Jacks fall 16-5 at home in non-league game

QUINCY — The Quincy Jacks (1-3) were defeated 16-5 at home by the Cashmere Bulldogs in a non-league matchup Friday.  

“We need to fix up a lot of our routine plays that we could have been making to help our pitcher out and take a little bit more competitive at bats. When guys (are) throwing just straight fastballs, getting that timing down and making those quicker adjustments is what we need to focus on,” Head Coach David Garza said.  

Cashmere jumped ahead 5-0 heading into the bottom of the third before the Jacks scored their first run of the game. From there, Quincy’s defense settled into the game and held the Bulldogs to two runs across three innings. In the bottom of the fifth, Quincy strung together three runs to make it 6-4 and gain momentum. However, Cashmere dug their heels in as they outscored Quincy 10-1 in the last two innings to secure the win.  

“Cashmere did a really good job competing with their at bats,” Garza said.  

After three innings, the Jacks trailed 5-1. They struggled to get on base and stunt the Bulldogs' momentum. However, their one run scored by Jace Reyes offered the momentum boost they had been looking for.  

From there, Ashton Barnes-Keller settled in on the pitching mound, holding Cashmere to one run at the top of the fourth inning and zero at the top of the fifth. When the Jacks took over on offense at the bottom of the fifth, things started to go their way.  

After a hit deep into the outfield sent Jaxon Porter to second base, Reyes stepped up to bat and earned his way to first base. From there, the Bulldogs pitcher tried to catch him stealing a base, but the ball was tipped which allowed him to advance to third base while Porter ran all the way home to score another run. Just a few plays later, Mario Santana singled to help Reyes and Caleb Kukes get home to cut the deficit to 6-4.  

Momentum seemed to carry over to defense in the top of the sixth, as Quincy earned two outs against Cashmere. However, a series of miscues in the outfield led to three runs by the Bulldogs, increasing their lead to 9-4.  

“We were making mistakes... (Cashmere) capitalized (on them) a lot better,” Garza said.  

The Jacks were held scoreless in the bottom of the sixth inning before Cashmere took over on offense in the top of the seventh. The Bulldogs scored seven runs to blow the game open and increase their lead to 16-4.  

The Jacks managed to get one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but a comeback attempt was thwarted by Cashmere’s pitching crew to seal the win.  

Despite the loss, Garza felt there were a lot of bright spots from the game. After the Bulldogs got off to a hot start, Barnes-Keller settled into the game on the pitching mound.  

“It's really easy for a pitcher to get frustrated with a couple of errors, but he started settling in and got a lot more comfortable as well too, as game continued,” Garza said.  

Their performance on offense in the bottom of the fifth inning showed Garza the potential his team has to string together successful games going forward. He hopes to see his guys come out more competitive and force their opponents to make more mistakes they can capitalize on.  

The Jacks begin league competition in the Central Washington Athletic Conference on March 24 when they travel to play the Ellensburg Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. Their next home game is against Ellensburg as well on March 31 at 4:30 p.m. 

“It's staying competitive at practice, because everything kind of sets a tone at practice and making sure that we have that edge and give our guys the best opportunity as well,” Garza said. “The other thing we're focusing on is working on that team cohesiveness. It's not just upperclassmen dominant. We've got some younger guys that need to learn also how to work through adversity.” 

BOX SCORE:

CSHM: 2-2-1-1-0-3-7: 16 

QNCY: 0-0-1-0-3-0-1: 5 

    Braxton Bassett (5) tries to evade a Cashmere defender on his way to third base.
  

    The Jacks’ Ashton Barnes-Keller (10) throws another pitch against Cashmere during their game Friday. Barnes-Keller struck out seven batters from the Bulldogs dugout.
  

    Clinton Tuttle (19) cheers on his teammates after a big play on defense.