Swedes take two from bushed Jays
Tabor baseball team opens week on four-game skid
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Heading into grueling back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday in Hillsboro against Sterling and Bethany, respectively, the Bluejays were three wins away from overtaking KCAC front-runner Friends with a 5-3 record.
After some forgettable outings against both the Warriors and Swedes, the exhausted Bluejays fell to 5-7 in the league and 16-16 overall.
On a four-game slide, it will take a lot of help from KCAC foes for the Bluejays to catch the Falcons.
If getting trounced Tuesday by the Swedes in the early game, 17-3, wasn't bad enough, the second game hit the bottom of the Marianas Trench.
In a game filled with disputable calls and three Bluejays being ejected out of frustration, Bethany was able to hit the Bluejays with a 4-1 punch in the gut.
Other than Mike Fouquet going deep for a solo home run to go along with a double, little went Tabor's way in the opener. They mustered just six hits.
The Bluejays got half of that the second game against a vulnerable pitcher.
Tabor took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second with a two-out RBI single from Jeremy Ball.
But Gerald Goodale couldn't keep the Swedes pinned for long, giving up the game-tying RBI double in the top of the third, Bethany's most productive inning at bat.
Goodale lasted five and a third-innings, giving up one earned run and seven hits.
Beside putting a run on the board, Tabor's brightest spot in the nightcap came from J.R. Mendoza's spectacular catch crashing into the center field wall, robbing the Swedes of a home run in the sixth inning.
Bethany still pushed the lead to 3-1 with a sacrifice fly.
The Bluejays get a rematch Saturday with the Warriors in Sterling before enjoying a week off to rest.
Tabor returns to action at 4 p.m. April 17 against visiting Ottawa.
