By Matt Eichinger
York News-Times
Posted Jun 10, 2008 @ 09:34 PM
Last update Jun 11, 2008 @ 10:03 AM
York, NE —
The York Cornerstone Junior Blue fell behind early against Valparaiso but quickly bounced back with a lead they wouldn’t give up the rest of the evening.
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Valparaiso jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first off of York starter Kirk Buetow who allowed two hits and two walks while hitting one batter. Buetow was removed from the game after the inning due to a sore arm.
Jake Spanjers came in and was magnificent in relief for the Blue. The right-hander retired the first six batters he faced to fly through the second and third innings. In the bottom of the third, York put Spanjers in line for the win.
Brady Miller led off the bottom half of the inning with a double that one hopped to the fence. Miller came in on a single from Brady Mills, who soon came in on a single from Spanjers. Spanjers also came in to score and gave York a 4-2 lead.
Valparaiso got their only run off of Spanjers in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 4-3. In total, Spanjers threw four innings, only allowing Valparaiso one run on two hits while striking out four.
“After my first inning in there I started settling down and striking guys out,” Spanjers said. “My fastball and curveball combination was starting to work and I started getting guys out.”
With Buetow’s arm bothering him, York had the opportunity to give Spanjers a shot to show the team what he could do on the mound.
“We’d been wanting to get Jake in there,” head coach Matt Kern said. “He went out there and showed us what he’s got. He was changing speeds and locating his pitches really well. He did a great job for us.”
York picked up five more runs in the bottom of the fifth on RBIs from Matt Hansen, Miller, Drew Danielson and two from Grant Conroy. Hansen would drive in two more in the bottom of the fifth to put the lead at 11-3 and end the game on the 8-run rule.
“Our teams playing baseball savvy,” Kern said. “The other teams seem to be sleeping and we’re playing smart out there lately.”
The defense for the juniors was great, only committing two errors for the second game in a row. Their coach credits good hustle for their improved defense over those past games.
“Everybody was hustling,” Kern said. “When you’re hustling you’re going to make some good plays on defense.”
The Blue will be in action again this weekend at the Seward Tournament playing at 5:30 and 8:00 Friday night. In the 5:30 game the Juniors will face host Seward, and at 8 p.m. they take on Waterloo/Valley.
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