The Jefferson City Jays struggled offensively Saturday against Blue Springs, moving just two runners past second base in the first six innings. Once the surge finally came, it was too little, too late for the Jays.
Jefferson City batted around in the top of the seventh but came up one base short, losing 5-4 to the Wildcats to finish fourth in the Capital City Invitational. The Jays defeated Blair Oaks 6-2 earlier in the day to advance to the third-place contest.
"We gave ourselves another chance, and we've just got to break through," Jays coach Brian Ash said of the loss to Blue Springs. "That would have been a big win for us."
The Jays entered the seventh inning down 5-1, though they had matched the Wildcats with six hits apiece. Gaven Strobel began the inning with a double, Blaine Meyer singled, and Jake Pridgin drove in Strobel with a groundout to second. Grant Wood then hit a sharp ball that was muffed by the third baseman to plate Meyer. Ripken Dodson, Bret Jaegers and Adam Grunden knocked back-to-back-to-back singles, with Jaegers' driving in Wood. Pinch hitter Brandon Williams entered with a chance to tie the game but his grounder to third forced Dodson out at home, and a strikeout ended the game.
The inning was Blue Springs reliever Nate Carlton's first, and the Jays were finally able to gain some traction after starter Max Gibler had them stifled.
"I think sometimes it's easy when you're down, you can go up there and kind of swing free and not have to worry (about) anything," Ash said. "And then all of a sudden, when things are a little tight (on the scoreboard), you get a little bit tight."
The Jays struggled to score before the seventh in part because of three double plays turned by Blue Springs.
"It's a pitcher's best friend," Ash said. "And anytime you can help a pitcher get out of a jam - especially a leadoff walk or something like that - (if) you get a double-play ball by the next guy, that's huge. That's a big confidence-builder for your pitcher."
The Jays allowed two unearned runs to cross, including a Wildcat insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Blue Springs centerfielder Trey Ziegenbien reached on a Jays error, stole second, reached third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch.
"Ultimately, take that away (and) we're still probably playing," Ash said shortly after the game.
Grunden threw five innings for Jefferson City, allowing six hits and three earned runs and a walk. At the plate, he knocked three singles and walked.
In the opener, Blair Oaks struck first, scoring on a Jordan Hair single and an error. The Jays responded in the bottom of the first with three two-out singles - from Dodson, Jaegers and Grunden - to erase the Falcons' only run of the game.
"I think that's pretty important, because then all of a sudden you start pressing every inning and every at-bat," Ash said. "The next thing you know, you're not doing much.
"... I know we only scored one there, but we were making contact. I think we had three hits just in that inning, so I knew then. I said, "OK, we're going to hit the ball.'"
The Jays rapped out 10 hits, all singles, and scored in every inning but one. On the defensive end, Jefferson City used three pitchers and let 15 Falcons reach base, but Blair Oaks' only two runs of the game were unearned. The Jays finished with four unearned runs allowed on the day, but Ash wasn't concerned about the miscues.
"Defensively, we're going to be always I think pretty sound," he said, "but you're going to make errors. I think our errors, they can't be mental errors."
Jefferson City (7-6) returns to Vivion Field on Tuesday against Battle.