Jefferson City posts 11-1 victory against Capital City

Jacob Duke of Jefferson City takes off from third base to score a run on a passed ball during the third inning of Tuesday night's game against Capital City at Vivion Field.
Jacob Duke of Jefferson City takes off from third base to score a run on a passed ball during the third inning of Tuesday night's game against Capital City at Vivion Field.

Throwing an opener on the mound wasn't the plan for Jefferson City, but it worked out just fine.

Jeremy Parks relieved Jacob Roettgen after an inning and tossed three effective innings Tuesday night in an 11-1 victory against the Capital City Cavaliers at Vivion Field.

"He's the type of kid that just doesn't take very long to get warmed up," Jefferson City coach Kyle Lasley said of subbing Parks in for an injured Roettgen. "He doesn't need to go through our routine of normal pitching. He's a guy that can just come straight in from shortstop or wherever."

It was also Parks who ended the game by run rule in the fifth inning, slapping a low line drive to the corner in left field for a double that brought in courtesy runner Hayden Wells from second base.

Taylor Hopkins pushed two runs across earlier in the inning by thumping the red shed in left-center field with a two-run bomb.

"That got out in a hurry, that's for sure," Lasley said. "He has a lot of strength. He's been squaring the ball up lately."

Jefferson City out-hit Capital City 9-4, but the Cavaliers had chances to score from the start.

Brett Kuebler and Brock Miles drew back-to-back walks with two outs in the first before Roettgen got out of the inning with a strikeout.

"I thought our approach at the plate was good, we had some good swings," Capital City coach Brett Skinner said. " I thought we did well working the counts and got guys on. We just needed that timely hit."

The first hit for Capital City came off the bat of Caydin Engelbrecht, who launched a double over the head of the left fielder for a one-out double in the third.

But Jefferson City catcher Joe Hoerchler collected a ball in the dirt to throw out Engelbrecht trying to reach third.

Parks then ended the inning with one of his five strikeouts.

The Cavaliers began the fourth inning with back-to-back singles from Miles and Taggert Bodenstab. Jamisen Schwarzer followed with a hard grounder that got by the shortstop, allowing courtesy runner Isaiah Ntalamu to score to make the score 8-1.

"I liked the way we were swaying it there, especially towards the end," Skinner said. "Hopefully that continues to show in our games coming up."

Capital City got three hits off Parks and drew one walk.

Two Cavaliers reached against Lucas Caudle in the fifth, but center fielder Wyatt Fischer threw out a runner trying to score from second on a hard line drive.

"I was just gonna be overly aggressive because I liked the way we were swinging it," Skinner said. "We're trying to make things happen. The ball was just hit super hard and Wyatt came up there and made a strong throw and right on the money. That was on me. Probably being a little bit too aggressive."

Jefferson City got another bonus out from the outfield earlier in the inning when right fielder Nick Williams ran up to field a hard line drive and threw a strike to first base to beat the runner.

"That's actually twice that's happened to Nick this year," Lasley said.

Jefferson City had its fair share of hard hit balls as well. Hopkins recorded his first of three RBI on a line-drive double to left field to score Connor Earleywine, who led off with a triple on a fly ball to the gap in right field.

Earleywine added an RBI single to left field in the second to finished with two hits and an RBI.

Fischer also had two hits, including an RBI single on a liner to center.

Five of Jefferson City's hits came off Capital City starter Grayson Jones, who struck out three and walked two in two innings.

Cooper Rowden took the mound from there, allowing five runs and four hits with two strikeouts and five walks.

"I really liked the way he came in and threw," Skinner said of Rowden. "Once he settled down, he was fine."

Bodenstab had two of Capital City's four hits.

Capital City (0-4), which is 0-1 in the Central Missouri Activities Conference, is off until Monday when it hosts Hickman in a CMAC contest.

Jefferson City (7-1, 1-0) will host a pair of games Saturday, facing C.B.C. at 10 a.m. and Lee's Summit West at 2 p.m.

Jefferson City won Tuesday's JV game 12-2 in three innings. Will Berendzen had two hits and two RBI, while Wells drove in a pair of runs.

Cade Beckley struck out six in 2 innings for the Jays.