Jays host baseball Jamboree at Vivion Field

Jefferson City's Ryan Meyer prepares to swing at a pitch during a Jamboree contest Tuesday against Blair Oaks at Vivion Field. (Ken Barnes/News Tribune)
Jefferson City's Ryan Meyer prepares to swing at a pitch during a Jamboree contest Tuesday against Blair Oaks at Vivion Field. (Ken Barnes/News Tribune)

The Jefferson City Jays unofficially started their baseball season Tuesday with two ties in the Jamboree at Vivion Field.

Jefferson City opened with a scoreless three-inning contest against the Blair Oaks Falcons before playing to a tie at 3 with the Helias Crusaders.

“You try to hit every angle in these (Jamborees),” Jefferson City coach Kyle Lasley said. “You’re trying to find things you can work on in practice the next day and a lot of it is easy fixes, especially early.”

Zac Arnold got the start on the mound for the Jays against the Falcons and tossed two scoreless frames while allowing just one baserunner -- a two-out single in the second inning.

Arnold struck out one in his two innings.

“Zac is a competitive kid,” Lasley said. “He wanted to go back out there for Inning 3. Pitching for the most part did a good job. If they can continue to do that, I think we will be fine.”

Lucas Bauridl pitched the final inning for Jefferson City, striking out a pair while working around a walk and error with one out.

The Jays left four runners on base in the game -- including runners on second and third with no outs in the second.

“The biggest thing that I saw was two-strike approach, two-strike hitting,” Lasley said. “You get runners in scoring position with less than two outs, you got to find ways to get guys in. We didn’t do a good job of that but it takes time.”

Helias plated two runs in the top of the third innings in Game 2 to create the tie at 3.

The Crusaders jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI single by Nate Roark, but Jefferson City took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second on a two-out, three-RBI double by Ethan Lipp.

“He’s a competitor,” Lasley said of Lipp. “We always knew when he came in last year as a freshman that we would be a dude for us moving forward.”

David Hofherr drove in Myles Gresham for Helias in the third before Roark delivered again with an RBI triple that one-hopped the right-field wall.

The Jays got the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom half but three straight strikeouts closed out the game tied.

Jefferson City closed out the Jamboree with a contest against the Fatima Comets. Results from the late game were not available by press time.

The Jays were scheduled to start the season on the road Friday against Willard and Ozark, and Saturday against Kickapoo. But those games have been cancelled.

Jefferson City now will start the season Tuesday at home against Warrensburg.

See also:

Helias tallies seven runs in baseball Jamboree

Blair Oaks happy with performance in Jamboree

Fatima gets preview look at baseball Jamboree