Hayden Jeffryes was in control from first pitch to final out on Thursday, only allowing three unearned runs on six hits while striking out 13 as his Walnut Grove Tigers (14-4) defeated the Greenfield Wildcats (11-7) by the score of 8-3 at Jerry Rook Field.
“He’s our big dog, he’s our guy,” said Tiger coach Zeb Wallace of his ace lefty. “Even on his worst nights he’s going to keep you in ballgames because he’s always right around the [strike] zone; he’s not going to walk a lot of guys and he lets his defense work behind him.”
“I just wanted to get ahead early in the count,” Jeffryes added. “Just throw strikes and do my job and let the defense work. Tonight my stuff was working for me.”
Jeffryes also helped his own cause by reaching base three times and scoring twice. He led off with a double to right field and came home an out later on Logan Thomazin’s 2-run homer to left. The big sophomore tagged a 3-1 pitch from Wildcat starter Hunter Jeffreys (no relation, note the spelling) that initially looked like it would hook foul but it stayed true as the ball cleared the 300-foot sign and then some.
“I got a little out in front of it,” Thomazin said. “I kind of muscled through it, you know. It was a fastball inside and I turned on it.”
Greenfield tied it up in the home half of the first inning. Two of the first three hitters reached on errors, and both scored on Roy Beeson’s single to center field. Hayden Jeffryes would quickly stem the bleeding by striking out five in a row.
Walnut Grove took the lead for good in the top of the second, sending four Tigers across the plate. Thomazin picked up his third RBI of the night in the process on a single to right-center that scored Jeffryes. The Tigers added two more runs in the fourth highlighted by Jaron Dishman’s RBI single.
The Wildcats tried to rally late with a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Colin White that brought home Sawyer Dodd. In the seventh, they got two men on with one out, but after a brief conference with Coach Wallace, Jeffryes slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts.
Greenfield coach Nick Engleman said, “We were swinging like we facing a guy throwing 84, 85 [miles per hour], not to take anything away fron Jeffryes, he’s a very good pitcher. We just let the ball travel a little bit and it was tough because he’s got good stuff. It’s not just his fastball—he’s got a good curveball, a good changeup… by far the best pitcher we’ve faced all year stuff-wise.”
The Tigers are back in action on Friday against neighborhood rival Ash Grove. Greenfield is off until Tuesday when the Wildcats face Southwest in the first round of the Miller Tournament.
Walnut Grove 240 200 0—8 10 4
Greenfield 200 001 0—3 6 5
Hayden Jeffryes and Hunter Gilkey; Hunter Jefferys, Sawyer Dodd (4) and Dodd, Roy Beeson (4)
Hits: Walnut Grove—Hayden Jeffryes (2B), Hunter Gilkey, Logan Thomazin 2 (HR), Kolten Buckner 2, Jaron Dishman, Justin Dennis, Dallas Meinders, Kyle Keith (2B). Greenfield—Gage Burns, Tristan Long, Sawyer Dodd 2, Roy Beeson, Jalen Roby.
