Jays baseball downs Rolla in eight innings

Things weren’t looking great for the Jefferson City Jays. With two on, none out and a 3-1 count, Rolla appeared poised to take its first lead of the game in the top of the eighth inning.

Twelve pitches later, the Jays were celebrating a win.

Jefferson City got out of the jam with a strikeout, a pick-off and a groundout, and Grant Wood knocked home a base-loaded hit to score Brandon Williams and give the Jays a 3-2 win.

“Nobody was in panic mode,” Jays coach Brian Ash said. “Even when we had the defensive situation when we had to work out of that jam. We felt like we had enough things in place for defensive calls that we were going to maybe work out of it.”

After a foul-ball brought the count to 3-2, Blaine Meyer got the first out of the eighth on a strikeout when the Bulldogs attempted a two-strike bunt. Gaven Strobel then fired the ball to second base, catching Rolla’s lead runner off the bag. The ensuing run-down allowed the Bulldogs to get a runner back into scoring position, but Meyer drew a groundout to avoid any damage.

Meyer was the fourth pitcher of the game for the Jays, as Jacob Weirich, Logan Schmitz and J.T. Bohlken each pitched two innings. With a light schedule the next two weeks, Ash planned to divide up the innings Wednesday to get more pitchers on the mound.

“(Weirich) was going to throw two innings and so was J.T. and so was Logan, and then whoever could finish out the game either between Blaine or Brandon, that’s who was going to finish it out,” Ash said. “So it went basically as planned. We just didn’t want it to be that close.”

Williams crushed a double to deep left-center to begin the bottom of the eighth.

“Huge for the team, obviously, but more so just for his confidence,” Ash said. “He had a ball that he hit pretty deep in left field (in the fifth). He just missed. I mean, if you listened to the ball come off his bat, you could tell he got good barrel.”

Garrett Durbin, a defensive replacement at second base, was next up and he moved Williams to third on a bunt.

“I think that will be the thing that was forgotten,” Ash said. “Because I think everyone thinks that, ‘Oh, bunting. It’s easy.’ Well, in a tight game like that, it’s not as easy as it looks, and for him to come in and put down a perfect bunt, move that runner to third, we felt like we were confident enough that was all we were going to need.”

With the winning run on third, Rolla coach Clint Longwell decided to intentionally walk Weirich and Tyler Bise, the first two hitters in Jefferson City’s lineup.

“In that situation, I mean he did what he felt like he had to do,” Ash said. “I think just so there’s no pressure on the defense. You’ve got a force and everything’s going home. Yeah, I’ve seen it before, but we’ll take our chances if you’re going to get to our three hole.”

That meant Wood.

“I was surprised,” the junior said. “I mean, J-Dub’s hot. So is Bise, but I was surprised that they’d walk both of them. … It was a good strategy, trying to get a double play in that situation, but I was ready for the opportunity.”

Wood sent the second pitch of the at-bat deep to left-center. The outfielders didn’t even bother moving.

“It takes me by surprise, just quitting like that,” Wood said. “But it’s understandable.”

The walk-off hit was Wood’s second this season in extra innings, as he drove in the winning run against Blair Oaks in the Capital City Invitational.

It was also just the fourth hit of the game for the Jays. Rolla starter Robby Callistro held them to two hits through seven innings, though Jefferson City was able to take advantage once on base, stealing four bags.

“Everything’s dictated off the pitcher, and (Callistro), he’s a good one,” Ash said. “He throws the ball very, very well, but he’s got a very slow, deliberate move to the plate. So we were able to time it, which obviously gives us a running start to get to second.”

The Jays’ first two runs came on groundouts by Hayden Hirschvogel and Kade Franks in the second and fourth innings, respectively. Hirschvogel plated Bryce Beckley, who reached on a fielder’s choice, and Franks sent home Wood, who walked and stole his way to third.

The Bulldogs tied it up in the sixth, which they began with a single and a double after being held to one hit in the opening five frames. A walk loaded the bases, and a fielder’s choice allowed the first Rolla run to score. A sacrifice fly to right scored the second.

Jefferson City wouldn’t get another hit in the next three innings, but Callistro was relieved for the eighth, and the Jays took advantage.

“I think they reset just to go from 2-0 to ‘Shoot, we’ve got to get it done,’” Ash said. “‘We’re in another dogfight,’ which we’ve been in. We’ve probably been in more dogfights than Rolla has, so I think we’re accustomed to it.

“… It was no thing, and we were able to get it done.”

The Jays (16-5) host Glendale and Webb City at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.