Jefferson City's pitching staff was the difference in its wins Saturday against Lee's Summit and Lee's Summit North at Vivion Field, each by a 3-2 score.
"We're not going to out-slug anybody, I think they know that," Jays coach Brian Ash said. "The key thing is, our pitchers have to be on point, and defensively, we have to make plays behind them. If we can do that, we can hang around just long enough, so in the sixth and seventh innings we can scratch a couple runs across."
Timely offense and base running were also keys in the games, scoring a run in the sixth inning in each contest to break a 2-2 tie.
Against Lee's Summit, Bret Jaegers singled to center with one out in the sixth, then advanced to second on a passed ball. Tyler Bise replaced him as a courtesy runner, and he took third on another passed ball. Bryce Beckley then hit a sacrifice fly to score the game-winning run.
"We put in Bise, who has good speed, and another passed ball allowed him to advance," Ash said. "Luckily for us, we were able to tag up and get that runner home.
"It shows a little bit of fortitude. Obviously, you have a 2-0 lead, you're trying to hammer them shut and not even be in that situation."
The Jays held the 1-0 advantage through the first four innings, scoring Grant Wood off an Adam Grunden groundout in the first inning. In the fifth, Jefferson City added another run. Jake Pridgin and Blaine Meyer singled and Jacob Weirich's walked got things started, then Wood hit a shot to left field to bring in Pridgin.
The Tigers wouldn't go down quietly, they tacked on two runs in the sixth to tie the game. Blake Ford singled in Zavian Hill and Brad Botts' sacrifice fly to scored Ben Burnham. Matt Cadwell popped out to end the inning and strand two runners.
Lee's Summit had plenty of other chances throughout the game. It left a runner on base in each of the first three innings and had a runner picked off at first base in the fifth inning.
Weirich - who picked off Cadwell in the fifth - was the story of the game, scattering five hits in 51/3 innings of work. He struck out seven and didn't allow a walk.
"I was just hitting the strike zone, hitting my locations and letting my defense make plays for me," Weirich said.
Weirich's one-two punch of a fastball and curveball was solid. When his fastball wasn't hitting, his curveball was there to get him a strike.
"His changeup is his third pitch," Ash said. "We didn't really go to that too much today. When he has all three going, this is kind of the outing you're going to see."
The Jays used a platoon of pitching in their win against Lee's Summit North, throwing four pitchers to get the job done.
"We have a magnitude of different guys to come out and pitch," said Ash. "I literally have eight-to-10 guys I feel comfortable throwing out there in any situation, so for us, that's a luxury."
Jaegers got the start, pitching four innings, allowing the Broncos' only three hits and only two runs. Hayden Hirschvogel relieved Jaegers to start the fifth and Logan Schmitz in the in the sixth. Lee's Summit North didn't record a hit after Hirschvogel entered the game.
"(Hirschvogel) was the pitcher of the day, in my opinion," Ash said. "He goes 1-2-3 in the middle of their order to get the momentum back in our dugout."
Meyer closed things out in the seventh for the save.
"(Meyer's) a bulldog," Ash said. "When it gets into the seventh inning and he has the opportunity to close the game, most of the time he's going to get the job done."
Again, Jefferson City pushed a run across in the first inning, with Grunden scoring off Jaegers' double to left field.
"We hit the ball hard to the outfield. We did some good things, but this whole day doesn't happen without Jake Pridgin and Gavon Strobel," Ash said.
Strobel led the offense, hitting 3-for-3, and Pridgin finished the game going 2-for-3 while scoring a crucial run.
Pridgin's run came in the fifth inning to tie the game at 2. He singled to right-center, moved to second on a Wood groundout and scored when Ripken Dodson hit a hard ground ball up the middle.
"It's good to see (Pridgin), a senior, come out like that. He's been struggling this early part of the year, and he knows now he can come out and get the job done," said Ash.
The Broncos took the 2-1 lead in the fourth, using an Andrew Kleiboeker double to score Cole Persell and Kleiboeker later scored on the back end of a double steal.
"It was pretty at times," Ash said. "I thought in the second game, we played a little cleaner on defense. I thought we had some very good at-bats. We cut our strikeouts down and put the ball in play, and things happen when you do that."