High school baseball: South Jefferson flashes defense to earn victory against Beaver River | High school sports

The Spartans turned two double plays within the first three innings to thwart Beaver River’s scoring opportunities.

“What we really pride ourselves on is playing solid defense,” South Jefferson coach Kyle Peters said. “In practice, we preach throwing strikes, trusting your defense.”

Winning pitcher Adam Denehy and Teague Quinn combined to add a fourth batter for division leader South Jefferson, which improves to 8-3 on the season, including 8-1 in the division.

“This is a pretty young group, we start with five sophomores, but the good thing is we have some of that higher level with our seniors like Teague Quinn and Adam Denehy who both pitched today,” Peters said. “And yesterday we had Ryker Pennock pitcher and Nate Matteson came in and he helped close it out, so we’re getting some really good pitching.”

Beaver River put runners in scoring position in the first three innings, but was ejected each time.

“That was huge,” Denehy said. “I’m glad we came out today and played, it was a good effort.”

In the second inning, the Beavers hit a comebacker off Denehy, who collected the ball and threw it to shortstop Rice, who fired the ball to first baseman Russell Hazard Jr. to complete the doubles and end the frame.

“My coach said before, ‘If it comes back to you, go to second base,’ so I’m glad we were able to get that one,” Denehy said. “We are playing well as a team.”

In the third, Hazard moved in quickly and made an athletic catch on a bunt attempt and threw the ball to second base to force out the runner as South Jefferson turned another double play to end an inning.

“That set the tone,” Denehy said. “It was a bit quiet in the dugout at first, but we got the job done.”

Later in the fourth inning, Billy Winchester made a diving catch in center field for the Spartans.

“I think our defense is great, I think that’s our best thing as a team,” Winchester said. “We just play well as a team.”

At the plate, Derek Rice and Nate Matteson reached all four bases, with Matteson singled three times and drove in three runs, and Rice drove in a double, a single, two runs and scored twice.

After scoring a run in the bottom of the second inning, the Spartans broke through by batting around and scoring seven runs in the third.

Seven of the nine batters who reached base scored, including the first six in the inning.

Matteson delivered an RBI single, Ryker Pennock doubled in a run and Winchester followed with a two-run double to build a 4-0 lead.

After Grant Clark reached on an error and a strikeout, Hazard singled in a run and Rice later singled in a pair of runs to build an 8–1 lead.

“South Jefferson is a good team, and I think our youth showed in those innings,” Beaver River coach Brandon DeLong said. “They were able to take advantage of our mistakes and good ball teams do that. That was the theme for us over the past two weeks.”

Beaver River struck back with one run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth, highlighted by an RBI single by Hazard in the fifth.

“We came out and hit the ball, we had good pitching and good defense behind us, it feels good,” Denehy said.

South Jefferson scored five runs in the fifth inning to end the game, followed by an RBI single from Grant Clark and a two-run single from Matteson.

“It’s getting to the point where we’re getting our bats going, and that’s good to see,” Peters said.

“Once the first guys get going, our confidence just increases and we see the ball,” Winchester said.

The Spartans defeated the Beavers for the second straight day when Pennock hit a pair of home runs and teamed with Matteson for a one-hitter on the mound in an 8-1 win at Beaver River on Monday.

After traveling to play nonleague games at New Hartford on Friday and against Westhill at Onondaga Community College on Saturday, South Jefferson will host Watertown and Carthage next Monday and Tuesday before playing at Watertown next Wednesday as it appears that it is the newly configured “ AB division.

“I think we’ve been through a rough patch, but I think we’re back on track now,” Rice said. “We are playing well.”

Beaver River (7-6, 4-4), which advanced to the new division after winning the “C” division title last year, now has three regular season games remaining. “I have some very talented ball players. We are still young and making young mistakes,” DeLong added.