It was a lot harder than the first time around, but Linn-Mar still managed to handle the Jefferson baseball team Monday night.

Twice.

Linn-Mar scored twice in the top of the seventh to win the opener, 5-4, then tallied three times over the fifth and six innings for a 5-3 win in the nightcap at the Jefferson field.

The pair of wins stretched Linn-Mar's winning streak to eight games.

But the wins were a whole lot harder to get than the season-opening, 15-2, pasting the Lions (13-6, 8-2 MVC) applied to the J-Hawks (5-12, 4-6) back on May 21.

"They have really improved a lot since that first game," Linn-Mar center fielder Michael Redmond said of Jefferson. "We don't take anybody for granted."

Redmond was 5-for-8 with a double and three RBIs for the Lions. All three RBIs came in the opener.

Redmond's one-out single drove in Nate Greve with the tying run in the top of the seventh of the opener. He was on third base and Austin Stroschein on first with two outs and two strikes on Jimmy Roth when Stroschein broke for second base. Jefferson pitcher Colten Jourdan was called for a balk that scored Redmond with what proved to be the winning run.

"We maybe didn't execute that the way we should have, but Michael had an excellent read and would have scored anyway," Linn-Mar Coach Chad Lechner said.

Stroschein broke early in an attempt to draw the throw o rattle Jourdan into a balk call.

"I go to all the PFPs (pitchers fielding practices) on Saturdays, so I know what to do," said Joudan, the tough-luck loser who scattered 10 hits, walked one and stuck out two. "I knew (Stroschein) was going to go. I should have faked to third to get (Redmond) diving back into the dirt, then thrown to first. The bottom line is I should have ignored (Stroschein) because that run didn't matter."

Linn-Mar's Nate Greve was the hitting and pitching star for the Lions in the opener. He was 4-for-4 at the plate and scored twice, and entered the game in the fourth inning in relief of Keaton Blackford and blew gas past the J-Hawk batters for the final 3 2/3 innings. Greve allowed only two hits, walked two and fanned eight.

"I just have the mentality that I'm going to let 'em hit the ball or blow it right by 'em," said Greve, a smallish southpaw with a great big fastball.

"He likes to attack them," Lechner said of Greve.

Linn-Mar got another big pitching performance in the nightcap when Justin Wyant scattered six hits and fanned eight in a complete game perfomance.

"Our pitchers were fantastic," Lechner said. "We had a long week last week (seven games in six days), so our pitchers were not fresh. But they kept us in the game and we were able to scratch enough together offensively to get the wins.

"I knew (Wyant) could give us four strong innings and I thought maybe six. When he had a quick inning in the sixth, I was pretty sue he would get us the est of the way."

Chance Tiedtke was the Jefferson hitting star, going 4-for-8 with three doubles and four RBIs. He was the losing pitcher in the nightcap, allowing five runs in 5-plus innings. Only one of the runs was earned, but two were the result of a pair of errant pickoff attempts by Tiedtke. A passed ball also led to two runs.

"Personally, yeah it was a pretty good night for me," Tiedtke said of his hitting. "But as a team, no, it was not a good night."

It was a frustrating night for the J-Hawks, who ended last week with a doubleheader sweep of Cedar Falls.

"We're getting better," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said. "We're right there. We just have to figure out a way to seal the deal."

Jefferson hosts Des Moines East in a JV/varsity doubleheader Tuesday at 5. Linn-Mar is idle until Friday when it hosts Prairie in a twinbill at 5.

GAME ONE

LINN-MAR (5)
Nate Greve, lf-p, 4 2 4 0, Devin Bettman, cr, 0 1 0 0, Kevin Bogert, cf-rf, 1 0 0 0, Michael Redmond, 2b-cf, 4 1 3 2, Mitch Stickney, rf-lf, 4 0 1 0, Austin Stroschein, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Jimmy Roth, dh, 4 0 0 0, Jack Stellner, ss, 0 0 0 0, Jake Stolley, 1b, 2 1 1 0, Austin Banks, c, 3 0 1 0, Kyle Mortensen, cr, 0 0 0 0, Keaton Blackford, p, 2 0 0 0, Travis Kvach, 2b, 1 0 0 0. Totals 29 5 10 2.

JEFFERSON (4)
Dylan Jellison, 2b, 3 1 1 0, Christian Knox, cf, 3 0 0 0, Jordan Dee, 1b, 2 3 2 0, Aaron Gruwell, pr, 0 0 0 0, Chance Tiedtke, lf, 4 0 3 3, Austin Goodell, rf, 4 0 1 0, Colten Joudan, p, 2 0 0 0, Gruwell, cr, 0 0 0 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Ben Koering, c, 2 0 0 0, Layne Sullivan, cr, 0 0 0 0, Ky Kramer, ss, 3 0 0 0. Totals 26 4 6 4.

Linn-Mar    100 011 2 -- 5  10  0
Jefferson   201 010 0 -- 4   6   2

Blackford, Greve (4) and Banks. Jourdan and Koering. W - Greve. L - Jourdan. 2B - Greve 2, Banks, Tiedtke 2. SB - Dee 2, Tiedtke, Gruwell 2, Sullivan.

GAME TWO

LINN-MAR (5)
Greve, dh, 4 0 0 1, Justin Wyant, p, 0 0 0 0, Bogert, rf, 2 1 0 0, Redmond, cf, 4 0 2 0, Stickney, lf, 2 1 0 0, Stroschein, 3b, 3 0 1 0, Roth, 2b, 1 1 0 0, Stolley, 1b, 3 1 1 0, Banks, c, 1 0 0 1, Kvach, cr, 0 1 0 0, Strellner, ss, 1 0 0 0. Totals 21 5 4 2.

JEFFERSON (3)
Jellison, 2b, 4 1 2 1, Knox, cf, 4 0 0 0, Dee, 1b, 4 0 0 0, Tiedtke, p, 4 0 1 1, Gruwell, cr, 0 0 0 0, Goodell, rf, 1 0 0 0, Koering, p, 0 0 0 0, Jourdan, c, 3 0 0 0, Techau, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Wright, lf-rf, 3 1 2 0, Sullivan, dh, 2 1 1 0, Kramer, ss, 0 0 0 0. Totals 28 3 6 2.

Linn-Mar       020 021 0 --  5  4  2
Jefferson      100 200 0 --  3  6  2

Wyant and Banks. Tiedtke, Koering (6) and Jourdan. W - Wyant. L - Tiedtke. 2B - Redmond, Stroschein, Tiedtke, Wright. SB - Kvach, Gruwell, Goodell.