Patriot baseball comes up just short

The Patriots gave up an early lead.

They weren’t able to overcome the deficit late.

Jay County High School’s baseball team wasn’t able to hold on to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and had a rally fall short in the final two frames in a 9-7 loss to the Monroe Central Golden Bears on Monday at Don E. Selvey Field.

The Patriots (7-2) grabbed a lead in the first inning on back-to-back RBI doubles from Wyatt Geesaman and Noah Arbuckle. Daniel Fugiett drove in a run on a single and Isaac Moeller brought home another run on a fielder’s choice.

Monroe Central, which is the fifth-ranked team in Class 2A, responded with seven consecutive runs, including four in the third inning, for a 7-4 lead. Jay County trimmed the margin with a run in the home half of the third before the Golden Bears added a pair of runs in the fifth.

Ryan Schlechty doubled home a pair of runs in the sixth but the Patriots weren’t able to cut further into the deficit.

Schlechty added a triple and a walk to lead Jay County at the plate, and Arbuckle, who took the loss pitching, finished with two hits.



Patriot boys third



FARMLAND — Jay County’s boys golf team finished third on Monday in a three-team meet with the Winchester Golden Falcons and Monroe Central Golden Bears at Hickory Hills Golf Club.

The host Bears totaled 169 to take first on the rain-soaked course. Winchester scored 205 for second and Jay County had 233 for third.

Griffin Mann led the Patriots (0-4) with a 50, including making par on the third and sixth holes. Devin Harris was second on the team with 58, and Kyle Sanders carded a 62 as the team’s third-best player. Seth Wilson shot 63 to complete the squad’s score.

Joey Hall (64) and Matthew Hall (68) also competed but their scores did not factor into the team total.



Streak ends

SELMA — A four-game winning streak for the Jay County softball team came to an end Monday with an 8-4 loss to the host Wapahani Raiders.

After a four-run fourth inning put Jay County (4-5) behind by a 5-0 margin, the Patriots responded with three runs in the fifth inning and one more in the sixth to trail 5-4. But a run-saving play in center field by Wapahani prevented further damage and the Raiders scored three times in the sixth for the win.

Hannah Phillips, Kailee Denney and Olivia Bright had the only hits for Jay County, which had won four consecutive games after beginning the year 0-4. 



Randall wins



MUNCIE — Gavin Randall had the lone victory for the Jay County boys track team as it competed in the Muncie Central Relays on Monday.

The host Bearcats earned 97 points, edging Huntington North by one point for the Class A team title. Kokomo totaled 90 points for third, and Jay County was last out of seven teams with 41 points.

Randall, a senior, was the only competitor to successfully clear 6 feet, 1 inch, in high jump.

Trey Castillo, Nathanael Day, Caleb Webster and Isaac Haffner took third in the sprint medley relay, while Castillo, Day, Randall and Webster placed third in the 4x100-meter relay.

Jay County’s 4x800 relay team of Isaka Dalei, Zade Fosnaugh, Aaron Funkhouser and Matthew Paquette finished fifth.