The Jefferson City Post 5 Juniors made their opponents work hard for the third out Saturday in the Jefferson City Wood Bat Tournament.
Post 5 scored all eight runs with two outs in their opening game of the tournament, beating the Missouri Gators 8-4 at Vivion Field.
"It was next man up," Post 5 coach Joe Bernskoetter said. "Everybody seemed to come up ready to hit, ready to go."
Jefferson City nearly had a big two-out rally in its second contest, but Post 5 came up short in a 5-2 loss to the Missouri Redhawks.
"We had guys on base, we had opportunities," Bernskoetter said. "That was the difference between the two games."
The Gators started their own two-out rally in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.
After the first two batters were out in the third, Post 5 had its next six batters reach base and five of them scored.
Nolan Heckemeyer put Jefferson City on the board with an RBI double and scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Braden Hickey reached on a two-base error, scoring two runs, and then scored on Jaden Hoskins' RBI double to give Post 5 a 5-2 lead.
"Once one thing good happens, it seems like this team takes off with it," Bernskoetter said.
The Gators scored twice in the fourth to make it a one-run ballgame, but Post 5 answered with three runs in the bottom half. Parker Bax had a two-run single to left field, providing the necessary insurance.
"Parker's always been there for us," Bernskoetter said. "He really put the ball in play and we capitalized on it."
Heckemeyer went 3 innings on the mound for Jefferson City. He allowed four runs on six hits with four walks and one strikeout.
Drew Voss got Post 5 out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth with a strikeout. He then got around a one-out walk in the fifth with a double play to finish the game.
Saturday was the first time Post 5 played in a wood bat tournament this summer.
"Wood bat is a lot of fun," Bernskoetter said. "It really brings the defense back into it. The boys like it, they love hitting with a wood bat."
The Redhawks tested the "small ball" game against Post 5, opening the game with a bunt single on the second pitch. They added two more sacrifice bunts later in the game, including a squeeze play in the third.
"We knew it was going to be small ball as soon as we saw that first bunt," Bernskoetter said. " We knew we were going to have our hands full."
Jefferson City fell behind 5-0 after four innings. In the fifth, Heckemeyer was hit by a pitch, forcing in a run, and Wyatt Luebbert drew a bases-loaded walk to put the tying run on base.
But the Redhawks got the next batter to strike out, ending the game.
Jacob Stegemann went 2-for-2 with a pair of singles for Post 5. Jacob Rademan struck out three in two-plus innings on the mound, while Luebbert struck out two in two innings of relief.
Bernskoetter said the Post 5 Juniors (9-2) will open bracket play at noon today at Vivion.
"Now we'll have three games to get to the end of it," he said. "We were hoping to bypass that (play-in) game, but we'll have three to win it."