Post 5 Seniors score late, defeat Eureka 7-4

Hayden Hirschvogel of the Jefferson City Post 5 Seniors smacks a single to center field during the fourth inning of Monday's game against Eureka at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
Hayden Hirschvogel of the Jefferson City Post 5 Seniors smacks a single to center field during the fourth inning of Monday's game against Eureka at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.

Everything was a bit delayed Monday night at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.

The game started a few minutes late, it took about an inning for the pitching to get locked in and it was a few innings before the Jefferson City Post 5 Seniors could string anything together at the plate.

It was worth the wait for Jefferson City, as it scored all its runs after the third inning to defeat Eureka 7-4.

After allowing a pair of doubles and throwing three wild pitches to go down 2-0 in the first inning, Post 5 pitcher Joseph Travis struck out five of the next six batters he faced.

"Some guys, it takes them a little bit to get loose," Jefferson City coach Curt Vaughn said. "Some guys are still trying to get in the rhythm of throwing every four or five days."

Travis finished with seven strikeouts while allowing two runs on three hits in three innings.

Connor McKenna went the rest of the way, giving up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts to earn the win.

"He did fine. He settled in there later," Vaughn said of Travis. "McKenna did exactly what we thought he'd do out there. He throws a lot of strikes, good off-speed."

The score remained 2-0 until Zach Stiles' sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Parker Schneiders.

Jefferson City had three baserunners on two singles and an error in the first three innings against Eureka starter Noah Baker.

"He mixed it up well," Vaughn said. "We hit the ball hard early just right at them. Their shortstop made a few plays early. We were hitting the ball hard most of the night. Can't complain about that."

Post 5 did most of its damage against Baker in the fifth, cutting it to 3-2 when Michael Skinner hit a slow roller down the third-base line for an RBI single and Hayden Hirschvogel blooped a single to center field to make it 4-3. Hirschvogel went 3-for-3 with two RBI.

"We have a lot of guys that can run on this team, so just put the ball in play and see what happens," Vaughn said.

Eureka tied it at 4 in the sixth when Josh Samuel bounced one off the pitcher's glove and to the shortstop for an infield RBI single.

But Post 5 finished off the scoring in the bottom half as No. 8 batter Jacob Adrian launched an RBI double to deep left-center field and Schneiders followed with a line drive past the glove of the diving shortstop for a two-RBI single.

"We're really excited about this year's team," Vaughn said. "I think we have a really good one through nine. That's how you score runs at this level. You wear down the pitcher and see what you can do later."

Jefferson City (5-0) will play Wednesday at Eureka before playing in the Washington Tournament this weekend.