Jets refuse to lose to Itawamba in road clash

RUSSELLVILLE – The James Clemens Jets held on to edge Itawamba (MS) 8-7 in eight innings on Saturday afternoon at Russellville High School.

The Jets were able to take down the Indians with a key run in the top of the eighth by second baseman Hayden Udovich.

A wild throw by Itawamba catcher John Austin Wood allowed Udovich to scamper home to break up a 7-7 deadlock.

The schools traded blows in the first couple of innings with a smattering of runs.

JC opened the game with a pair of runs on a 2 RBI bunt by Jesse Isensee to lead 2-0 only to have the Indians respond in the bottom of the first to tie it at 2-2.

The teams both collected runs in the second inning to keep it squared at 3-3.

Itawamba was finally able to distance itself from the Jets with two more runs in the bottom of the third inning to claim the 5-3 advantage.

James Clemens needed to stop the bleeding to get back into this game and the boys in blue got just that from reliever Scotty Sieja who came into the game in the fourth where he stonewalled the Indians for three innings before allowing two in the seventh.

JC tacked on a fourth run in the top of the fifth inning to trail by just one run in the later innings.

The big moment of the game came just in time for the Jets in the top of the seventh as James Clemens created a 3-run rally to lead the game 7-5 with just three outs to get.

The rally began with a solo home run by the left fielder Ian Berry who sent the ball over the fence in left with the wind whipping around the ballpark.

By this point of the game, the sun had mostly disappeared behind the clouds and the temperature had dropped dramatically.

The loyal road fans began to pull out jackets and blankets by the time James Clemens had scored twice more in the seventh thanks to two hit batters that came around to hurt Itawamba.

The storybook ending would have to wait for the Jets though, because the Indians had other plans with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game back up at 7-7.

As the contest marched into extras, Udovich and JC found a way to manufacture another run for the eventual victory.

For a game story about James Clemens at Russellville from the same day, be sure to pick up a print copy of The Madison Record on Wednesday, March 5.