Bearcats blown out

MUNCIE — Three of the first four Patriots that went to the plate were sent back to the dugout without much fanfare. The other batter only reached base because of an error by the Bearcats.

The Patriots followed up the slow first inning by batting around the order in three of the final four innings to blow out the Bearcats.

The Jay County High School baseball team throttled the Muncie Central Bearcats on Monday for a 23-4 victory.

“I think it’s all about making progress and making sure we’re playing our best baseball by the end of the year,” said JCHS coach Todd Farr. “I’m pleased with the way the guys’ at bats are coming along. We’re putting the ball in play and making things happen. We were able to get some steals and we haven’t been stealing a whole lot of bases lately so it was nice to get that going. And we were trying to get some guys going that may have not had a whole lot of confidence, so we were trying to get them up. And then we got a chance to play everybody, so that’s good.”

After the Patriots (7-10) were held scoreless in the first inning with just Carter Fugiett reaching base on an error, they came out hot in their second chance at the plate.

After an initial out, Aiden Phillips got the second inning started with a single into left field, followed by Garrett Bennett who got hit by a pitch. With one out and two runners on, Brady Jetmore delivered a single to left field to drive Phillips home and get Jay County on the board.

“Aiden’s been on a streak right now hitting, so I felt that he was going to get on no matter what,” Jetmore said. “Then Bennett’s that guy who's been getting hit by pitches a lot lately. So, when he got on I felt a boost of confidence and I finally squared up a ball. It felt good to get that run in.”

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Jay County baseball at Muncie Central (5/12/2025)

The party didn’t end there as three of the next four batters drove in runs as Drew Schemenaur hit an RBI single, Leighton Brown walked to load the bases and Wyatt Foster and Fugiett were hit by back-to-back pitches to plate runners. Two more runs came in on a single by Gavin Byrum, the 10th batter of the inning, before the second frame ended on a hard line drive by Phillips to right field.

The JCHS offense expanded on its 6-1 lead in the third as it sent 16 hitters to the plate en route to 12 runs scored. In the inning, the Patriots walked three times, four batters were hit by pitches, two reached on errors, Brown, Foster and Fugiett all hit singles and in his second at bat of the inning, Schemenaur hit a grand slam.

“I’ve been struggling at the start of the season hitting the ball,” Schemenaur said. “Everybody’s been hyping me up and getting me out of my head. Keeping me out of my head helped a lot and a lot of extra hours put in. I really just sat back and waited for my pitch and was able to drive it out of the yard.”

Jay County had  a pair of walks in the fourth inning, but didn’t manage to score. It batted around for a third time in the fifth inning, scoring five more runs on a Cam Fraley single, a sacrifice fly by A.J. Myers, a Rylee Sollars single, and an error by the MCHS third baseman Aaron Coggeshall.

All nine of the Patriots in the starting lineup either drove in or scored at least one run, white eight collected hits. The players who came off the bench combined for two hits, three walks, two runs and three RBIs as well.

Schemenaur led the team with five RBIs on two hits, followed by Fugiett with three runs driven in and Jetmore with two. Foster led the team with four runs scored, while Brown, Jetmore and Sollars all crossed the plate three times apiece.

“Since we’ve been sticking with this lineup, it’s been a boost of confidence for all the guys that have been in the lineup,” said Jetmore. “Some other guys came in and hit today and I just feel like everyone’s gained a lot of confidence.”

The Patriots also played well defensively, as they didn’t commit any errors.

Kade Sommers, Byrum and Grant Wendel shared responsibilities on the mound. They combined to give up four earned runs on seven hits and two walks over the five innings. The Bearcats (4-17) scored three of its runs on home runs.

“They were really just throwing the right pitches, getting ahead in counts and keeping the hitters guessing all night,” said Schemenaur, who caught all five innings. “That’s what we practice and we worked on pitch sequence and they really did well tonight with that.”

Sommers picked up the win after surrendering one run over the first two innings.