JUNCTION CITY, Kan. — The Junction City Blue Jay baseball team fell in its season-opener 10-6 to Salina Central on Thursday night at Rathert Field. The Blue Jays fell behind 6-0 after three innings, but fought back.
A leadoff single from Jonathan Phillips started the rally. Key'ahn Taylor was hit by a pitch, and Jordan Kell reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Then, Jacob Varnado broke the scoring open, plating two on a single. Ky'rell Taylor laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position and Russell Wilkey plated two more on a single.
A walk and a wild pitch later and two more runners would move into scoring position. Andrew Khoury would plate the fifth run with a sacrifice fly to right field, and Bodie Tillman would tie the game with a double, but was tagged out stretching it into a triple to end the inning.
Following the marathon 4th inning, neither team would score until the 7th inning.
In the top of the frame, Junction City retired the first two Mustangs, but a two-out single and a walk, followed by consecutive errors would put SC in front for good. They would strike for four in the inning, and take the Blue Jays down 1-2-3 to end the game.
Junction City falls to 0-1 on the season, in their first home contest since 2018, after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season, and the renovations to Rathert Field in 2019 forced the Blue Jays to play all of their games on the road.
The Blue Jays will take on the Salina Central Mustangs again tomorrow in Salina.