The first of two meetings between the only two Iowa high schools using “Bluejays” as their nickname went to Bondurant-Farrar, as the visitors posted a 10-2 win over host Perry in Raccoon River Conference baseball Wednesday.
The loss was the third time in as many days that Perry has yielded 10 runs to the opposition while Jays have scored just nine runs of their own.
B-F (6-2, 3-1) threatened to start with a bang as a double, an infield single and a hit batsman loaded the bases with just one out.
However, Perry southpaw Kyle Nevitt dodged the danger by throwing a strikeout before second baseman Adan Medina reached to his right to snare a line drive and dismiss the threat.
Perry mounted their own threat in their first at-bat, with Nevitt hit by a pitch and Janier Puente following with a single. Medina singled to left, with Nevitt sent home from second, where he was tagged out after a strong throw from left fielder Payton Duit. A ground out ended the rally.
A walk started the B-F second, with a two-out single and follow-up double giving the guests a 2-0 lead.
The guests scored twice more in the third to move into a 4-0 lead, then pushed their advantage to 5-0 with a two-out single in the fourth.
Austin Carpenter walked in the second for the hosts but could not be moved around, with Nevitt trying to help himself with a single and stolen base in the third. He moved to third on a passed ball, then raced toward the plate on another passed ball, only to be called out on a bang-bang play at the dish when catcher Hogan McIntosh flipped to pitcher Tanner Bedier, just in time, though the crowd gathered around the backstop vociferously thought otherwise.
Nevitt was replaced by Kade VanKirk for the fifth, with Jarred Clark’s two-out double starting a five-run spurt. Duit produced a RBI single, with a hit batsman and consecutive walks sending the second run of the inning across the plate. Tyler Flannery cleared the bags with a three-run double to straightaway center field, with a fly out finally ending the damage. All 10 of the B-F runs scored with two outs already recorded in the inning in question.
Bedier clearly tired in the fifth, with an error while Gavin Boyer was batting, a walk to Carpenter and walk to VanKirk one out later loading the bases. Nevitt drew a free pass to force in courtesy runner Conner Kenyon (on for catcher Boyer), with a wild pitch sending Carpenter home as the score moved to 10-2.
Walter Long came on in relief and stopped the rally with a soft line out to second baseman Hunter Kennedy, who stepped on second base to double-off Nevitt.
Carpenter replaced VanKirk for the final two innings and looked sharp, allowing a Duit double and a walk but striking out four while preventing further damage on the scoreboard.
Medina singled to open the Perry sixth, with Alex Long beating out on infield hit. Unfortunately for the hosts, a sharply hit ball from Alexis Garrido was snared by Kennedy, who flipped to first to double-off Long for the second similar double-play in consecutive innings. A strikeout ended the frame, with Perry going down in order in the seventh to suffer the loss.
Bedier went 4.2 frames for B-F in collecting the win. He allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits while walking five, hitting one and striking out three, with Walter Long striking out one and yielding two hits in 2.1 frames of scoreless relief.
Nevitt took the loss after surrendering five runs on six hits, four walks and three hit batsmen in four innings. He finished with three strikeouts. VanKirk threw one stanza, allowing five runs on three hits, two walks and one hit batsman, with Carpenter finishing out the final two frames.
Perry visits Ballard in Slater tonight before playing twice in Atlantic Saturday. The Bluejays will face off with Treynor at 10 a.m. before a tilt with the host Trojans at 12 p.m.
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