The thunder rolled and in perfect timing, just as the last Wynot batter went down on strikes looking at the top of the ninth inning, threatening rain clouds opened up and poured onto a large crowd gathered for the big game. The storm postponed the planned community fireworks display to the following night, but the Bluejays were able to celebrate Independence Day week with a big win, 10-2, against their South Central League Highway 12 rival, Wynot.
That win last Wednesday night, July 3 and a pair of victories against winless Irene in the SCL leaves the Jays in a solid third place in SCL standings with a league record of 9-4. In their last five games, the Jays have outscored their opponents 52-6 and won five straight SCL games, including two shutouts to close out their June schedule.
That leaves only one away game against Yankton left on the regular season schedule going into District play later in the month. James Kaiser did double duty on the night, going 3-4 at bat and handling pitching duties for the Jays through seven and a third innings against the Expos. He allowed just two runs on three hits, including a solo homer by Wynot’s Peyton Wieseler, before Zach Hegge came in to close.
Once again, the Jays were stellar on defense with no errors, but the bats were working too. Kaiser had two doubles and a triple, while Austin Tramp and Zach Hegge had a double each.
The third inning was the big one for Crofton, starting with a double by Kaiser that scored Trent Jansen. That’s when Zach Hegge grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Roy Knapp and Justin Potts both scored on one of Wynot’s seven errors on the night. Two more runs got across for the Jays in the third, giving Crofton the 5-0 lead. The Jays would score another three runs in the fourth and scatter out a run in the seventh and eighth to gather the commanding lead and the eventual win.
The Jays close out their SCL season this Sunday, July 14 at Yankton. Right now, only Tabor at 10-1 and Yankton at 10-2 stand ahead of the Jays in SCL standings. The District 6B tourney begins in Lesterville this year on July 25 and runs through Aug. 3. The South Dakota State Amatuer baseball tourney will be in Mitchell in early August.
