By JIM METCALFE
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DELPHOS — Jefferson got rolling from the start of its baseball game versus Fort Jennings on a brilliant Wednesday afternoon at Wildcat Field.
The Wildcats scored nine run in the bottom of the first inning en route to a 17-1 rout in a 5-inning non-conference contest.
“We didn’t necessarily hit the ball that hard but I liked our approach. We put the ball in play and didn’t swing at a lot of bad pitches,” Jefferson head coach Doug Geary said. “Their pitchers weren’t throwing strikes, so we made them throw more pitches. We’re looking to build more and more confidence at the plate, on the mound and in the field.”
The Musketeers (4-11) didn’t help their cause defensively with eight errors and numerous other plays they could have made.
“You can’t beat anyone committing that many errors. I don’t care if you’re 4-11 or 13-5; you won’t win games doing that,” Musketeer coach Eric Schwab said. “You have to make plays, so matter what.”
Mark Metzger led off the game against Jefferson starter Austin Jettinghoff (1-0) with a single to left but was stranded at second.
The Wildcats (13-6) forced Musketeer starter Metzger to throw 47 pitches (22 for strikes) in the bottom of the first. They were the beneficiary of four errors, three walks and four hits, including a bases-clearing double to right field by Jordan Herron, an RBI double to deep left by Ross Thompson (3-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs), a run-scoring hit by Seth Wollenhaupt and a sacrifice fly by Jettinghoff to account for the nine tallies.
