Blue Jays Roll Past New Haven

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By Craig Vonder Haar Missourian Sports Writer

Washington used a 13-hit attack to register a 14-1 baseball win in five innings Monday at New Haven.

Courtland Pennock got the start on the mound for the Blue Jays and earned the win. In three innings, he allowed one run on two hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Brock Hopkins and Jared Walde both tossed one scoreless inning in relief. Hopkins allowed one hit and one walk while striking out one. Walde allowed no hits while walking one and striking out two.

“We have five games this week. We used three pitchers to try to save some arms,” said Washington Head Coach Scott Bray. “Our defense played fairly well. We had just one error. It’s always nice to get back into the win column.”

Washington (7-8) was led at the plate by Max Bigford, who collected three hits, including a home run, and four RBIs.

Brett Backhaus, Tim Zumsteg and Mike McGilvray each added two hits.

Zack Omer, Ryan Barnoski, Anthony Barnhart and Pennock each had one hit.

“We hit the ball pretty well. Having 13 hits in five innings was nice to see,” Bray said. “We jumped out on top early in the game and never looked back.”

FZN Tournament

Washington registered a 1-2 record Friday and Saturday at the Ft. Zumwalt North Tournament, which was played at Ozzie Smith Sports Complex in O’Fallon.

The Blue Jays opened the tournament Friday with a 7-1 loss to Timberland followed by a 19-0 win over Gateway Tech.

On Saturday, the Blue Jays fell to Seckman in the consolation title contest, 6-1.

Washington opened the tournament Friday with a 7-1 loss to Timberland.

DJ Smith, Carter Montgomery, Luke Hasenjaeger, Mike Jones, Dustin Howard, Pennock and McGilvray each pitched one inning for the Blue Jays.

“We had them confused with rotating pitchers each inning, but mistakes cost us and we could not get the big hit when needed,” said Bray.

Backhaus and McGilvray both had two hits for Washington.

Dilan Bollmann, Omer, Bigford, Hopkins, Howard and Pennock each added one hit.

Washington rebounded Friday in the consolation semifinals to cruise past Gateway Tech in five innings, 19-0.

Montgomery and Omer combined for a five-inning no-hitter, walking four and striking out eight.

Bollmann paced Washington’s offense with three hits.

McGilvray belted a home run and finished with two hits. Barnoski, Omer and Bigford also had two hits.

Backhaus finished with a triple and two RBIs. Barnhart, Omer and Hopkins each added two RBIs.

“We bounced back and hit very well, collecting 16 hits,” Bray said. “Defensively, we had no errors, which was nice to see.”

Playing in the consolation title game on Saturday, Washington lost a 6-1 decision to Seckman.

Bigford got the start on the mound for the Blue Jays and suffered the loss. In six innings, he allowed six runs, five earned, on 10 hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Smith tossed one scoreless inning in relief.

Washington collected three hits, one apiece by Bigford, Bollmann and Pennock.

“We had chances in the game and made some costly mental mistakes, which took away anything that we had going for us,” Bray said.

St. Charles

Washington lost a 3-2 decision at St. Charles Tuesday, April 26.

“We had many chances to score. We left 10 runners on base,” said Bray. “We had runners on first and second base with no outs in the top of the seventh inning and couldn’t score.”

Bigford got the start on the mound for Washington and suffered the loss. In three innings of work, he allowed three earned runs on five hits with one walk and one strikeout.

Jones tossed two scoreless innings in relief, allowing one walk. Smith worked one inning, allowing two hits and striking out two batters.

Omer and Bigford led Washington’s offensive attack with three hits apiece. Bigford had one RBI. McGilvray finished the game with two hits.