RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
GREENTOWN – Despite an oh-so-close two-run seventh inning rally, the Adams Central Flying Jets lost their third game in less than 24 hours in the Howard County Invitational Tournament, dropping a 7-6 decision to the host Eastern (Greentown) Comets.
The Jets (0-4) were competitive in each of the three games against quality opponents, losing 5-3 on Friday night to Northwestern and 6-3 to Rochester Saturday morning before facing Eastern (5-1).
In a near repeat of Friday night, when they had the tying runs on second and third in the final frame, the Jets had Reece Hammond on second with two out in the seventh and down by a run against Eastern. Jacob Miller saw a pitch he liked from Eastern reliever Owen Tolle and put a good swing on it, but his line drive rocketed straight into the glove of Comet right fielder Cody Tarrh to end the game.
Back-to-back doubles by Max Byerly and Ethan Funk and an Eastern error accounted for the Jets’ two runs in the seventh.
“We knew coming in that every team here was good, and that we were going to have to play our best,” commented Adams Central head coach Josh Foster. “And the good part is, we’re not playing our best. I don’t even know if we’re quite average if you look at the scorebook. I mean, our wild pitches and errors are what’s given the other teams the victories. We clean that up, and we could be, you know, 3 and 0 on the week.”
The Jets were ahead, 3-2, as Eastern came up in the bottom of the third, but a big five-run rally gave the Comets a 7-3 advantage. As Foster noted, it was mostly mistakes that gave the Comets their runs. Singles by Tarrh and Alister Shrock were the Comets’ only hits in the inning, but Kolten Combs, who started the inning on the mound, walked two hitters before Foster replaced him with Joey Everett. Everett also walked a hitter, and the Jets added a wild pitch, passed ball, and an infield error to contribute to the self-inflicted damage.
Eastern took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the big blow a triple by Owen Tolle to the right field corner that drove in Kaleb Hurt, who had walked. Tolle then scored on Trey Beachy’s groundout.
The Jets got one run back in the second on singles by Reece Hammond and Miller, followed by a botched double-play ball by the Eastern infield. Miller almost scored a second run on a double steal attempt, but Eastern shortstop Tolle fired a laser to get him out at home.
The Jets’ second and third runs came in the third on a single by Byerly, a double down the right field line by Funk, an RBI groundout by Hayden Bluhm, and Jami Roach’s line-shot single up the middle.
A single tally by the Jets in the fifth inning cut the lead to 7-4. Byerly led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Funk’s groundout, and scored on Bluhm’s long sacrifice fly to center.
Eastern is coached by Erik Hisner, a 2001 Bellmont graduate and former North-South All-Star. His Comets were ranked seventh in the preseason IHSBCA 2A poll; the Jets came in at the #10 spot. Hisner, in his sixth season at Eastern after 11 years at Whitko, enjoyed the opportunity to play an old high school rival. “They’re always competitive,” he said of the Jets. “You know, they have a good athletic tradition over there in all sports, so we knew it was going to be a battle and we ended up one run better, I guess.”
Hisner was glad his team got to play a lot of ball over the weekend as preparation for the rest of the season. “We got a chance to play four games in two days and six the first week,” he said. “So we’ve been able to get everybody out there on the mound, a lot of at bats, got some guys playing different positions. We’ve got some versatile players, so it’s great to get that experience in early in the season before we get into conference play here in about another week and a half.”
Foster echoed Hisner’s comments. “Yeah, we’ve seen some things and changed some things up just to see what other guys could do,” he said, “and in game three, we’re not playing for the tournament championship. So we wanted to just see some things, and I’m pretty pleased with what we’ve seen.”
Freshman Reid Kretz got the win for the Comets, going five innings and giving up four runs (three earned), eight hits, and two walks while striking out three. Combs, who pitched an inning and a third in relief of starter Reece Hammond, took the loss.
Byerly and Funk each had two hits for the Jets. Tarrh had a pair of singles for the Comets.
Northwestern won the tournament with a 9-3 win over Bluffton in the final game. Bluffton had defeated Eastern, 2-1, in extra innings Friday night.
The Jets host Bellmont next Tuesday at 5:00 P.M.
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