His worst fears were realized when the Raiders took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth.
However, Taylor Hesseling’s first varsity career round-tripper sparked the veteran Wildcats toward an 8-4 victory.
“We came out flat tonight. I think we were a little emotionally drained after such a big win the night before,” Montenery acknowledged. “Taylor’s home run was a huge shot. That got everybody excited and fired up. That’s what veterans teams do; find ways to win.”
For Raiders coach Tom Schaper, it was the same old, same old.
“We’ve got a lot of young, inexperienced players that find it easy to get down on themselves. You have to learn how to finish a game and we haven’t yet,” he said. “It’s so easy to get down on yourself when you’ve had the struggles we’ve had; that’s part of the maturation process and gaining experience. Things don’t always go your way.”
The Raiders chased Jefferson starter Matt Antalis — who retired his first nine batters — in the fourth. Ryan Davis led off with an infield single to third and swiped second. Evan Dasher bunted him up and he scored on an error on Joe Morehead’s grounder. Riley Linder singled to left. Andrew Horner bunted them up. Justin Davis blooped a hit to right that scored Morehead. Gage Critten chopped one in front of the plate; an error on the play allowed him to be safe. In the process, Linder took a late run at the plate, went wide and was ruled to have eluded the tag of catcher Adam Kraning, which set off some fireworks. It all brought in Craig Carder to pitch. A wild pitch scored J. Davis from third and that 4-0 spread.
Jefferson left runners on second (Josh Miller; 3-for-4, 3 RBIs) and third (Sean Fisher) with one out in the first.
The Wildcats had a strange third. Cory Bastian led off with an infield hit to second. He was forced at second by Fisher; the base umpire also ruled that Fisher had made a move toward second and was tagged out for a double play, setting off more fireworks. They ended up leaving Miller at third and Kraning at first.
The hosts (13-6) finally broke through in the fourth. Matt Gerdeman led off with a shot to left but was caught stealing by J. Davis. An out later, speedy Damon Joseph (2-for-3) legged out an infield hit to short and Hesseling’s liner to left cleared the fence to get his team within 4-2.
Henk Akkerman was hit by a Carder offering in the fifth but was picked off base by the pitcher. Dasher got a 2-out walk and a passed ball moved him up but Carder fanned Morehead.
In the home half, Miller lined a hit to left and Kraning blooped one to right. Aaron Schuerman launched a run-scoring triple to right center but a R. Davis-Horner-J. Davis relay easily got Kraning at home. Still, Morehead was replaced by J. Davis and got out of the inning with no further damage.
Carder plunked Linder to lead off the sixth and after an error on a pickoff, was replaced by Miller (3-1; 2 IP, 2 Ks). An out later, a fly ball to right got Linder to third but no farther.
The Wildcats put it away in the sixth. Back-to-back walks to Joseph (he stole second) and Hesseling brought Horner in to pitch. A wild pitch moved the runners (Adam Wollenhaupt pinch-ran for Hesseling) up but Joseph was out at home trying to score on a pitch to the backstop. Back-to-back free passes to Bastian (a wild pitch moved him to second) and Fisher loaded the sacks for Miller. He unloaded them with a double to left center. He moved up on a wild pitch. He was erased at home on a Kraning bouncer to third. A wild pitch and error put Kraning at third. Schuerman walked and stole second. Gerdeman’s double to right center scored both runners for the final tally.
“We got good pitching again tonight. Matt pitched well; he just had some tough breaks got against him,” Montenery added. “Craig gave us a solid outing and the Josh finished it off. Again, our offense tonight was ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try again the next time.’ We just kept attacking and finally got the results.”
Jefferson visits Ada Thursday.
“Our pitching just isn’t very deep; once we get into the bullpen, we are hurting. We’ve got a lot of potential on this team,” Schaper added.
Wayne Trace hosts LCC tonight.
