Jul. 4—JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown Post 14 Eagles showed off their fight in a comeback 4-3 win over Midway-Minto in the first game of the Phil Brown Classic on Friday, July 4, at Jack Brown Stadium.
“Pay attention to the little details, do all the little things correctly and then we don’t have to worry about walking it off,” Eagles head coach Sam Joseph said about his message to his team.
The Eagles broke through in the second inning when Mason Joseph hit a sacrifice bunt to score Kale Verke and give his team a 1-0 lead. Midway-Minto had a chance to score in the top of the third when they loaded the bases with one out but two consecutive fly outs ended the threat.
Midway-Minto got on the board in the fourth when Ezra Robinson hit a single up the middle to score a run and make it 1-1. However, it could’ve been worse for the Eagles though when their relay throw got past everybody and rolled all the way to the dugout allowing the runners to move up and then nobody was covering home but pitcher Zach Gaiser dove into home to tag out the runner before he could slide in safely. The visitors took their first lead of the day in the sixth when Glenn Goodsell scurried home on a passed ball to go up 2-1.
The Eagles (9-16) fought back to tie the game up in the bottom of the seventh when Hudson Rode hit a single up the middle to score a run and make it 2-2. The Eagles had a chance to walk it off in the seventh when Mason Joseph hit a single to left but the runner was tagged out by the catcher trying to score to send the game to extras.
In the top of the eighth, Midway-Minto (6-15) hit a single to right to score a run and push them in front 3-2. The Eagles responded with a single to tie the game up and then a sacrifice fly from Bennett Goehner to get the 4-3 walk-off win.
The Eagles showed off their aggression on the base paths swiping five bags in this game.
“That’s number one, get on base, cause havoc on base and then have our hitters put the ball in play so we can get home,” Joseph said.
On the mound, the Eagles’ Zach Gaiser went six innings giving up one earned run on five hits while striking out three hitters and walking two hitters. He was relieved by Cody Busch who pitched the final two innings striking out two hitters while walking three hitters and giving up two hits.
“I thought Zach threw great today,” Joseph said. “He commanded the zone, he had command of three pitches and that’s what we’ve been asking from him. We’ve got our young pitchers that feel like they have to throw five to six different pitches. You throw your fastball, in, up, down and away, you have four pitches, that’s one thing we’re trying to get through to them is that you don’t need to throw six different pitches, throw two pitches for command and you have eight pitches.”
The Eagles are back in action at noon on Saturday, July 5, when they take on the Bonivital Blacksox.
P201 3, P14 4
P201: 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 — 3 7 2
P14: 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2—4 8 2
WP: Cody Busch (1-0), LP: Riley Robinson (2-1)