Patriots dump New Castle (05/24/08)

The best baseball regular season in school history ended in typical fashion for the Jay County Patriots - minus the home runs.

Jay County, which is a handful of home runs away from a powerful state record, closed out the regular season with a 15-5, six-inning pounding of the New Castle Trojans Friday at Don E. Selvey Field.

The Patriots (24-2), who scored all six times they came to the plate, played small-ball as 12 of their 15 hits were singles. They also had three doubles.

Jay County will open play in the Huntington North sectional Tuesday against Fort Wayne Southside. Ranked No. 4 in the latest Associated Press Class 4A poll, the Patriots have hit 63 home runs on the season - just five away from tying the single-season state record of 68.

In Friday's game, a late-season addition to the schedule, Jay County scored single runs in each of its first two trips to the plate.

The visiting Trojans answered with a pair of scores in the top of the third before Jay County took the lead for good with a run in the third and five more in the fourth.

JCHS senior Josh Ludy paced the offensive attack with three hits in four trips to the plate and four RBIs.

Thomas McCowan was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a pair of runs batted in for the Patriots, while lead-off hitter Luke Goetz was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Billy Wellman and Phil Powell also scored three runs each for Jay County.

Trey Dunn, Michael Jobe, Billy Wellman, Colton Lombardo and Willie Mayfield each had one hit for the Patriots.

Powell, the first of three Jay County pitchers, went the first three innings to pick up the win. He allowed just one hit and two earned runs while picking up three strikeouts and walking three.

Eric Homan pitched a perfect fourth for JCHS, while Ludy went the final two innings, allowing one hit, three earned runs, two walks and striking out one.

[[In-content Ad]]