Jacks earn convincing road victory over Huskies

OTHELLO — The Quincy Jackrabbits (6-10) earned a close 3-2 victory over the Othello Huskies (10-3) while on the road Tuesday. This victory was earned following the Jacks 1-19 loss at home last week to the Huskies. 

“Coming off this win is huge,” said Jacks senior Ashton Barnes-Keller. “I think it really boosts our confidence as a team, especially since Othello is a top contender in the whole state.” 

With two scoreless innings to start out the game, the Jacks were the first to score in the top of the third when Barnes-Keller singled to the right side of the infield, Jace Reyes singled to left field and Rocko Reyes grounded out with each scoring a run.  

The Huskies worked to respond and by the bottom of the fifth, they finally scored their first runs of the game with RJay Garza scoring off a single from Quade Gonzalez and the other run from Cain Gonzalez after a single from Ryan Martinez. 

Those last two runs from Othello were the final ones of the game as both teams held each other scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings, giving Quincy the win. 

“I would definitely say our team did best in our defense,” said Barnes-Keller. “Huge double play off a foul ball to keep them at two runs and hold onto the lead.” 

Barnes-Keller himself had a strong performance on the mound for the Jacks, allowing nine hits and two runs over six and one-third innings, striking out five and walking one. Rocko Reyes filled in the final two-thirds of the seventh inning where he collected the save to close out the game. 

On the Huskies side, Quade Gonzalez applied pressure as he pitched six innings where he surrendered three runs on three hits while striking out 11 and walking four. Tyler Suarez pitched relief in the final inning where he allowed one hit and threw two strikeouts. 

“It was a tight game, a very exciting game,” said Jacks Head Coach David Garza. “It started off a little slow, but still, a couple walks, a couple hits from both teams. No one’s scoring early on, both pitchers were pitching and dialing well, and good defense on both sides.” 

The key to Quincy’s success Tuesday, David Garza said, was just simply getting things rolling on their end. 

“Sometimes that’s all it takes and it could be very simple,” he said. “There were times where we were able just to play small ball, bunt guys over, do a job and move a guy over, get guys into good possible running positions, scoring positions.” 

Quincy executed offensively throughout and cleaned up things defensively that had previously held them back in competitions, said David Garza.  

The Jacks coach said this win was a prime example of how the team culture and mentality has begun to shift in the last few games since they played Othello last week. Following that loss, he talked to the players about not letting that game define them and pushing forward in the season and have gone 3-0 since then. 

This win was also monumental for Quincy as David Garza said, in a conversation with Jeremy McCreary who is a local business owner in Quincy, this was the first time the Jacks had beaten the Huskies in baseball in over 25 years. While Garza himself is a Othello native, he said it felt good to push the Jacks toward this victory. 

“It is huge and I don’t want to shoo away from that understanding that we have eight more league games, but this community needed a big win and we took care of that yesterday and I hope it continues as a building block for the rest of the season,” said the Jacks coach. 

Coming off a big rivalry win and with eight more league games on the schedule before the start of districts, David Garza said the focus for the team is to continue executing and playing small ball to gain more success as they head toward postseason. 

“I hope we use this momentum to show that we can compete with any team in our league,” said Barnes-Keller. “We have got to keep working hard at practice.” 

The Jacks continue on the road where they face Prosser in a doubleheader Saturday with the first game starting at 11 a.m. The Huskies head on the road to face the Ephrata Tigers on Saturday in a doubleheader with the first game starting at 11 a.m. 

BOX SCORE: 

QNCY: 0-0-3-0-0-0-0: 3 

OTHL: 0-0-0-0-2-0-0: 2

    Othello’s RJay Garza steps up to the plate during last week’s game.
  

    Jacks player Caleb Kukes sprints for first base after making a hit during last week’s game against the Huskies.
  

    Huskies senior Quade Gonzalez on the mound ready to pitch during last week’s game against the Jacks.