Patriots split twinbill

The Patriots lost the game that mattered most.

They took the less important one to salvage a split.

Jay County High School’s baseball team split a doubleheader with the Bluffton Tigers on Saturday at Don E. Selvey Field.

The Patriots lost the first game, which counted toward the Allen County Athletic Conference standings, 6-4, and won the second game 13-1.

Jay County moved to 16-4 (4-2 ACAC) ahead of its season finale against sectional rival Yorktown tonight at 6 p.m.

Michael Schlechty hit a three-run home run, his team-leading sixth of the season, in the third inning of the first game to pull Jay County into a 4-4 tie with the Tigers. Bluffton took a 6-4 lead in the fifth inning and the Patriots didn’t recover.

Noah Arbuckle blasted a two-run homer, his fifth, in the bottom of the first in game two as Jay County staked a 4-0 lead. It pushed across six runs the next inning and coasted to the five-inning win.

Arbuckle also doubled and totaled five RBIs for the day, while Schlechty doubled as well with four RBIs. Daniel Fugiett doubled and singled twice, Ryan Schlechty hit a triple and a double while Gabe Faulkner contributed three singles.

Wyatt Geesaman got the win in game two, allowing one unearned run on two hits with 11 strikeouts and three walks in five innings.



Jay splits two

CENTERVILLE — Jay County’s junior varsity baseball team split a pair of games at Centerville on Saturday.

The Patriots (7-10-1) weren’t able to score past the first inning of game one in a 14-4 loss to Batesville in four innings. An 11-run fourth inning carried them to a 23-13 win over host Centerville in game two.

Kade Shannon led the Patriots with four singles while also driving in two runs. Gavin Myers had three hits and four RBIs as well. Adrek Pogue tripled and singled while Sam Dunlavy and Darius Esparza both doubled and had three RBIs apiece.

Shannon got the win in relief of game two. He allowed two earned runs on two hits and struck out one in 1 2/3 innings.



Optimist wins two

Portland Optimist won a pair of games recently in Portland Junior League’s Rookie softball division.

It beat Jay County REMC 12-11 on Friday, then got a 17-1 win Saturday against Display Craft.

Madysen Taylor totaled a double and seven singles and scored seven times in the two games. Alieah Cox and Karliee Baxter had seven hits each, and Cox had seven runs. Alexa Ridenour homered and singled four times while Shylyn Blowers contributed five hits.

For Display Craft, Emery Foster and Jaylee Twigg had two hits each. Channa Butler and Chaley Butler both had one hit.

Karsyn Schwieterman hit a home run, two doubles and a single while scoring four runs. Kenady Lyons also had four hits as Haley Comer and Alivya Schwieter