Bluejays hope to catch Toreadors looking ahead

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Perry skipper Mike Long (2) confers with current players and his assistant coaches during a recent game. Perry faces Boone, at North Polk, in a 5 p.m. contest today.

Perry will face an all-too familiar foe when they open postseason play in the Class 3A District 14 Semifinals at 5 p.m. The Bluejays (7-20) face Toreadors (19-10), with Boone already owning a sweep of Perry in regular season Raccoon River Conference action.

Boone was a 9-0 winner against visiting Perry June 1, then scored seven runs in the top of the seventh for a 14-4 win at Progressive Field June 22. The Toreadors beat each of the main Bluejay pitchers, as Kyle Nevitt yielded five runs on two hits and six walks in the first loss and Janier Puente allowed nine runs (six earned) on eight and four walks in six frames.

DC-G (10-20) plays North Polk (24-6) in the 7 p.m. game Friday, and Perry hopes the Toreadors will focus on a possible Monday opponent and overlook a Bluejay team that has shown, at times, glimpses of playing well above the level of their record.

Perry players, seen in Gilbert June 13, will try to avenge two RRC losses this season when they face Boone at 5 p.m. tonight at North Polk. Photo submitted.

Nevitt is 3-6 with a 4.52 ERA in 43-1/3 innings for the Jays. He has struck out 66 but walked 43. Opponents hit just .127 of the lefty.

Puente is just 1-5 on the hill and has a 4.63 ERA. He has fanned 48 and walked 29, with the opposition batting .198 against the senior.

Seven doubles, a triple and three home runs have allowed Puente to post a .610 slugging percentage. He leads the team with a .377 average and has driven in 22 runs.

Nevitt and Brandon Kenyon are each hitting .333 with 18 RBIs, with Nevitt adding three doubles and a grad slam while Kenyon has five doubles. Lead-off man Kabel Olejniczak paces the team with 23 runs scored, has two triples and is hitting .318.

Adan Medina (.266) has five doubles, a triple and a home run, with Austin Carpenter (.300), Aaron Lockwood (.277) and Justin Stammer (.286) also contributing.

Kenyon leads the team in stolen bases and is 15-of-15, but Alexis Garrido, who hits .298, is close behind, having stolen 13 bags in 14 tries.

Boone hold edges in team runs scored (178-138) and hits (230-201) and has a demonstrable edge in power numbers. While Perry had six triples and five home runs and Boone two triples and four dingers, the Toreadors hold a 52-22 advantage in doubles.

Perry hits .297 as a team, just .001 less than Boone, and the teams are nearly even in thefts. The Toreadors have swiped 55-of-61 bases and the Bluejays 53-of-57.

The winner of Monday’s District 14 Final will play in Wednesday’s Substate 7 Final in Norwalk at 7 p.m. Bondurant-Farrar (18-15) faces Winterset (14-16) in one D13 semifinal, with host Norwalk (13-22) to battle Carlisle (26-9).

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