By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

JAY – The first 5 innings of Friday’s MVC clash between Monmouth and Jay unfolded like the season had for both teams up to that point.

Jay was making critical mistakes and not getting the benefit of any breaks. Monmouth was playing small ball effectively and making the plays that needed to be made to win a ballgame.

Then with one swing of the bat, momentum changed, and the result was a win, and a loss, that could change the course of the season for both teams.

Jacob Farrington started a four-run sixth inning with a homer and Zane Armandi capped it with a single to drive in the go-ahead run as Jay came from behind to beat Monmouth, 4-3.

“We needed this. We’d lost two in a row and we just wanted to battle and come out with a win,” said Farrington, whose team lost to the Mustangs earlier in the season, 10-0.

The Tigers (7-6) had given up 33 unearned runs going into yesterday’s game and followed the same form to start against the Mustangs (11-2-1), who are ranked No. 1 in Western C in the most recent Heal Points. Jay quickly dug a hole for itself in the first two innings, as two passed balls, a dropped fly ball, a wild pickoff throw and a throw to first by pitcher Ryan DiPompo that hit a runner in the back led to three unearned runs.

DiPompo wasn’t at the top of his game, but he scattered six walks and four hits sufficiently to hold the Mustangs in check. Only Scott Ogden (three hits, two doubles) consistently hit the ball hard off of him.

“The first five innings, that’s the way it’s been all year,” said Jay coach Chris Bessey. “Ryan was pitching well, but we gave them a run in the first and then we get a couple of unlucky breaks in the second.”

Ogden, meanwhile, frustrated the Tigers through the first five innings, stranding a pair in the first, then getting out of a potential jam in the third when a Jay runner heading to second base was called for interference.

Ogden was coming off his second 1-2-3 inning of the game when he took the mound in the sixth. DiPompo reached on an errant throw by the third baseman to start the inning. Farrington then stepped up and took the first pitch for a ball before turning on an inside fastball and belting it over the left-field fence to make it 3-2.

“I was just looking for something I could hit to the gap because I hit two balls hard to right field earlier and I had nothing to show for it,” Farrington said.

The home run chased Ogden in favor of Ben Seefeldt. Seefeldt hit Justin Wells with the first pitch he threw. Wells moved to second on a balk and to third on a wild pitch with nobody out. Seefeldt looked like he might get out of it by inducing Steve Nelson to ground out to a drawn-in infield and by striking out Ryan Bourassa, but the shortstop bobbled Adam DeSanctis’ potential inning-ending grounder, allowing pinch runner Mike Holland to score the tying run. Jamison Turner and Armandi followed with back-to-back singles to send the go-ahead run home.

“We’ve been making the plays, but today we didn’t,” said Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi. “We just didn’t execute anything.”

“I think our approach today at the plate was better,” Bessey said. “We put the ball in play and we got some two-strike hits, which we haven’t been doing.”

The Tigers coach hopes those are signs that the Tigers’ luck is changing.

“We caught some breaks today, finally. I can no longer say we haven’t had any breaks all year,” he said. “Hopefully, this win can turn things around for us.”

The Mustangs appear to have hit a rough stretch, having this loss and a tie with Georges Valley this week to add to an 11-1 start. Palleschi is interested to see how his young team reacts to the setback.

“We’ll see what happens,” Palleschi said. “It depends on what the kids want to do. If they want to step it up and play like we can, then we’ll be fine.”