Blue Jays punch state tourney ticket with 8-0 win over Legacy
May 28—MANDAN, N.D — It has been 1,820 days since the Jamestown High School Blue Jays have played in a state tournament game. The Blue Jays long wait will only last five more days before they can come home to Jack Brown Stadium thanks to an 8-0 win over Bismarck Legacy ( in the WDA tournament in Mandan on Saturday, May 28.
"The reward for me is we played well, we pitched well all season and we got great pitching performances today from Peyton and then also from Thomas (Newman), we hit the ball, we put pressure on them," Blue Jays head coach Jack Bowman said. "Defensively, we were pretty flawless. I feel good at how we played the game and the result was a bonus."
The Blue Jays (13-10) opened the scoring in the top of the second when Peyton Hochalter and Carson Orr got on to open the frame. The next batter was Reagan Sortland who lined a single to the left fielder Carter Klipfel allowing Hochhalter and Orr to score to push the Blue Jays out in front 2-0.
The Blue Jays would blow the game open in the fifth when they took advantage of errors and big hits to score five runs on four hits and one error to make it 7-0. In that fifth, the Blue Jays managed to see four hitters in a row reach base including Hochhalter being intentionally walked to face Orr who immediately made the Sabers pay hitting a single to right.
Hochhalter helped his team with an insurance run on a single up the middle in the seventh to score Connor Hoyt and make it an 8-0 game.
Hochhalter helped his team on the mound and at the plate, going 4.2 innings giving up 2 hits and a walk while striking out four. While at the plate, the junior went 2-for-3 with one RBI, one walk and two runs.
The Blue Jays now wait to see who they will face on Thursday, June 2, in the 2022 NDHSAA State Tournament at Jack Brown Stadium.
"It's going to be really good because we will have the home team advantage," Hochhalter said. "So, all the time that we have a lot of fans coming out. It feels really good to be able to play on our home turf."
JHS 8, BL 0
JHS: 0 2 0 0 5 0 1 — 8 9 0
BL: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 1
Scoring plays:
Second inning:
JHS: Reagan Sortland RBI single, Peyton Hochhalter, Carson Orr score
Fifth inning:
JHS: Connor Hoyt RBI single, Gage Orr scores
JHS: Jackson Walters RBI double, Mason Lunzman scores
JHS: Carson Orr RBI single, Hoyt, Walters score
JHS: Sortland sacrifice fly, Hochhalter scores
Seventh inning:
JHS: Hochhalter RBI single, Hoyt scores
WP: Peyton Hochhalter LP: Wyatt Kraft
