LISBON – It should have been a dream matchup, with the top two teams in the Mountain Valley Conference going toe-to-toe for first place in a game that could decide the league title.

Instead, Jay sent Lisbon reeling, scoring four runs in the first two innings and nine in the last two to upend the Greyhounds 13-0.

“That really hurts,” said Lisbon coach Randy Ridley. “I expected us to stay with them, especially with (Jon) Tefft on the hill and coming off of three big wins.”

And if losing the game to a top division rival wasn’t bad enough, Lisbon may have lost one of their best players for some time as well when Tefft pulled up lame running out a single in the bottom of the first inning.

“He tweaked his hamstring in the Wiscassett game,” said Ridley. “When he tried to explode out of the box in the first, he felt something go.”

In the second, Tefft took the hill again, but was in obvious pain. He had no leg drive and limped noticeably after each pitch. Jay pounded out four runs on five hits in those first two innings.

“We have been hitting the ball well,” said Jay coach Chris Bessey. “We did well again at the plate today and hit well in different situations, which was good.”

Coming into Wednesday, Jay was hitting .340 as a team, and it showed. After taking an inning to adjust to relief pitcher Tim Sautter, the Tigers again started swinging the bats. Ryan Bourassa led off the fourth with a triple to left field, and Steve Nelson drove him home with a single. Shawn Jacques pounded a double to drive in A.J. Nelson and a few batters later Ryan DiPompo plated Jacob Turner with a single on an 0-1 pitch.

“It’s a lot easier to pitch with a lead like that,” said Turner, who allowed three hits and struck out five in the win. “After that, it was all about picking my spots and making sure I hit those spots with my pitches.”

In the fifth, the Tigers (8-2) finished Lisbon off. The first five batters all reached base and eventually came around to score. At one point, Chris Kates, Lisbon’s second reliever of the game, tossed 15 straight out of the strike zone. He managed two outs, however, when Jimmy Shink sent a sacrifice fly to center on a pitch at eye level and when Nelson grounded a 3-0 pitch at his ankles to the shortstop, who flipped to second for the out.

“We got beat by a better team,” said Ridley, “pure and simple, and I am not going to hide that fact. We expect a tough game like that from Turner and we got it.”

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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