Patience was key Wednesday for the Jefferson City Jays.
"We stayed disciplined at the plate," Jefferson City coach Kyle Lasley said.
The Jays got extra baserunners on with walks and hit by pitches before swinging away for extra-base hits in an 11-1 victory in five innings against the Gateway Legacy Christian Academy Lions at Vivion Field.
Jefferson City scored twice in the first inning and doubled its lead in the next inning after Connor Earleywine smacked an opposite-field double to the gap in left field to plate Jeremy Parks and Eli Moreland, who each doubled to start the inning.
The lineup came back around to Parks, who sent a high chopper past the third baseman's outstretched glove and down the left-field line to drive in a pair of runs to make it 8-0.
"I thought we made some really solid contact," Lasley said. "Put some good swings together."
The Jays got six of their nine hits from the bottom four spots in the order.
From the No. 6 spot, Wyatt Fischer lifted the first pitch of his at-bat in the third inning to left field for an RBI single to finish off a two-RBI performance.
Ethan DuBois followed with a double just over the reach of the right fielder to make the score 11-1 and cap off a 2-for-3, three-RBI game.
"It was good to get some guys out there moving," Lasley said.
Parks' two doubles and two RBI came from the No. 8 batting spot.
The Lions got good swings in Wednesday, but they couldn't get much production during the three innings against Fischer and two innings against Case Hager.
Gateway Legacy's Abel Moneli led off the game with a double to right field, but went too far past the bag and was tagged out.
Robert Castro reached with a two-out single up the middle for the only other hit off Fischer, who allowed an earned run, walked three and struck out one.
The Lions scored in the third inning when Jeremy Baez crossed the plate before a runner was tagged out in a rundown between first and second base.
Fischer dove to apply the tag and end the inning as the runner tried to reach second base.
"He kept the ball in the zone," Lasley said of Fischer. "They're a bunch of free swingers, so keep the ball in the zone and get some command of your off-speed a little bit."
Three Lions struck out against Hager. Idelfonso Garcia singled on a fly ball to right field before a groundout ended the game.
"We wanted just to give him about 25, 30 pitches where he can just kind of get almost a small bullpen in," Lasley said. "He did a really good job of mixing in some off-speed."
Gateway Legacy (18-6-1) used four pitchers against Jefferson City (18-13).
Next up for the Jays is the Class 6 District 5 Tournament in Sedalia. Top-seeded Jefferson City will face No. 8 seed Waynesville (4-17) at 11 a.m. Monday at Liberty Park Stadium.
The winner of that game will take on either No. 4 seed Blue Springs (13-18) or No. 5 seed Helias (13-9) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the district semifinals.
The district championship game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday.
"Overall, this is a good group," Lasley said. "A good group of leaders, 12 seniors. The real thing starts Monday."