There's an old baseball bromide that goes "What goes around comes around."

What went around in Wednesday's opener between Dubuque Senior and Jefferson came whipping back around the other way in the nightcap.

Sam Techau belted two home runs and Jefferson banged out 13 hits and whipped Senior, 12-5, in the opener.

The Rams belted five home runs -- two by Dylan Merritt -- among their 14 hits and claimed the nightcap, 15-5.

"That's the mystery of baseball, I guess," said Jefferson senior Christian Knox, who was 3-for-3 and scored three runs in the opener. "That's why this game is so different than any other one."

The split left Jefferson with a 13-16 overall record and an 11-9 mark in Mississippi Valley Conference games. The J-Hawks were going for their fourth doubleheader sweep in the last two weeks.

But Senior (16-16, 9-11) had other ideas.

"I told the guys in our huddle after the first game that we were going to see a completely different team in the second game," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said. "They only outhit us by (four) hits, but they outhit us by a lot."

Senior never trailed in the nightcap. The Rams took a 2-0 lead on Robby Jones' two-run home run in the second, stretched their lead to 5-1 following a solo homer by Merritt and Jon Powers' two-run shot.

The lead was 9-1 after solo home run by Connor Grant and Merritt in the sixth.

Jefferson scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Chance Tiedtke had an RBI double, Austin Goodell a run-scoring single and Colten Jourdan a two-run double.

Senior put the game away with six runs in the seventh. Merritt had a bases-clearing double and finished with five RBIs.

"They hit the ball in the first game and we finally hit the ball in the second game," Senior Coach Tim Felderman said.

Back-to-back doubles by Tiedtke and Goodell staked Jefferson to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener.

Techau's first home run, a one-out solo shot boosted the J-Hawks' lead to 3-1 in the second.

Senior tied the game in the top of the third, the tying run scoring on an error by Techau at third.

He shrugged the miscue off and slugged a three-run home run in the bottom of the third that put the J-Hawks ahead to stay, 6-3.

"I took an extra round of hitting today, mainly working on hitting the ball to the opposite field," Techau said. "I've been pulling the ball and I haven't been hitting well. I wanted to stay on the ball and take it to right or spray it around."

Both home runs cleared the center field fence.

"The wind probably helped the first one," admitted Techau, referring to the prevailing southerly breeze that kept a near 100-degree night bearable. "I definitely felt more confident after hitting that first home run. I knew I could hit (Senior pitcher Cody Gesie) and I knew I could hit it hard."

Jefferson added a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Jordan Dee doubled home the first run and Goodell's sacrifice fly plated the second.

The J-Hawks nearly closed out the game in the fifth, scoring four runs for a 12-3 lead. Tiedtke, who had three hits and drove in three runs, had a two-run single.

That was all the support eighth grader Spencer Van Scoyoc needed to notch his first varsity win. Van Scoyoc was lifted after the first three batters reached base leading off the sixth, but pitched five solid innings, allowing seven hits, five runs and walking five.

"It didn't feel as good as the last time I pitched," said Van Scoyoc, who worked into the seventh inning in his last outing, a no-decision against Solon on June 20. "But we hit the ball good and got the win, and that always feels good."

Van Scoyoc made his first start against an MVC foe. His previous four starts were against non-conference foes Davenport Central, Pleasant Valley, Des Moines East and Solon.

"It didn't feel like it was that much of a difference," he said. "I didn't really think about it that much before I pitched."

Dubuque Senior's Ryan Jantsch was hit by pitches five times. He was hit by another pitch in the first inning of the nightcap, but plate umpire Jeff Frese ruled he didn't make an effort to get out of the way of the pitch and kept him at-bat.

Jefferson next plays Friday with a doubleheader at Dubuque Hempstead. Senior is at Xavier for a pair Friday.

GAME ONE

DUBUQUE SENIOR (5)
Connor Grant, 3b, 4 0 1 0, David Janes, c, 3 0 0 1, Michael Blake, cr, 0 1 0 0, Andrew Thill, cr, 0 0 0 0, Dylan Merritt, 3b, 2 1 0 0, Ryan Jantsch, lf, 2 0 1 0, Jon Powers, rf, 4 1 1 1, Mike Hansen, dh, 4 0 1 0, Cody Gesie, p, 0 0 0 0, Blake, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Robby Jones, ss, 3 1 0 1, Kenny Capesius, 2b-p, 2 0 1 0, Mike Zelinskas, cr, 0 1 0 0, Austin Clemens, cf, 3 0 2 1. Totals 27 5 7 4.

JEFFERSON (12)
Dylan Jellison, 2b, 3 1 1 0, Christian Knox, cf, 3 3 3 0, Jordan Dee, 1b, 4 1 1 2, Chance Tiedtke, lf, 4 1 3 3, Austin Goodell, rf, 3 1 2 2, Layne Sullivan, dh, 3 0 0 0, Spencer Van Scoyoc, p, 0 0 0 0, Dylan Wright, p, 1 0 0 0, Alec McIntosh, cr, 0 0 0 0, Colten Jourdan, c, 2 0 1 0, Aaron Gruwell, cr, 0 2 0 0, Ty Koolbeck, ph, 1 0 0 0, Ben Koering, ss, 0 0 0 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 3 2 2 4, Colton Spicer, ph, 1 0 0 0, Ky Kramer, ss, 2 1 0 0. Totals 2 1 0 0. Totals 30 12 13 11.

Dubuque Senior   012 002 0 --  5   7   1
Jefferson            213 240 x -- 12  13  2

Gesie, Capesius (5) and Janes. Van Scoyoc, Wright (6) and Jourdan, Koering (7). W - Van Scoyoc. L - Gesie. 2B - Grant, Hansen, Dee, Tiedtke, Goodell. HR - Techau 2. SB - Kramer.

GAME TWO

DUBUQUE SENIOR (15)
Grant, 1b, 5 2 2 1, Janes, 2b-lf, 3 1 1 0, Merritt, 3b, 5 3 4 5, Jantsch, lf-p, 2 2 2 0, Zelinskas, cr, 0 1 0 0, Powers, rf, 4 2 1 2, Preston Mai, rf, 0 0 0 0, Hansen, dh, 4 1 1 1, Jordan Schueler, p, 0 0 0 0, Blake, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Jones, ss, 5 2 2 3, Capesius, c, 2 0 1 0, Blake, cr, 0 0 0 0, Zach Somerville, ph, 0 1 0 0, Clemens, cf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 33 15 14 12.

JEFFERSON (5)
Jellison, 2b, 2 0 0 0, Wright, cf, 2 0 1 0, Knox, cf-2b, 4 1 1 0, Dee, 1b, 3 1 2 0, Tiedtke, lf, 4 1 1 1, Goodell, rf, 3 1 1 1, Sullivan, dh-p, 3 1 1 0, Koering, ss-3b, 0 0 0 0, Jourdan, c, 3 0 2 2, Wright, cr, 0 0 0 0, Hunter Kloubec, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Techau, 3b-p-c, 2 0 1 0, Gruwell, cr, 0 0 0 0, Kramer, p-ss, 3 0 0 0. Totals 29 5 10 4.

Dubuque Senior   023 022 6 --  15  14  0
Jefferson            010 004 0 --    5  10  3

Schueler, Jantsch (6) and Capesius. Kramer, Techau (3), Sullivan (6) and Jourdan, Techau (7). W - Schueler. L - Kramer. 2B - Grant, Merritt, Jantsch, Jones, Dee, Tiedtke, Jourdan. HR - Grant, Merritt 2, Powers, Jones.