Building confidence

BERNE — Both the Patriots and Starfires have had some offensive struggles through the first half of the season.

Despite a slow start, a solid performance on the mound from Zedrian Vazquez kept the Patriots in the game until they broke it open in the fourth inning.

On a year with individual to team-wide struggles, the Patriots want to use this as a confidence builder.

Vazquez threw a complete-game shutout as his offense put up multiple runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to lift Jay County High School’s baseball team to an 11-0 victory over the South Adams Starfires in six innings on Tuesday.

“I was really pleased,” said JCHS coach Todd Farr. “I didn’t feel like when we first started the game that we were really mentally in it, but our guys battled. (Zedrian) threw strikes, especially a lot of first-pitch strikes. That kept us in the ball game and kept it nothing-nothing there until we broke it open.

“So I’m very pleased they were locked in and ready to go after that first inning. Even that first inning was bad. It was litting things that, in the past, tend to lead to negative effects on the game. They’re pushing through so that’s good.”

Jay County (5-8, 2-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) had six batters reach base on two walks, two that were hit by pitches, a fielder’s choice and one hit — Joe Geesaman, had a single as part of his 2-for-2 day with three runs scored — through the first three innings but couldn’t get any to cross the plate.

They broke through in the fourth inning.

The first three JCHS batters reached base against Jax Wanner as Aiden Phillips doubled, Garrett Bennett drew a walk and Geesaman smacked his second single. Wanner recorded the first out for South Adams (1-11, 0-4 ACAC) on an infield fly that he caught, but he issued a walk to Drew Schemenaur to give the Patriots their first run.

Leighton Brown then delivered a two-RBI single to right-center field to plate a pair and give Jay County a 3-0 lead. (One more run scored as Rylee Sollars, Schemenaur’s courtesy runner, took home on a wild pitch.)

“Coming into the game, I wasn’t doing awful, but it wasn’t what a leadoff hitter should be,” Brown said. “Coach Farr stopped me before my first at bat and said, ‘Leighton, you’re missing one thing and that’s confidence.’ I just replayed that in my head all at bat long and it paid off today.”

Thinking through that message from Farr paid off as Brown reached base in all five plate appearances, as he had two singles, was hit by two pitches and drew a walk. He tied Geesaman and Gavin Byrum for two hits and led the Patriots with four RBIs.

Brown drove in the first run of the fifth inning with a single to right field, and Sollars scored on a passed ball to give Jay County a 6-0 advantage.

JCHS scored five more runs in the sixth inning. They came in on a Bennett single, a Derek Weaver balk and three hit batters (Brown, Fugiett and Byrum) with the bases loaded.

While Jay County’s offense found its groove, Vazquez held the Starfires down. Through six innings, the senior allowed four baserunners as he surrendered a hit to Weaver in the second and issued three walks. 

Preston Wanner, Luke Bauman’s courtesy runner, was the only Starfires to reach second base after back-to-back walks. No damage came from it as Vazquez struck out the next two hitters by getting them to chase high fastballs. He finished with seven strikeouts.

Zedrian Vazquez, a senior at Jay County, throws a fastball during the win at South Adams on Tuesday. Vazquez pitched a six-inning shutout while striking out seven batters as part of the 11-1 victory. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

After finishing last season with a 2.37 ERA, Vazquez hasn’t the start to his senior season he would have liked. While Tuesday’s performance lowered his ERA from over four to 3.64, he’s hoping he can build some more confidence going into the rest of the season.

“It really just boosts my confidence,” Vazquez said. “I worked on pitches today and tried to locate spots and feed from the energy in the dugout. This was a clean slate and really helps me boost my confidence. …

“My fastball was my go-to pitch today. I was mowing them down left and right with that up-and-in high heat.”

The Patriots defense backed up Vazquez the entire day, finishing the game without any errors committed.

JCHS right fielder Garrett Bennett, who characterized the outfield as “a no-fly zone” per coach Todd Farr, reels in a catch during the 11-1 victory over South Adams on Tuesday. The Patriots finished with zero errors in the game. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Farr was happy that his team avoided any major mental errors in the field, on the basepaths and in the batter’s box.

“I think it’s the mental mistakes that have hurt and haunted us,” said Farr, referencing the 3-0 loss to Adams Central without giving up any earned runs. “They’re coming along. We want to make sure that the guys are figuring it out as we’re going, learning and staying positive through this process. We’re trying to find something that we can build off of and I’m hoping that today’s win is that something we can build off of.”