Jimtown High School

Grand slam propels Jimmies past MC Marquette By Red Williams Freelance Sportswriter ELKHART - A sixth-inning grand slam homer added a little icing to the cake as Jimtown High School’s baseball squad took the starch out of visiting Michigan City Marquette Tuesday night (4.28.26). With the slimmest of leads (4-3), junior catcher Owen Biggs caught hold of a fast ball and drove it over the fence in center field. “It was a fastball he left in the middle,” Biggs said, “and I made him pay. I could hear the ball ‘scream’ off the bat and knew it was gone.” Biggs’ long ball came with the bases loaded and lifted the Jimmies to an 8-3 victory. They now are 5-4 for the season and halted a two-game losing streak. Marquette’s Blazers dropped to 1-4. The game was played in the low 60’s with a slight breeze blowing from left field. About 100 fans were on hand for the contest, a non-conference outing. “I liked the way (Braden) Presley kept the pitch in the strike zone,” said Jimmie Coach Brandon Squibb. “He was hitting the strikes at eight-five to ninety percent.” Squibb also cited better defense in the outfield. The coach moved senior Colin Davis from his usual spot at first, and he made two sterling plays: A fly off the bat of the Blazers’ Tim Wadle that forced him to race toward the fence in the third inning. The second was a shoestring catch on a liner from Wadle again with two runners on in the seventh. “We had no quit,” remarked MCM coach Jeff Welch. “That catch in the last inning really hurt. “Jimtown’s a well-disciplined, well-coached team,” he added. “I’m glad we were able to get this game in.” The Jimmies got off to a 4-0 lead, thanks to a run-scoring single in the first by Presley, a two-run double by Dalton Cook in the second and a sacrifice fly by Carson Covey in the fourth. “We got a little flat in the middle innings,” Squibb noted. “So we talked to the guys about attacking the ball.” Marquette came storming back in the sixth, coaxing Presley into three straight walks with nobody out. Camden Pappas relieved and got a sacrifice fly out of Nate Bakota, but Liam Gowan followed with a single to right for a pair of runs. Pappas then struck out the next two batters to quell the rally with a 4-3 lead. Score by innings: MC Marq 000 003 0 - 3 3 1 Jimtown 120 104 X - 8 9 0 Umpires: Ken Phillips and Randy Groves