Norwell knocks out the Patriots (06/03/03)

HARTFORD CITY — A couple of odd things happened Monday night: You could see your breath in front of your face on June 1, and the Jay County baseball team had someone warming up in the bullpen with Josh Jellison on the mound.

The first wasn’t much fun for either team at the Blackford sectional. The second spelled disaster for Patriots.

In a game played in a steady light rain the Norwell Knights knocked Jellison around for 14 hits — compared to just two for Jay County — as they won for the second time this season over the Patriots, 9-2.

Norwell (17-10) moves on to meet Blackford (19-10) — which defeated Maconaquah 9-3 in the other first-round game Monday — in the semifinals Saturday at 11 a.m. Bellmont (19-7) will play Peru (5-17) in the other semifinal at 2:30 p.m., with the championship game at 7 p.m.

Despite a couple of third inning errors, and with Jellison struggling on the mound, Jay County (21-6) was still in the game after Nick Timmerman scored in the fourth inning. But Norwell busted the contest wide open with a clutch hit in the top of the fifth.

With two men on and two men out, Cale Grzych delivered a two-out triple over the head of Chris Myers in right field to score a couple of runs. Grzych would come in one batter later when Adam Homan dropped a fly ball from Tyler Baatz, putting the Knights and starter Andy DeLaGarza in complete control.

Heath Williams attempted to break Norwell’s stronghold on the game with a line drive double to right field with two outs in the fifth inning. However, he tried to stretch the hit into a triple and was nailed at third base on a relay from Joe Kistler to Harry Jauert to Andrew Dafforn.

DeLaGarza did not allow a base runner the rest of the way. He retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, striking out six of them.

He earned the win, allowing two earned runs on two hits. He struck out 12 in the contest at walked four.

In two contests against Jay County this year DeLaGarza gave up just two runs on five hits in 13 innings.

“He’s held them in check pretty well,” said Norwell coach Kelby Weybright. “He’s done a nice job.”

Added Patriot coach Lea Selvey, “We haven’t hit. The kid obviously is a very good pitcher. That was part of my feeling early, that we could try to get that second run in. It didn’t pay off.”

Selvey was referring to a failed squeeze play in the first, which resulted in the first of three times Jay County would run itself out of an inning.

DeLaGarza came out wild, walking Williams and Cameron Hummel on nine pitches. Adam Homan loaded the bases with a bunt single, and after Nick Timmerman struck out Chris Myers pushed the first run across the plate with another walk.

Then came the blunder as Selvey called for the squeeze, but Bailey couldn’t get his bat on a ball well out of the strike zone. Hummel was hung out to dry as he charged home, and was eventually tagged out after a run down.

Norwell then alertly caught Myers wandering between first and second base, and tagged him for the third out after another short run down.

DeLaGarza struck out the side in the second inning and never looked back.

Jay County’s other run came in the fourth inning after Timmerman was hit by a pitch. Myers walked, and Trent Bailey hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-2.

But, Chance Retter struck out looking for the second out, and pinch runner Matt Champ was caught stealing with a 2-2 count on Erich Zielinski for the third.

Williams gave the Patriots their final breath of life in the fifth before being tagged out at third.

“Early I gambled,” said Selvey. “I thought they were a little off. I gambled with the squeeze.”

The gamble failed, and the Knights proceeded to hit Jellison like no team has all season. Their 14 hits accounted for 25 percent of the total he allowed on the year.

They racked up five extra base hits, including a DeLaGarza home run which tied the score in the second inning. Michael Harnish hit another home run in the seventh, a towering blast which cleared Blackford’s massive left-field scoreboard.

Harnish finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Grzych and Shane Dunwiddie and each drove in a pair of runs.

“We’ve just been talking to our kids about trying to be aggressive early,” said Weybright, who knew his players would be in trouble if Jellison got ahead in the count. “We thought if we could swing at fastballs we could hit him a little bit.”

Jellison took the complete-game defeat, allowing nine runs — eight earned — on 14 hits. He struck out seven and walked two.

The loss foiled his bid at matching the school record for wins. Dean Hunt (1976) remains the lone Jay County player to have earned 12 wins in a season.

He also saw his ERA skyrocket as he allowed one more earned run than he had the entire rest of the season. At 0.65 before the game, his ERA jumped to 1.27, moving him from first to fourth on the Patriots’ all-time list.

The 21 wins gave Jay County its first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1991-92. They were 11th in the most recent state voting, were ranked in the top 10 for much of the season, and reached as high as No. 4.

“The kids had a great year,” said Selvey. “I hate to see them go out this way. They’re a great group of kids.”

Unfortunately for the group, four of its six losses came as it went 0-4 against sectional opponents. The other two defeats were at the hands of Olympic Athletic Conference foes Huntington North and Anderson Highland.

Despite having won 56 regular season games over the last three seasons, the Patriots have picked up just one tournament victory over the same span.

Blackford 9, Maconaquah 3

Blackford methodically pushed two runs across the plate in each of the first two innings to build a lead it would never relinquish.

It was the ninth straight win for the Bruins, who scored their first eight runs on the power of seven hits. They were helped out by four Maconaquah errors.

Shane Cowgill paced the Blackford offense with a trio of RBIs. Jerrid Nichols picked up the victory.[[In-content Ad]]