None of the Jefferson City Jays' wins last weekend in the Capital City Invitational came easy.
That trend continued Tuesday as the Battle Spartans rallied with a five-run inning to tie it before the Jays eventually crossed the plate last for a walk-off 6-5 victory in 10 innings at Vivion Field.
"Coming off a long week you kind of expect that sometimes," Jays coach Kyle Lasley said. "Situational again hitting-wise we just had so many opportunities to get bunts down, get guys over and get them in and we lost out on chances."
The Jays left six runners on, including five in scoring position, between the second and sixth inning.
Jefferson City scored twice during that time and the 5-0 lead didn't hold up against the Spartans, who tallied all of their runs in the sixth inning.
Trevin White then retired nine straight Spartans and Joe Hoerchler brought Dawson Schulte home with a sacrifice fly to left field to win it.
Hoerchler also singled in a run in the second to finish with two RBI.
"Joe is definitely the guy you want at the plate," Lasley said. "He doesn't strike out a lot and he usually puts balls hard into play. That's one thing we just didn't do very good tonight."
The Jays loaded the bases in the 10th as Schulte walk, Tucker Schwartz reached on a high throw to first on a sacrifice bunt attempt and Dawson Schuemann was intentionally walked.
Then Hoerhcler just needed to hit the ball far enough for Schulte to finish it off.
"Find some grass," Lasley said. "Try to get something to the outfield. Anywhere in the air in the outfield is more than likely going to score him. He did his job and and he won the game. It wasn't very pretty but a win is a win."
Jacob Roettgen got his first varsity start for the Jays, lasting until Battle loaded the bases with one out in the sixth in a 5-0 game. Roettgen struck out eight and walked two while allowing three runs on four hits.
"He did well," Lasley said. "He struggled at times of getting ahead, but it goes back to what I said this weekend is if we can get ahead guys with offs-speed and just fastballs, we can start working around the zone a little bit and start going after guys. It's hard whenever they know what's coming."
After Roettgen exited, Jake Sisson dropped a fly ball into shallow left-center field for a two-RBI single.
Aaron Scofield added and RBI single before Carson Fewell sent a liner to center field for a two-RBI single to tie it at 5.
White took the mound in the seventh and didn't allow a baserunner until Battle hit back-to-back singles in the 10th.
The Spartans didn't have the go-ahead run in scoring position for long as Hoerchler picked the runner off from behind the plate.
"He's very active back there," Lasley said. "He's still learning. There's a lot of little things He hasn't quite picked up on. He's just going to keep getting better and better."
White got Battle to fly out and pop out to keep the game tied. He struck out two,walked none and allowed two hits in four innings of relief.
"He's a guy that's going to have to do that for us this year," Lasley said. "He competed out there. He threw strikes, kept them off-balance and our defense played defense behind him."
Jefferson City gave Roettgen an early lead with three runs on two hits and two errors in the first.
Jack Shinkle sent a deep fly ball to center field for an RBI double and two more crossed the plate when Blake Terry reached on an error.
Hoerhcler's RBI single made it 4-0 in the second and Justin Wood double in a run in the fourth for a 5-0 lead against Battle starter Bryce Clark, who allowed two earned runs on five hits with a strikeout and three walks.
Tuesday's win was the seventh straight for Jefferson City (12-4), which is off until next Wednesday when it is scheduled to play at Rolla.