The Jackson-Milton Blue Jays  Baseball season has officially started. A lot is ahead this season with many players coming back and many new faces. Last years team was able to advance to the semi-finals game. This year the team looks to improve and go all the way to state.

Head Coach Kevin Hogue was asked what he looks forward to most about this season, he said, “New opportunities and new chances for all the players this team.”

The team has scrimmaged Anbor and Windham before the season started. The regular season started off with a win against Badger 10-4, following that the team traveled their next two games to Heartland Christian where they lost 14-9. After that the team narrowly lost To McDonald 2–1, However, Junior Nick Rich Pitched an outstanding game, having 6 Strikeouts.

Nick was also asked what he looked forward to the most, he had this to say, “Playing in the game, I love baseball and playing with new teammates and old ones.”

On March 28th the Jays hosted Lowville High-School, tied 3-3 in the final inning, Joey Williams hits a walk off single that enables Aaren Landis to score. The Blue Jays would end up winning 4-3 in an exciting game.

On April 5th the Jays traveled to Niles to face off against the Red Dragons. The Dragons had early success, scoring nine runs in just three innings. Later Harrison Lay would enter the game and start pitching. Lay would only allow two hits and added 7 outs to his resume. Ultimately the Blue Jays would end up with a loss, the final score was 10-0 Dragons.

On April 8th the Jays hosted East High-School. The Blue Jays bounced back from last week and would go on to beat East 10-0. Nick Rich threw an outstanding one hitter. When asked how it felt he had this to say, “I honestly had no idea I was throwing a one hitter, I was just focusing on the game.”

On April 11th the Jay hosted the Chaney Cowboys. The team went on to mercy the Cowboys and the game ended in the 5th inning. Harrison Lay would have 9 strikeouts in just 4 innings.

On the 13th the Blue Jays and the Sebring Trojans played at Bob Cene Park. The Jays would also mercy the Trojans the final score 10-0 in the 5th inning. The Jays had 0 errors in the MVAC showcase.

On the 17th the Blue Jays traveled to Mineral Ridge. An an exciting game the Jays would go on to win 15-7. Sophomore Frankie Prozy was asked how he felt about the performance, “Felt pretty solid, had a couple great hits, and we got the dub (win).”

The Blue Jays of Jackson-Milton had an opportunity to host St. Thomas Aquinas in the first round of the OHSAA State Baseball tournament. The Blue Jays struck first, scoring 2 runs in the first inning. The Blue Jays would give up the lead in the 4th inning but would answer with a drive by Junior Harrison Lay in the 6th inning which gave the Blue Jays the 5-4 lead. The Blue Jays would allow St. Thomas the get the game tying run to 3rd with 1 out by the Blue Jays shut the door to go home the victors.

Lay ended the game with 2 hits for the team including the game winning hit which hit in two of his teammates. Senior James Harris had a double on the night and Senior Ryan Seka, Junior Joey Williams and Sophomore Mason Robison also had hits on the night.

On the mound Robison started the game on the mound and had 4 strikeouts and allowed 3 earned runs in 5 innings of work. Rich came in and shut the door allowing no runs in 2 perfect innings of work.

The Blue Jays will now play at Warren Harding High School on Thursday starting at 5:00 PM against Warren JFK High School. The winner of this game will advance to the OHSAA district tournament at Bob Cene Park slated to begin next week.

Keep up the great work Jays!