The Jefferson City Jays are even keeled most of the time. Sometimes coach Brian Ash is in favor of that, sometimes he's not.
"You're cruising along a little bit and then, 'Come on fellas, it's time to wake up here a little bit,'" he said. "The next thing you know it's boom, boom, boom."
The boom, boom, boom came in the sixth inning Tuesday, when Jefferson City (12-2) scored all of its runs in a 3-2 win against the Battle Spartans at Vivion Field.
Four of Jefferson City's eight hits came in the sixth, including Jacob Weirich's double that was roped to left-center field to get the Jays on the board.
Kade Franks followed it up with a double to deep right field, his first hit in 17 at-bats.
"He just works so hard, he just stays with it," Ash said. "Even through the bad times he's had in this little slump, he stays positive. We know as coaches, it's just a matter of time he's going to figure it out."
Two batters later, Gunnar See hopped a ground ball over a chasing shortstop to score Weirich and Franks to take the lead. See, the No. 8 batter, is 5-for-7 in the past three games.
"He's come up very big in the last few games for us," Ash said.
The string of events in the sixth began when Grant Wood reached on catcher's interference.
"Once he got on I feel like, 'All right, we've got a shot,'" Ash said.
Fortunately for the Jays, it was time for the bottom half of the lineup to bat. All eight of their hits came from the five through nine spots.
"The bottom of our order tonight was really the key," Ash said. "They were able to get on base."
Ash switched up the lineup Tuesday, having Weirich in the No. 5 spot instead of leadoff. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Payton Bodenstab shifted from No. 2 to No. 1 with Hayden Hirschvogel moved up to second after being the No. 6 guy so far this season.
Hirschvogel made his impact on the mound Tuesday, pitching three one-hit innings to close it out.
"We need that," Ash said. "Coming into the season that's kind of what we were hoping we would get from him."
Joseph Travis started for the Jays, with three of his five hits allowed coming in the two-run fourth.
Nick Easley led off with a double to the left-field corner and Matt Page made it first and third with a single.
After a popout, Colton Snyder sent a grounder to left field to score both runners.
"I thought Joseph really threw well too," Ash said. "He just threw one mistake."
Travis struck out three and walked three in four innings.
Travis got plenty of support from his catcher Gaven Strobel and the defense.
Strobel caught two runners stealing, including the game's leadoff batter, who was walked. Battle ended up stranding runners at first and second.
In the third inning, a Battle baserunner rounded third on a two-out double, but was gunned down as left fielder Bodentab and shortstop Wood quickly relayed the ball to the plate for the out. It kept the game scoreless.
"It couldn't have been any better," Ash said. "It's one of those things that we work on constantly and you never know when you're going to need it."
Mason Hunter started on the mound for Battle. He only allowed one Jay to reach second before the fifth inning.
"When he's on the mound, Battle can win any game against anybody," Ash said. "We were able to wait him out and there you go."
Hunter went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits. He also struck out eight and walked one.
"He's a Division I arm and he showed it tonight," Ash said. "Once he got his breaking ball going, it's such a sharp late break, it's hard."
Jefferson City continues its home stand Friday when it hosts Grain Valley at 2:30 p.m.
Jefferson City won the JV game 7-4.
Landon Dunlap tripled twice and had two RBI. Blake Terry, Joseph Travis and Mason Hansen each recorded an RBI.
Justin Wood picked up the win on the mound, striking out six and allowing three hits in three innings of relief.