On the road with the Jets – Day 2 with Game Recap

Twin Falls, Idaho –

6:45 AM – Twin Falls, Idaho
 
Woke up for 7:15 breakfast downstairs which proved to be delicious and a good way to start a successful day. Weather outside was chilly around 8 degress Celcius with a cool breeze. The rain stayed off all day which was nice. Headed to the park at around 8:30, Twin Falls High School takes very good care of their ballpark and it showed as it was one of the nicer high school fields most of us have ever played on. 
 
10:03 AM – Twin Falls HS Field
 
Game starts on time. The game ended up in an 8-6 Academy victory but it was a journey to get there as the game was one of our uglier wins thus far this spring and one we hope to leave behind, but also learn from. We came out flat as a group and got down 3-1 after one inning. Jordan Wong battled his way through three innings allowing three runs on only two hits, but struck out four. He walked one and hit two batters. The game maintained a slow, steady pace through the middle stages until Twin Falls added two more runs in their half of the fifth inning off of Tyson Denham who worked 1.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits, striking out one and walking one.  Down 5-1 at this point, we came in the dugout, collected ourselves and broke out in the top half of the sixth. Aided by a Bilodeau home run (on his 18th birthday) that scored three, a Heller RBI single, and an impressive pinch running performance by pitcher Cole Stober, we were suddenly ahead 6-5. Victor Caruso came on in relief and pitched his way to his second consecutive win. He allowed the tying run in the bottom of the sixth but was picked up by Mike Washburn’s bases loaded 2-run single in the top of the seventh inning paving the way for an 8-6 Jets win.

12:35 AM – Twin Falls HS Field
 
Game two proved to be a breakout offensive game for the Jets. A combination of plenty of good at bats strung together, along with a depleted Twin Falls pitching staff – it was their fourth game in the past two days – proved to be the recipe for success for us this game. The game was only five innings long due to the ten run mercy rule. We managed 18 runs on 18 hits. Highlights of the offensive fireworks were home runs by Tyler Hayes, Jean-Guy Bilodeau’s second of the day, and a deep grand slam by Matt Clark. We put the game well out of reach with a 13-run fourth inning in which we plated the first ten batters we sent to the plate. Our pitchers all threw the ball very well with Steven Inch starting and throwing 2 solid innings, followed by Tyler Vavra who pitched very effectively even if the numbers don’t suggest that, and Brandon Petite settled in to strike out the side in the fifth inning after walking the lead off batter on four pitches. 

This pushes our record to 9-1-2 overall.  The double header sweep breaks the Twin Falls Bruins 14 game winning streak.
 
Following our games, we got a chance to catch the second half of a doubleheader between the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) and Salt Lake City CC. Ties to CSI run deep in our program: Coach Jim Kotkas attended the college for two years, three Academy alumni currently attend CSI (Dale Anderson, Tanner Craswell, and Lionel Morrill), and two current players (Tyler Vavra and Jean-Guy Bilodeau) have committed to join the Golden Eagles for the 2009-2010 year. It’s always fun to see former players competiting at the next level. CSI took won three of four games this weekend against Salt Lake City CC this weekend.
 
Next up for the Jets is a team meal tonight followed by an early curfew so we can get up to leave for Las Vegas tomorrow morning at 8 AM. The trip from Twin Falls to Las Vegas is 8 or 9 hours.
 
-AC