The Jefferson City Jays fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning Tuesday and were unable to close the gap, losing 6-2 to the Lebanon Yellowjackets at Vivion Field.
Tripp Maassen got the start on the mound for the Jays and quickly found himself in trouble after a hit batter, walk and a single with one out brought the Yellowjackets’ first run home and left runners on second and third base. A sacrifice fly and an error, the first of three errors for the Jays, brought two more runs home and left Jefferson City with an early deficit.
“Sometimes it is a lack of focus,” Jefferson City coach Kyle Lasley said. “Whether it be guys from a pitching standpoint not keeping us in the game or keeping us engaged. It works both ways. Infielders have to make plays behind, outfielders have to make plays behind the pitcher and pitchers have to be able to throw strikes and keep us in the game.”
The Jays responded in the bottom of the first on a leadoff triple from Connor Earleywine, followed by a sacrifice fly from Maassen to cut Lebanon’s lead down to 3-1.
Jefferson City was able to get another run back in the bottom of the second on a two-out RBI double off the left-field fence by Zac Arnold that scored courtesy runner Ethan Garnett.
This was the closest the Jays would get in Tuesday’s game.
Maassen was able to battle through some command issues to put up scoreless frames in the second through fourth innings but got into trouble again in the top of the fifth.
Lebanon led off the inning with a single and a walk, but Maassen was able to induce a 5-4-3 double play to put a runner on third base with two outs. Another walk followed and Brendan Black made the Jays pay with a two-out, two RBI double to left field that extended the Yellowjackets’ lead to 5-2. Maassen exited the game following the double after 5⅔ innings while allowing five runs (four earned), four hits and six walks to go along with his four strikeouts.
“He did all right,” Lasley said. “He got behind in counts, too many 3-1 and 3-0 counts, and tried to battle back. That’s tough when you’re not an overpowering pitcher, so it’s one of those deals where you have to throw first pitch strikes and be able to pitch backwards a little bit at times.”
On the offensive side, the Jays’ bats went quiet after the first two innings as they were only able to collect one hit in the final five innings off Lebanon starting pitcher Keaton Mizer. Mizer worked a complete game while allowing two runs on three hits and a walk, while striking out five.
“Yeah, probably a little bit of that,” Lasley said when asked if he thought his guys were pressing at the plate. “When you see a decent arm last night and then something that’s a little bit slower today, but they got to be able to go up there and make an adjustment at the plate and be a little bit more disciplined up there. Their guy did a good job of keeping us off balance, and we just didn’t do a very good job of making those adjustments.”
Lebanon was able to add an insurance run in the top of the seventh before closing out the four-run victory. Ian Carr and Black led the way for the Yellow Jackets (7-10) with two RBI each.
Earleywine, Jordan Martin and Arnold picked up the three hits for Jefferson City (6-18).
The loss moves the Jays’ losing streak to eight games, but they will get a chance to rebound Friday at Vivion Field when they host Helias at 7 p.m. The JV game starts the night at 5:30 p.m.
This losing streak started when Jefferson City lost a close battle with the Crusaders in the championship of the Jays Baseball Classic on April 9.
“At the end of the day when you go into districts, everybody is 0-0,” Lasley said. “You hope that they can kind of start over and flush everything that is in the past and everybody is in the same mindset moving forward, pitchers, hitters, everyone.”