The Jaguars JVR baseball team had their second consecutive walk off win on their own turf. Last week Humboldt, this time, a 7-6 win over the Roland-Story Norsemen.

This game was a seesaw affair, with 6 lead changes in the 5 inning tilt. After the Norse plated a run in the top of the first against Jags starter Ethan Martin, the home team came back with 3 of their own in the bottom of the inning. Josiah Hefley reached on an error, Tucker Ollinger did the same, and August Akins walked. Hefley scored on a passed ball, and then Martin poked a single to score Ollinger and Akins.

The same 3 guys scored again in the 3rd, when Hefley again reached on an error, Olinger had a base hit, Akins hit a double to score Hefley. Martin then knocked in the two remaining runners with a double.

In the Top of the 5th, the Norse scored two on reliever Akins, to tie the score at 6. That set up the drama in the bottom of the 5th. The first 2 Jags batters were put out. But the team had a 2 out rally in them. Ollinger reached on an error. He then stole second. Martin hit a shot to the Norse 3rd baseman, who fielded the ball cleanly. But the fielder airmailed the throw to first, which went to the fence. Ollinger was running hard from 2nd, after the throw, he rounded 3rd, and safely reached home to secure the win, as the Norsemen were trying to retrieve the errant throw.

Martin pitched the first 2 innings, giving up 1 run. He struck out 5 batters. Akins earned the win in relief, despite giving up 5 runs. But only 2 were earned, as the Jaguar defense was a bit shaky during his pitching.

While not scoring, Colton Bachel and Caden Cramer each went 2 for 2 at the plate for the Jaguars.

“We continue to have timely hitting,” said Coach Fritz. “Even if we reached on errors, it frequently was caused by hard hit balls that the defense couldn’t handle. Those are quality at bats, even if it isn’t reflected positively in batting average.”

GAME 2

The Norse and Jaguars started a second game, but it was ended after 1.5 innings due to the length of Game 1, and the slow opening half innings of Game 2. The game was played under a 3 run per inning limit, and each offense reached that, before 3 outs were recorded.

Jackson Bintz got his first pitching opportunity this season. Bintz had been filling in nicely as the only catcher all season due to an injury to Josiah Hefley. With Hefley back, Bintz was able to finally get some pitching work. 

Coach Fritz said, “He threw several nice pitches, Jackson just needed to string them together. He’s wanted to pitch, but with our limited catching, he needed to be the guy in that role. I appreciate the team first attitude he has had all season. I’m glad he could finally pitch for us.”

Colton Bachel pitched in the 2nd inning, giving up 3 runs. Offensively in the first inning, Hefley, Akins, and Bintz all came around to score.

The 2nd game didn’t count, win or lose, in the standings. The Game 1 win moved the Jaguars JVR team to 6-2 on the year, and the win avenged an earlier loss to the Norsemen in Story City.