Jefferson City Jays coach Brian Ash expected this season to have its ups and downs.
The ups came early with a nine-game winning streak following a season-opening loss to Borgia. There's been a three-game losing streak and a three-game winning streak since.
It's back to a downtrend for the Jays, who lost 5-1 to Lebanon on Tuesday at Vivion Field for their fourth straight defeat.
"It's all mental," Ash said. "From the baserunning, to the lack of execution bunting, to not hitting our spots on the mound, to swinging at pitches out of the zone, taking fastballs down the middle."
The Jays never led Tuesday, but they were never out of it.
After allowing two hits and a run in the first inning, Blake Terry sent down the Yellowjackets in order with groundouts in the second and only let one baserunner get into scoring position once until the fifth inning.
A Tyler Paul sacrifice fly gave Lebanon a 2-0 lead in the fifth.
Terry went the distance for the Jays with two of the three runs Lebanon scored in the seventh being unearned. He walked one and struck out four against a Yellowjacket team that's scored at least 12 runs nine times this season.
"I thought he threw OK," Ash said. "That's a good offensive lineup Lebanon has. They are a good hitting team and we worked out of some jams early in the game."
Jefferson City's lone run came in the seventh when Terry singled to score Tyler Bise, who reached on an error.
Jefferson City stranded runners on the corners, the fifth time the Jays left a runner in scoring position.
"They executed, they hit the ball when they needed to, we didn't, they did and that's the difference in the game," Ash said. "They were better than us."
The Jays had six hits, three coming from seniors on Senior Night. Bise, Payton Bodenstab, Nolan Binkley, Michael Skinner, Mason Hansen, Ryan Sturm, Cade Galbraith and Joseph Travis were all honored prior to the game.
Bodentab smacked a two-out double to right field in the sixth, but never advanced further. Sturm doubled in the third inning but was stranded at third.
Sturm got the start at third base, fielding four groundouts and catching a popup.
"Ryan Sturm had a great day defensively," Ash said. "Had a double. He was the highlight of the day. Maybe he'll find himself in there more because he was ready to go."
Next up for the Jays are the Helias Crusaders, who have won four straight. The Crusaders have also won the last two matchups with the Jays.
"We've obviously got to something different because it hasn't worked so far for us playing against them," Ash said.
Jefferson City defeated Lebanon 9-3 in the JV game.
Mikey Saucedo had a triple, two walks and three RBI. Garrett Butel recorded a pair of hits with an RBI.
Dawson Koch was the winning pitcher, tossing 1 innings of one-hit relief. He struck out two and walked one.