The Blue Devils of Wayne added a couple more wins and, unfortunately, a couple more losses to their season record over the past week. They’re now sitting at 4-5 halfway through June in Junior Legion competition. Monday night in Crofton was a winning night for Wayne, as the local boys pushed past the home team, 6-2. Wayne’s Juniors recorded five hits in the game. James Dorcey and Jase Dean both managed two hits to lead the way. Cooper Zara helped out with a pair of stolen bases, two of the five the Devils acquired throughout the night. Dean pitched for five innings, allowing two runs on one hit and striking out five.
Wayne didn’t fare too well in the 2021 Wood Bat Tournament over the weekend, dropping its two pool games on Saturday to a couple of well-prepared ball teams. The Juniors’ second outing on Saturday ended up being an 8-2 loss to the Wahoo Pharmacy Blues. The game was tied, 2-2, after three innings. That’s when the Wahoo boys really turned their bats on, putting up six runs in the top of the fourth to seal the deal. Four errors on Wayne’s part didn’t exactly help the local crew. Wayne struggled to put runs on the board, and hits were hard to come by. Devin Anderson, Dean and Dorcey provided the Devils with their only hits in the loss. Wyatt Heikes took the loss on the hill, as the hurler surrendered six runs on two hits over three and two-thirds innings, striking out three.
Earlier in the day, the hometown Juniors were zonked by a team from South Dakota. Lennox held Wayne to no runs or hits in a 9-0 trouncing of the Blue Devils. Anderson suffered the pitching loss for Wayne, lasting three innings where he allowed six runs on four hits while striking out four. Speaking of trouncing, the Blue Devils were on the opposite side of a blowout last Wednesday, June 9, at home against Scribner-Hooper. Wayne scored six runs in the first, eight in the second and five in the fourth inning to send the visitors home early, dominating the whole way in a 21-2 shellacking.
Aiden Liston was an RBI anomaly for the Blue Devil crew, driving in seven runs on three hits. He drove in runs on a wild pitch in the first, a single in the second, another single in the second and a single in the fourth inning. He also stole two bases on his journey back to home plate. Liston wasn’t the only one doing damage in the batter’s box, however. As a team, the Juniors scattered 12 hits in the game (compared to just two for Scribner-Hooper). Heikes and Zara also collected three hits in the contest. Heikes was again in charge of the pitcher’s mound in this game. He surrendered two runs on two hits over four innings of work, striking out nine with no walks. Devin Anderson threw one inning of relief out of the bullpen, recording the last three outs to earn the save for Wayne.
