), which topped Homestead 8-7 in the opening round, went on to defeat Fort Wayne North Side 20-1 in five innings later Monday to win the sectional title. It advances to play top-ranked Carroll (28-2) in regional action Saturday at Pendleton Heights.
In its opening game, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed three times because of rain, the Patriots (6-18) scored all of their runs in the third inning. Chance Fuller did most of the damage, smashing a grand slam to score Alex Dunn (three hits), Ryan Miskinis (two hits) and Andre Duke.
Ty Huntsman also had a hit and a run.
Dustin Selvey earned the victory, racking up 14 strikeouts as he went the distance. All three Marion runs came in the seventh inning against Selvey, who allowed four hits and three walks in the game.
Jay County managed just one hit, a single by Fuller, in the semifinal loss to Huntington North, which took control with an eight-run first inning.

Golfers improve
YORKTOWN — Jay County’s boys golf team finished near the bottom of the field Saturday, but improved by 32 strokes since their last trip to The Players Club.
The Patriots, who posted a 393 in the season-opening Yorktown Invitational, returned to the course to post a 361 for a 17th-place finish at the 20-team Yorktown Invitational.
Third-ranked Zionsville won with a 302, finishing two strokes ahead of No. 8 Norwell in the tournament that included six of the top 20 teams in Indiana.
Freshman Evan Mathias finished with 10 pars, including four in a row on holes 14 through 17, to lead the Patriots with an 84. Drew Houck had eight pars, six of which came on the front nine, en route to an 87.
Justen Keller added a 93, and Austin Mann completed the team score with a 97. Evan Ryder shot 105.

Waters wins again
POVIGLIO, Italy — Mitch Waters, a 2002 Jay County High School graduate, earned another victory Sunday for the Sala Baganza Baseball Club as it defeated the host Heila Poviglio Baseball Club 5-1.
Waters (4-2) struck out eight as he went the distance while allowing just one run on five hits and a walk. His league-leading ERA is now 0.69, and he also ranks third in Italy’s Serie 2A in opponents batting average (.174) and fourth in strikeouts (72).
He also went 2-for-4 at the plate with a walk and an RBI against Heila Poviglio. He leads Sala Baganza (6-10) with a .355 batting average.[[In-content Ad]]