Jaguars baseball edges Bucs in 7th inning
BLUE EARTH — The comeback kids from the Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars were in full effect on Monday.
After being down 2-1, the Jaguars rallied in the seventh inning to beat the Blue Earth Area Bucs, 5-2, during nonleague baseball action in Blue Earth.
The Jaguars have now won five consecutive games.
After Bucs senior pitcher Logan Jahnke struck out Mitch Prafke in the top of the seventh, senior Garrett Balcom started the Jaguars’ comeback with a one-out single to left-center field.
“He’s been swinging a better bat as of late. He was a spark, that’s what we needed,” Jaguars head coach Scott Chirpich said in reference to Balcom. “We were a little lackadaisical to start, and we needed somebody to give us that lift.”
However, Balcom got thrown out on a fielder’s choice that put Quintin Greier on base. The Bucs committed an error that allowed Greier to get to third and Derek Shoen to first.
“If that ball is 2 inches closer to Logan, he fields it and throws it to first, we’re celebrating a 2-1 win,” Bucs assistant coach Paul Nienaber said. “If it’s 2 inches further away from him, he can’t touch it and it goes right to Bobby (Lindsey) at short, he throws it to first, we’re celebrating a win.
“But that’s baseball. Things go awry and that’s going to happen.”
Ethan Hurn, who scored the Jaguars’ first run, singled home Greier to tie the game.
Hunter Bleess then relieved Jahnke, and Zach Wolter doubled down the left-field line, providing Shoen with the run and the Jaguars with the lead.
Owen Wolter recorded a two-run single as his hit plated Hurn and Zach Wolter. Owen Wolter later tried to steal home on a pitch, but got tagged out leaving Zach Jahnz, who doubled, and Carter Wille, who got hit by a pitch, stranded.
In the home half of theseventh, Jahnke singled and Karson Legred reached on an errant throw to second for two Bucs on base with no outs. Jahnz relieved Shoen and got the final outs as the Jaguars completed the comeback victory.
“That was great for us to be able to come back and win this game. It shows a lot of hard work and dedication for what they want to do,” Chirpich said.
The Bucs built a 2-0 lead with a run scored in each of the first and third innings, both of which came from Kaylan Legred. The senior catcher got a leadoff hit then swiped another base. He advanced another 90 feet on an uncaught third strike that put Chris Sanders on first.
Kaylan Legred then reached home on Jesus Quintero’s RBI groundout. Before Sanders could do the same, the Jaguars got the final two outs to end the inning.
Likewise in the third, Kaylan Legred, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, notched a leadoff single and stole two bases before running home on an errant throw to third.
“That’s classic Kaylan. He’s a gamer,” Nienaber said. “It doesn’t hurt when you can run like that, either. When you can run like that, you can leg out some stuff that most people aren’t going to be safe on, and he is.”
In the top of the fourth, Hurn, the Jaguars’ catcher, reached base on a Bucs error and scored on Owen Wolter’s double for the one-run deficit. Owen Wolter and Hurn each had two hits with Hurn scoring twice with an RBI and Owen Wolter collecting three RBIs. Zach Wolter also recorded a double with a run scored and RBI.
“They put in a lot of work in the offseason, and it showed,” Chirpich said about the three Jaguars. “They go up there with the right mentality — whether it’s no strikes, one strike, two strikes — trying to put the ball in play and good things will happen.”
Shoen pitched six-plus inning and allowed two runs on six hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks to earn the win. Jahnz came in the seventh and got the last three outs, striking out one batter.
Jahnke gave up three runs on five hits, struck out six and walked one in 6 2/3 innings on the mound to take the loss for the Bucs.
Bleess pitched 1/3 of an inning, allowing two runs on three hits and hit one batter for Blue Earth Area.
Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman (6-3) plays host to Mankato Loyola at 5 p.m. today in Truman in a Valley Conference game.
Blue Earth Area (3-4) plays host to Waseca at 5:30 p.m. today in a Big South contest.
MGT 000 100 4–5 8 3
BEA 101 000 0–2 6 4
Derek Shoen (WP), Zach Jahnz (7) and Ethan Hurn. Logan Jahnke (LP), Hunter Blees (7) and Kaylan Legred.
LOB–Blue Earth Area 6, Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman 6. 2B–Zach Wolter (MLGHECT), Owen Wolter (MLGHECT), Zach Jahnz (MLGHECT). 3B–Logan Jahnke (BEA).
Prep Softball
Minnesota Valley Lutheran 16, Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain 6 (5 innings) — Hannah Biedenbender belted a leadoff home run during an eight-run second inning as the Chargers beat the Jaguars via 10-run rule on Monday in New Ulm.
Lizzie Oothoudt went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs, while Michaelah Petrowiak hit a three-run home run for the Jaguars. Alex Schuder, Lydia Steinhaus and Emilee Mosloski each had a hit in the contest.
Stephanie Daleug gave up six runs, all in the fourth inning, on six hits while fanning two and walking three in five innings of work for the win for MVL.
Marissa Steinhaus pitched four innings and allowed 16 runs — 10 earned — on 10 hits, walked seven and struck out four to absorb the loss for the Jaguars.
Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain (2-7) travels to St. Clair today for a Valley Conference game.
MLGHEC 000 60– 6 6 2
MVL 082 6x– 16 10 0
Stephanie Daleug (WP) and Hannah Zibrowski. Marissa Steinhaus (LP) and Michaelah Petrowiak.
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