DELPHOS — The Jefferson baseball team had several days to wait after a loss to Bluffton 10 days ago.

They responded with a blowout of Hardin Northern last Friday.

Deja vu all over again as they blasted Northwest Conference foe Columbus Grove 10-3 at Wildcat Field on a damp and overcast Friday afternoon.

The Wildcats (12-4, 5-2 NWC) lost 4-3 at Crestview Monday and honored the players’ parents prior to Friday’s game.

“We had to sit and wait 3-4 days but we came out hungry from the start. We took control early,” Jefferson coach Troy Montenery explained after winning his 58th game in five years at the helm, good for the second-highest in the program’s history. “You know you’re going to get quality pitching, tournament-type pitching against a team like Columbus Grove and we hit it pretty good. That was good to see up and down the lineup.”

Jefferson junior Craig Carder (3-0; 4 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 Ks) survived a 1st-and-3rd situation (David Creamer, single;  Jesse Maag, hit by a pitch and sacrificed) with one out in the top of the first.

Grove starter Brandon Hovest (4-1; 5-plus IPs, 12 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned, 1 base-on-balls, one strikeout) did the same in the bottom half: first and third (Ryan Kortokrax, fielder’s choice; Sean Fisher, an error and walk); with two down.

The Wildcats broke through in the second inning. Matt Gerdeman (2-for-3) led off with a line single into right. Taylor Hesseling legged out a double down the left-field line. An out later, a ground hit into left by Matt Antalis scored Gerdeman and pinch-runner Adam Wollenhaupt for a 2-0 lead, Antalis taking second on the throw home. He moved to third on a Cory Bastian bounceout and scored on Fisher’s (3-for-4, 3 runs, 3 RBIs) liner into right. Josh Miller beat out an infield nibbler to third; an error on the sequence allowed Fisher to hustle in to score for a 4-0 spread.

“It’s not that we didn’t come ready to play; I think we psyched ourselves out in thinking about who we were playing. We didn’t give ourselves enough credit,” Grove coach Cory King noted. “Thus, we didn’t play our best game and we had to just to have a chance to compete against this team. We didn’t come in with confidence.”

The Bulldogs (14-6, 4-3 NWC) split the deficit in half in the third. Nate Schroeder (2 runs) lined a leadoff hit into center and Maag walked. He was erased on a ground ball by Nate Bogart, who stole second. An out later, Garrett Wolfe ripped a knock to center to plate two runs and a 4-2 deficit.

The Red and White got back-to-back 2-down hits from Hesseling and Jordan Jettinghoff but failed to add to their cushion.

Brett Reed led off the Bulldog fourth with an infield hit to the hole at short and pinch-runner Zach Barrientes was sacrificed to second by Ryan Birkemeier. However, Carder pitched out of the jam.

With one down in the home half, Fisher went opposite way, launching a solo shot to the right of the 362-foot sign in right for a 5-2 advantage. Miller hit a ground-rule double to left-center but was stranded.

A 1-out double down the left-field line by Bogart chased Carder, with Mike Rahrig (2 2/3 innings, 2 hits, 1 unearned run, 4 strikeouts, 1 hit batter) taking over on the mound. Creamer beat out an infield hit to deep short, with Bogart failing to advance. A strikeout and a groundout ended the threat.

A double play kept the Wildcats from adding to their lead in the home half, despite a 2-out double to right-center by Rahrig.

The Wildcats put it away in the sixth, sending nine batters to the plate. Pinch-hitter Austin Clarkson led it off with a shot down the left-field line, chasing Hovest for Bogart. Clarkson scored via a double to the fence in right-center by Fisher, who moved to third on an error on Miller’s ground ball. Kortokrax beat out an infield nibbler to third, allowing Fisher to score. Aaron Schuerman grounded a single into right, plating Miller and pushing Kortokrax to third. Schuerman stole second. Gerdeman flied out deep enough to right to get Kortokrax home and put Schuerman at third, from where he touched home plate courtesy of a liner into right-center by Hesseling and a 10-2 edge.

“This was Craig’s second start of the year and he was solid; we didn’t want him to go above 75 pitches. Mike came in and does what Mike does,” Montenery added. “The defense behind him, especially Josh at third base, was strong. Josh seemed to have at least a half-dozen balls he handled well. We put all the phases together: offense, defense, pitching, base-running. It was good to get back to all of that.”

The visitors got one back in the seventh. Schroeder was hit by a pitch and advanced on a wild pitch. An out later, Bogart singled him home. A bouncer to first put Bogart at second but Wolfe popped out to end the game.

“Brandon actually pitched pretty well. They had a lot of infield hits early and that just gets frustrating,” King added. “The last couple of innings, they just simple hit the ball well. Offensively, we didn’t have many hard-hit balls. We struck out a few too many times. We are going to have to get a lot better from here.”

Jefferson is set to host Kenton 5 p.m. Monday. Columbus Grove brings in Shawnee Wednesday.