Jefferson Baseball

J-Hawks broom off No. 7 Iowa City West

IOWA CITY -- Dylan Jellison threw four pitches Monday night for the Jefferson baseball team.

He got three outs, two saves and protected one huge sweep for the J-Hawks.

Jefferson beat No. 7 Iowa City West, 8-7 and 6-4, in a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader at West.

The J-Hawks (9-13, 8-6) stretched their winning streak to four games and recorded their second straight sweep. They also took a pair from Wahlert last Friday night at Dubuque.

"We had good mojo when we walked through the gate tonight," said Jefferson's Chance Tiedtke, who had six hits in the doubleheader, including a solo home run in the nightcap that broke a 3-3 tie and put the J-Hawks ahead to stay.

Jefferson pounded out 25 hits, and belted three home runs and seven doubles. West (17-7, 10-4) had 15 hits. Reid Bonner hit two-run home runs in each game.

The J-Hawks held an 8-7 lead with two outs in the opener when Jellison was summoned from his defensive position at second base to face West's Colin Baker with the tying run at third base. He spun two cutters for strikes, then tossed a knuckleball that danced past Baker's bat and into the mitt of catcher Colten Jourdan.

"I just tried to hang with the pitch," said Jourdan, who pitched six strong innings before giving way to Dylan Wright to start the seventh. Jourdan re-entered at catcher when Jellison took over on the mound and catcher Ben Koering moved to second base.

"I was supposed to take over after the first batter, but (Wright) threw only one pitch so Coach left him in," Jellison said.

Wright gave up a single to Devon Raffensberger and courtesy runner Wade Nash stole second and went to third base on Kellen Yoder's ground out.

That's when Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba summoned Jellison.

"Dylan has good off-speed stuff," Kuba said.

Jellison said he never thought twice about throwing the knuckler, even though the tying run was one wild pitch away from scoring.

"I got a knuckleball I can control. That's my specialty," he said.

The J-Hawks were in another tight spot in the bottom of the seventh of the nightcap. West had the bases-loaded with one out when Jellison was again inserted to replace Ky Kramer, who labored through 2 1/3 innings of relief, alllowing only two hits, but walking four and hitting one batter.

"I thought (Kuba) was just coming out to talk strategy," Jellison said. "He asked me if I was ready to get two more outs. I said, 'Let's do it.' "

Ezra Reiners rapped Jellison's first offering back through the box. Jellison stretched out, snared the ball, fired it home to Jourdan for one out and Jourdan's relay to first cut down the speedy Reiners to end the game.

Four pitches, three outs, two saves and one huge sweep.

"We put together 14 innings of good baseball tonight," Jellison said.

"It's too soon to say," Kuba said when asked if the J-Hawks have turned a corner. "But we are playing the type of baseball that I knew we were capable of playing since game one. We're working out of jams, getting double plays and big outs and we're capitalizing on offense."

Jefferson rallied from a 6-2 deficit in the opener, scoring five runs in the fourth inning. Kramer and Layne Sullivan singled to lead-off the inning and Jellison's double chased both home. Christian Knox then belted a two-run home run to tie the game. One out later, Tiedtke and Austin Goodell stroked back-to-back doubles to put the J-Hawks ahead.

West tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. Nick Grimsman hit a lead-off triple that Tiedtke, the J-Hawks' left fielder. lost in the dusky sky. Tanner Wilson's sacrifice fly plated Grimsman.

The score stayed tied until the seventh, when Jourdan lined a lead-off double down the left field line. Sam Techau put down a perfect bunt for an infield single that moved courtesy runner Aaron Gruwell to third base.

The J-Hawks then played small ball, scoring what proved to be the winning run on a safety squeeze bunt by Kramer.

"Aaron read the play beautifully," Kuba said. "It was good execution on a play that we have emphasized since morning one -- not just day one -- of practice."

Jefferson played long ball to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the nightcap. Jellison singled home a run in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 3-2 before Jordan Dee and Tiedtke belted back-to-back home runs leading off the fifth.

"Those bombs helped so much to get us going, otherwise we might have just rolled over," Jellison said.

"We're starting to settle in and look for our pitch," Kuba said. "We've put an emphasis on looking for a pitch in 2-0 and 3-1 counts."

While Dee nailed a hanging curveball on a 1-2 pitch, Tiedtke rifled a 3-1 offering.

"We talked about staying relaxed and waiting for a pitch to drive," Tiedtke said. "We got some hits and that carried our momentum."

The J-Hawks added two insurance runs in the sixth. The first scored on a wild pitch and the second on Tiedtke's two-out RBI single.

"We played good, but not perfect," Tiedtke said. "We have to keep doing what we've been doing and better things will come."

Jefferson hosts Solon on Wednesday in a non-conference JV/varsity doubleheader, then hosts Xavier in an MVC doubleheader Friday.

GAME ONE

JEFFERSON (8)
Dylan Jellison, 2b-p, 5 1 1 2, Christian Knox, cf, 4 2 2 2, Jordan Dee, 1b, 4 1 2 0, Chance Tiedtke, lf, 4 1 3 1, Austin Goodell, rf, 4 0 1 1, Colten Jourdan, p-c, 4 0 3 1, Aaron Gruwell, cr, 0 1 0 0, Dylan Wright, p, 0 0 0 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 3 0 1 1, Ky Kramer, ss, 3 1 1 1, Layne Sullivan, dh, 4 1 1 0, Ben Koering, c-2b, 0 0 0 0. Totals 35 8 15 8.

IOWA CITY WEST (7)
Ezra Reiners, cf, 3 1 1 0, Tanner Wilson, rf, 0 2 0 1, Reid Bonner, 2b, 3 2 1 2, Declan Doyle, 1b, 3 1 0 0, Devon Raffensberger, dh, 4 0 2 1, Wade Nash, pr, 0 0 0 0, Sam Scott, ss, 0 0 0 0, Kellen Yoder, 3b, 3 0 2 1, Colin Baker, c, 3 0 0 0, Nash, cr, 0 0 0 0, Luke Crimmins, p, 2 0 0 0, Tyus Adkins, p, 1 0 0 0, Nick Grimsman, lf, 3 1 1 0. Totals 26 7 7 5.

Jefferson     200 500 1  --  8  15  3
IC West      303 100 0  --  7   7   0

Jourdan, Wright (7), Jellison (7) and Koering, Jourdan (7). Crimmins, Adkins (4) and Baker. W - Jourdan. L - Adkins. Sv - Jellison. 2B - Jellison, Tiedtke, Goodell, Jourdan, Reiners, Raffensberger. 3B - Grimsman. HR - Knox, Bonner. SB - Wilson, Nash 2.

GAME TWO

JEFFERSON (6)
Jellison, 2b-p, 3 1 2 1, Knox, cf, 3 0 1 0, Dee, 1b, 4 1 1 1, Tiedtke, p-lf, 4 1 3 2, Gruwell, cr, 0 1 0 0, Goodell, rf, 4 0 0 0, Jourdan, c, 3 0 1 0, Wright, cr, 0 0 0 0, Techau, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Kramer, ss-p, 3 1 0 0, Sullivan, lf, 2 0 1 0, Koering, ss-2b, 2 1 1 0. Totals 30 6 10 4.

IOWA CITY WEST (4)
Reiners, cf, 4 0 0 0, Wilson, rf-pr, 2 1 0 0, Josh Verry, ph, 0 0 0 0, Bonner, 2b, 3 2 2 2, Doyle, 1b, 3 0 1 0, Raffensbergerr, c, 3 0 2 1, Nash, cr, 0 1 0 0, Baker, dh, 1 0 0 0, Scott, p, 0 0 0 0, Ryan Aller, p, 0 0 0 0, Sam Searls, p, 0 0 0 0, Crimmins, ss, 3 0 2 0, Adkins, 3b, 2 0 0 1, Grimsman, lf, 3 0 1 0, Yoder, ph, 0 0 0 0. Totals 24 4 8 4.

Jefferson     010 122 0  --   6  10  1
IC West      201 000 1  --   4   8   0

Tiedtke, Kramer (5), Jellison (7) and Jourdan. Scott, Aller (6), Searls (7) and Raffensberger. W - Tiedtke. L - Scott. Sv - Jellison. 2B - Tiedtke, Jourdan, Sullivan, Bonner. HR - Dee, Tiedtke, Bonner. SB - Jellison, Knox, Kramer.

Kellen Sweeney assigned to Vancouver Canadians

Kellen Sweeney has a new minor league team, a new time zone and a new country.

Sweeney is playing for the Vancouver Canadians in the Northwest League and is hitting .083 (1 for 12) as their starting third baseman after three games.

Sweeney hit in the No. 5 spot in the Vancouver lineup as the Canadians opened the season by winning two out of three games against Spokane. He went 1-for-5 on Friday, 0-for-3 on Saturday with two walks and 0-for-4 on Sunday.

Sweeney, from Cedar Rapids, hit .179 in 43 games with the Lansing Lugnuts in the Class A Midwest League this season. He was sent back to Florida for extended spring training in late May after his slow start and was assigned to Vancouver last week.

The Northwest League is a Class A-Short Season league.

Sweeney was selected in the second round of the 2010 Major League draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. He played sparingly in 2010 after signing a pro contract and missed most of the 2011 season with a wrist injury.

J-Hawks sweep Wahlert in baseball

DUBUQUE -- Jefferson broke out the bats in the opener, then played some clutch defense in the nightcap and swept a baseball doubleheader from Dubuque Wahlert on Friday at Petrakis Park.

The J-Hawks thumped Wahlert, 14-7, in the opener, then took the nightcap, 6-4.

The twin wins evened Jefferson's record in the Mississippi Valley Conference at 6-6. The J-Hawks are 7-13 overall.

Ky Kramer was 5-for-5 with a home run for Jefferson in the opener. Austin Goodell was 2-for-3 with a home run and drove in two runs. Sam Techau was 2-for-3.

Jordan Dee was 4-for-5 and was the winning pitcher, working six innings.

In the nightcap, Dee and Goodell were 2-for-3, and Chance Tiedtke was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Goodell worked the first four innings and picked up the win. Tiedtke got the save when Wahlert hit into a bases-loaded double play to end the game.

J-Hawks stumble against DM East

For four innings Tuesday night, Jefferson continued to look like a reborn baseball team.

Then came the fifth frame.

Des Moines East scored five runs in the fifth, added three more in the sixth and crushed the J-Hawks, 11-3, at the Jefferson diamond.

The loss dropped Jefferson to 5-13 and was a bitter disappointment after playing some solid baseball in a doubleheader loss to Linn-Mar.

"It seems like once it goes downhill, it keeps going downhill," said Jefferson right fielder Austin Goodell, who had two of the J-Hawks' six hits, including a run-scoring double in the first inning. "The team started out well, but we didn't continue our momentum. Once we stopped we couldn't get it back together."

Jordan Dee's two-run double in the third inning gave Jefferson a 3-1 lead.

East (10-6) scored two unearned runs in the fourth inning to tie the game. Kyle Thomson's two-run home run in the fifth inning broke the tie and the Scarlet tacked on three more runs in the frame for an 8-3 lead.

Colby Carmichael's two-run double highlighted East's three-run sixth inning.

Eighth grader Spencer Van Scoyoc was the losing pitcher for Jefferson. He gave up five hits, walked five and allowed six runs in 4 1/3 innings. Only three of the runs were earned.

Jefferson pitchers issued eight bases on balls, hit a batter and the defense had four errors.

The J-Hawks play a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader Friday at Dubuque Wahlert.

DM EAST (11)
Connor Enochs, p-2b, 3 0 0 0, Justin Lippold, cr, 0 0 0 0, Dylan Hernandez, ph, 1 0 0 0, Malique Ziegler, 2b-rf, 4 0 0 0, Isaiah Green, ph, 1 0 0 0, Shane Sullivan, 3b, 3 1 1 0, Jeremy Bos, ph, 1 0 0 0, Robert Hansen, rf-p, 3 2 1 0, Austin Robbins, p, 0 0 0 0, Kyle Thomson, 1b, 4 2 2 2, Colby Carmichael, cf-p, 4 3 2 2, Blake Cunningham, lf, 3 0 1 1, Gage Allison, ph, 0 0 0 1, Austin Bellis, c, 1 2 0 0, Tobias Tyler, ph, 1 0 0 0, Xavier James, ss, 1 1 1 1, Lippold, ph, 0 0 0 0. Totals 30 11 8 7.

JEFFERSON (3)
Dylan Jellison, 2b-ss, 4 1 1 0, Jordan Dee, 1b, 4 0 1 2, Chance Tiedtke, lf, 3 1 1 0, Austin Goodell, rf, 3 0 2 1, Colten Jourdan, dh, 3 0 1 0, Ky Kramer, ss-p, 0 0 0 0, Christian Knox, cf-2b, 4 0 0 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Spencer Van Scoyoc, p, 2 0 0 0, Dylan Wright, p-cf, 1 0 0 0, Ben Koering, c, 1 0 0 0, Layne Sullivan, cr, 0 1 0 0. Totals 29 3 6 3.

DM East         010 253 0 --  11  8  2
Jefferson       120 000 0 --   3   6  4

Enochs, Hansen (4), Robbins (6), Carmichael (7) and Bellis. Van Scoyoc, Wright (5), Kramer (6) and Koering. W - Hansen. L - Van Scoyoc. 2B - Hansen, Carmichael, Dee, Goodell. HR - Thomson. SB - Enochs, James, LSullivan.