Early runs enough for Blair Oaks to beat Jefferson City 3-2

Blair Oaks third baseman Josh Isaacs reaches to tag out Jeremy Parks of Jefferson City during Tuesday's game at Vivion Field.
Blair Oaks third baseman Josh Isaacs reaches to tag out Jeremy Parks of Jefferson City during Tuesday's game at Vivion Field.

The Blair Oaks Falcons came up ready to hack Tuesday against the Jefferson City Jays.

Some sharp contact in the first inning gave Wil Libbert and the Blair Oaks fielders enough to work with in a 3-2 victory at Vivion Field.

Jays left-hander Jacob Roettgen got the first batter to fly out, but the next six Falcons reached base.

"With Roettgen last time, he dealt against us," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "We didn't do much. We had a lot better approach tonight, a lot better swings and we're a better team than we were back then."

Roettgen limited the Falcons to an unearned run in five innings in a 3-2 win for the Jays in March.

On Tuesday, Blair Oaks scored three runs in the first inning.

Hayden Salmons singled and scored on a Wil Libbert groundout.

Two batters later, Levi Haney whizzed a line drive through the right side of the infield to score Reid Dudenhoeffer.

A double over the head of the right fielder off Josh Isaacs' bat followed to drive in Ian Nolph for a 3-0 lead.

"It was good for him to maybe have an outing like that where he doesn't have success all the time," Jays coach Kyle Lasley said of Roettgen, "and see how he works out of it. He did fine. He wanted to stay in the game."

Roettgen struck out two in the second inning and two more in the third as the Falcons left four runners on base.

"He started throwing a lot more breaking stuff and the splitter later in the game and made it a little tougher on us," DeMilia said of Roettgen, who allowed six hits and an earned run while walking two in three innings.

Baserunners were not plentiful against Blair Oaks lefty Libbert, who struck out back-to-back Jays looking in the second inning for two of his seven Ks in six innings on the mound.

In the sixth, Salmons drifted into foul territory for a sliding catch for the second out and Libbert ended the inning with a called third strike.

"We struggled early in the year with (defense), but it's really come on," DeMilia said. "Our infield defense, we're making the routine plays and the outfield made a couple of nice plays out there."

The Jays got on the scoreboard in the fifth. Jeremy Parks got hit with a pitch with one out, stole second base and scored when the lefty Connor Earleywine slapped a single the other way for a single.

Earleywine led off the game with a bunt single for two of Jefferson City's three hits off Libbert, who walked just two.

"I didn't think he had his best stuff tonight, but I thought he competed really well," DeMilia said of Libbert. "He forced contact, got a lot of soft contact. Our defense made plays behind him."

A hit by pitch, a walk and a sacrifice bunt against Nolph put two runners in scoring position for Earleywine in the seventh inning.

A groundout to second base allowed Wyatt Fischer to cross home plate before a flyout to right fielder Libbert ended the game.

Blair Oaks (23-4) just got one baserunner into scoring position against Parks, who allowed four hits and struck out a pair in four innings of relief.

"He did a really good job of working ahead of batters, throwing his off-speed for strikes, moving it around in the zone," Lasley said. "He did all we could ask for to keep us in the game."

Salmons, Dudenhoeffer and Isaacs each had two hits as seven Falcons combined for 10 hits.

Blair Oaks, ranked No. 3 in Class 4 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association, will attempt to end the regular season with 10 straight wins as it travels today to play Troy-Buchanan.

Jefferson City (17-13) will host Gateway Legacy at 5 p.m. today to conclude regular-season play.

In Tuesday night's JV game, Blair Oaks defeated Jefferson City 7-0.