RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
MONROE – Zedrian Vazquez and Aiden Phillips combined on a four-hitter to lead Jay County to a 7-1 victory over Adams Central Thursday night at the Jets’ field in a key ACAC baseball matchup.
The win was the Patriots’ seventh in a row after opening the season with five straight losses.
Jay County’s four-run fifth inning broke open a pitching duel between Vazquez and the Jets’ Cade Van De Weg to put the Pats up 5-0.
Van De Weg, who had a no-hitter through four innings, was only one strike from escaping the fifth unscathed. After striking out Kade Sommers to open the inning and yielding a line-drive single to Grant Wendel and an infield hit to Dakota Rowles, he got Jackson Edwards to pop up a suicide squeeze attempt for the second out.
Then he hit Andrew Schemenaur to load the bases. He took AJ Myers to a 2-2 count before the Patriots’ shortstop slammed a line drive to left center, scoring Wendel and Rowles. A walk to Parker Nichols loaded the bases again, and Ryne Goldsworthy hit a sharp grounder between third and short to drive in Brady Jetmore (courtesy running for Schemenaur) and Myers.
The Pats had scored their first run without a hit in the second inning. Van De Weg threw a wild pitch on strike three to Nichols, who beat catcher Keegan Bluhm’s throw to first. Goldsworthy walked, moving Nichols to second. Van De Weg’s wild pitch advanced him to third, where he scored on a fielder’s choice.
The lone run for the Jets came in the fifth. Van De Weg started the inning by driving a 3-2 pitch to the right field corner for a double, persuading Jay County coach Todd Farr to bring in Phillips to relieve Vazquez.
Phillips walked Jack Hamilton, with Van De Weg dashing to third when ball four got past Shemenaur. Trevor Currie’s deep fly to center then scored Van De Weg. Phillips recovered to retire Ethan Funk on a comebacker and Dakota Perry on a strikeout to close the inning.
The Patriots padded their lead in the sixth when Carson Ross, in relief of Van De Weg, loaded the bases with three walks, and Myers, with one out, delivered his second two-run single, a line drive to right.
Phillips faced the minimum in the last two innings. The Jets’ Jamison Roach did reach base on an infield hit in the sixth, but a slick 1-6-3 double play cleared the bases.
Farr liked what he saw from Phillips, who is just a sophomore. “He’s got a ton of confidence up there on the mound right now and just throws strikes and battles, so I’m just very pleased with where he’s at right now,” he said.
He also lauded Vazquez’s effort. “He’s throwing really well,” he said. “There’s nothing fancy about what he does; he just locates and gets guys to hit the ball.”
Adams Central coach Josh Foster agreed that the Patriots’ pitching was impressive. “They just hit their spots,” he said. “We didn’t know exactly what to expect out of Vazquez, but he hit his spots and did well for them.”
Vazquez gave up three hits and three walks in his four innings of work. He struck out four. Phillips yielded one hit and two walks while striking out three.
Van De Weg struck out nine, giving up two walks and five hits. Ross walked three and struck out one in one-third of an inning. Dakota Perry gave up only one hit and struck out four in one and two-thirds of an inning in relief of Ross.
The loss drops Adams Central to 8-4 on the season, 1-1 in the ACAC. Jay County improves to 7-5 overall, 2-0 in the conference. The Jets will host Whitko Friday and travel to Wes-Del Saturday for a doubleheader.
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