Two for Nichols

If the Patriots had a nickel for every time Parker Nichols came through with two outs and runners on second base, they’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Nichols delivered the walk-off single to lift the Jay County High School baseball team past the Woodlan Warriors in the first Allen County Athletic Conference matchup of the season 2-1 on Thursday.

“We feel good,” JCHS coach Todd Farr said. “It was our goal to win conference, so we’ve got to win the first one to get the rest of them.

“These guys continue to fight and there’s no quit … We finally got momentum going in the right direction, so we gotta keep them going.”

The Patriots (3-5, 1-0 ACAC) and the Warriors (4-5, 0-1 ACAC) entered the seventh inning tied at one apiece. Aiden Phillips made quick work of Woodlan in the top half of the inning to set up the chance of a walk off.

The inning started with Cody Rowles popping out to Adams and Jackson Edwards grounding out to him after.

Drew Schemenaur drew a walk to keep the inning alive. (Brady Jetmore entered for Schemenaur as a courtesy runner.) Then Sam Myers got hit by a pitch to put pressure on Gavin Sheehan.

With an opportunity with a runner in scoring position, Nichols came up the plate with a plan.

In his first three at bats, Nichols got first-pitch strikes from Sheehan. With the winning run on second base, Nichols looked for a fastball right away and he got it.

Nichols connected with the pitch, sending the ball over the shortstop’s head into left field. With a good jump off of second base, Jetmore rounded third and headed home. He crossed home plate safely as the Patriots’ celebration began, resulting in Nichols being dogpiled by his teammates.

“Coming to the plate I was pumped,” Nichols said. “I had so much adrenaline and I knew I was going to be able to get the job done.

“I don’t care what anyone says. I don’t care if you’ve never played baseball in your life. That is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Any walk off hit when you win the game like that is the greatest feeling ever.”

The walk off wasn’t the only example of clutch hitting from Nichols.

Again with two outs, Nichols attacked the first pitch resulting in a line drive to left field to score Edwards from second base to put Jay County on the scoreboard in the third inning.

“We work on that stuff,” Farr said. “We talk about those two-out backbreakers and that momentum there. That’s something we practice and to see it executed in games is great to see.”

The Patriots received strong performances on the mound from Zedrian Vazquez and Aiden Phillips.

Getting the start, Vazquez retired the first nine batters in order, including five strikeouts. He only gave up one run over five innings as Clayton Rosier singled to lead off the fifth inning and later scored on Noah Beghtel’s sacrifice fly.

Phillips had a rocky start walking the first two batters while throwing 10 of his first 11 pitches for balls. After the two hiccups, he dialed in to record the final six outs consecutively to end the game and earn his first win of the season.

“Zedrian threw a phenomenal game,” Farr said. “For Aiden, even the balls that he threw, they were right around the zone. He's a kid that’s going to bear down and get it done.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in those two for us right now.”

Woodlan had opportunities in both the fourth and sixth innings but couldn’t push any runs across.

In the fourth, Braden Smith led off with  a single to right field. Drew Fleek replaced spots with him on a fielder’s choice and Sheehan followed with a single. Acting as Sheehan’s courtesy runner, Evan Koch made a costly mistake as Vazquez picked him off at first base.

The next two batters walked before Ethan Trygg rolled over a ground ball to third base that Nichols scooped up and recorded the force out.

In the sixth, after Phillips issued the pair of leadoff walks, he induced an infield fly and two ground balls to leave the pair stranded.

“We didn’t execute,” Woodlan coach Mark Koos said. “We got picked off and that really hurt. The young guy just froze.

“We’re working with the kids and they’ll learn from it. …

“Hats off to Jay County. They deserved to win. They’re well coached and played hard and it was a tough loss for us that stung our guys a little bit.”