Reece Gray and Gaige Bodle pitched the Northeast Nodaway Bluejays to their first win of the season, an 11-1 win over DeKalb, after going through a four-game hell week to start the season. They were run ruled in their first three games, against St. Joseph Christian, Mid-Buchanan, and King City. But they showed some life against Maryville before a late Spoofhound outburst put the game away 6-2.
The Bluejays came into the game Monday winless, but DeKalb had not gotten a game in under their belts yet.
It looked like one of those games again for Northeast when Luke Miller hit a solid shot past short for a single. Cooper Wachtel grounded out, but Riley Pyles was plunked with two strikes on him to put two on. But Reece Gray settled down and struck out Kyle Funk and Landon Crockett to get out of the inning with no damage done.
Brayden Stevens walked and stole second. The first sign the game might go the Bluejays’ way came when Reece Gray hit a slow roller to second and beat it out as Stevens took third. Jace Cameron reached on a throw in the dirt by the shortstop to score two runs, and for the first time all year, the Bluejays were in front of someone 2-0.
Jace Cameron went to second on a wild pitch and Camdain Frisch grounded out to move him to third. Carter Chapman walked and stole second. Landon Wilmes struck out, but the second sign that the game would go Northeast Nodaway’s way came when what would have been strike three on Lance Runde got away and lodged in the fence, putting Runde on first, scoring Cameron, and putting Chapman on third to make it 3-0 after one.
Gray hit Kale Cassity to start the second, but settled down to retire the next five DeKalb batters. Northeast couldn’t score in the second, but Camdain Frisch was plunked to start the third and Carter Chapman doubled him home to make it 4-0 to start the Bluejay third.
That chased DeKalb’s best pitcher, Cooper Wachtel. Northeast took advantage of the situation as Chapman scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0. The next run came when Lance Runde was slow taking off to third on a passed ball situation, but scored to make it 6-0 when DeKalb threw it away. A pair of DeKalb errors scored two more Bluejay runs to make it 8-0 after three. One came off a bobble and one came off a towering pop fly in front of the plate that dropped uncaught and rolled into fair territory.
Gaige Bodle, after a one year hiatus from baseball, came back and showed he had been working hard at his craft. He had been pitching batting practice for the Bluejays, and coach Cody Green liked what he saw from him and tried him in a game situation. After striking out his first batter, he fought the strike zone and walked the next batter; a scratch hit and a solid single put DeKalb on the board at 8-1 and put Kale Cassity at third and Grayson Moore at second with one out.
On the next play, Bodle threw it in the dirt, it got away from catcher Landon Wilmes, but not far enough to allow Cassity to score from third. But Moore tried to take off from second to third; Wilmes ran at Cassity and tagged him out when he overran third scrambling to get back; Wilmes then threw to second to get Moore before he could scramble back. Instead of a big DeKalb inning, the Bluejays were still up 8-1.
The Bluejays didn’t give DeKalb another chance as Camdain Frisch, Carter Chapman, and Landon Wilmes crossed the plate on wild pitches in the Bluejay fourth and then Bodle settled down and retired the next three DeKalb batters in order in the fifth. With Luke Miller, DeKalb’s best hitter, up, he hit a towering fly ball to left field, but Carter Chapman was there to haul it in for the final out.
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