The bats were popping and the pitchers were on point as the Wayne High baseball team claimed the first-place trophy in the Seward Invitational with wins over Seward and Branched Oak.
In the first game, Wayne jumped out to an early led and maintained the advantage to post a 5-3 win over the host Bluejays.
Wayne got on the board early, with Zane Jackson scoring Jacob Kneifl on a single to right in the top of the first. They added two more in the second when Reid Korth scored on an error and Heath Miller drove home Josh Lutt to make it a 3-0 lead.
Seward scored a run in the bottom of the second, but Wayne added two insurance runs in the sixth when Gunnar Jorgensen tripled to left, scoring Kaleb Anderson, and Korth followed with a two-out double to right, scoring Jorgensen.
Seward got two in the bottom of the sixth, but Trevor DeBoer shut the Bluejays down in the seventh to finish off the complete game and put the Blue Devils in the championship game.
DeBoer threw a complete-game five hitter, striking out five and walking two. Jorgensen led a nine-hit attack with three hits while Jackson and Kneifl each had two hits.
In the finals, Wayne cranked out 13 hits and took advantage of six Branched Oak errors to pull away with a 16-3 win to take the first-place trophy.
Wayne got on the board in the first when DeBoer singled home Heath Miller, then took control of the game with three runs in the second. Lutt doubled home Blake Bartos and Miller reached on an error, bringing home Lutt and Victor Kniesche to make it a 4-0 game.
After Branched Oak scored two to cut the lead in half, Wayne broke the game open in the third with four runs. DeBoer came home on a wild pitch, Korth and Lutt scored on a Kneifl single, and Miller followed with a single to bring home Kniesche, who pinch-ran for Kneifl.
Wayne added another run in the fourth when Korth scored on an error, used a Jorgensen groundout and a DeBoer single to score two more runs, then ended the game on the 10-run rule with a five-run sixth inning, using two errors and RBI hits by DeBoer, Korth and Bartos to come away with the win.
Kneifl struck out eight and allowed five hits and two walks in five innings to pick up the win, with Tyler Gilliland pitching an inning of scoreless relief.
Korth and DeBoer both went 4-for-5 to highlight a 13-hit attack for the 8-5 Blue Devils. DeBoer had three RBI’s and Kneifl added two, while Korth and Miller each scored three runs.
Wayne plays Tuesday at Guardian Angels Central Catholic in West Point.
