RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
South Adams baseball coach Brad Buckingham hates giving opponents free bases, but his team did a lot of that Tuesday at home in an 11-0, six-inning loss to the Jay County Patriots.
Starfire pitchers hit five batters and walked 10, giving the Patriots plenty of chances to drive in runs with their eight hits. “When you give that many free bases,” Buckingham said, “things are going to hurt pretty bad.”
Jax Wanner started on the mound for the Starfires (1-11, 0-3 in the ACAC), and he came through with three shutout innings, striking out four and allowing only one hit, before control problems contributed to a four-run Patriot rally in the fourth. Wanner had three walks in the inning, including one with the bases loaded, and he allowed another run on a wild pitch. The big hit in the inning was a two-run single by Patriot DH Leighton Brown.
Jay County (5-8, 2-1) scored two more runs on only one hit, a single by Brown, in the fifth off reliever Derek Weaver. Free bases—two walks and a hit batsman—were again big factors in the scoring.
The sixth inning brought more of the same as the Patriots added five runs to make it 11-0. Weaver walked two and yielded two hits before giving way with one out to Kade Sprunger, who allowed no hits but balked in a run, walked one, and hit three batters, two with the bases loaded.
Patriot starter Zedrian Vazquez, meanwhile, put on a pitching clinic, giving up only one hit and striking out seven. Only once did he allow two base runners in the same inning. That was the fourth, when he walked Luke Bauman and Manny Juarez with one out but quickly quelled the rally by striking out Sty Pyle and Derek Weaver on seven pitches.
“He threw a lot of strikes,” said Jay County coach Todd Farr, “and when you throw strikes, you give us a chance to be in the ballgame.”
Vazquez kept the Starfires off balance with his sharp-breaking curve. “That’s his go-to pitch,” said Farr. “That’s what he’s got a lot of confidence in. When it’s right there and he’s throwing it for strikes, it’s a good day.”
Weaver had the Starfires’ only hit, a second-inning single to left field.
Brown paced the Patriots’ offense, reaching base five times, on a walk, two hit-by-pitches, and a pair of singles. He drove in four runs. Joseph Geesaman collected two hits, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch in four plate appearances. Gavin Byrum and Aiden Phillips both doubled.
Buckingham remained upbeat and patient with his young team. He’s trying to instill resilience in his players. “When something doesn’t go our way, how fast can we turn the page? How do you react, and how do you prepare for the next pitch, the next play? That was kind of our postgame talk,” he said. “I told them the great thing about baseball is there’s probably another game that’s coming up quick, and it happens to be tomorrow for us.”
He was referring to a makeup game at Blackford Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Thursday the Starfires return to ACAC action at Southern Wells. Game time is 5:00 P.M.
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