photo by: Conner Becker

Free State junior Jackson Waggoner throws against Harrisburg during Saturday's 8-3 win over the Tigers on April 1, 2023 at Free State High School.

The Free State baseball team completed a home sweep over Harrisburg with an 8-3 win on Saturday afternoon. The Firebirds (5-1) defeated the Tigers 7-1 on Friday afternoon, as well.

Junior Jackson Waggoner received the starting nod, allowing three runs on three hits through four innings. Free State coach Mike Hill said the confident start by Waggoner on the mound muffled Harrisburg’s hitting power.

“I thought his first three innings were fantastic,” Hill said. “I think he lost a little bit of his slider in the fourth and that happened to be right at the top of their order.”

Free State junior Tyler Jeffries got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with an RBI single, knocking in two runners for a 2-0 lead. Free State’s lead bumped up to four runs in the second on a sacrifice RBI by junior Buddy Lam and an RBI double by freshman Ben Graves.

Waggoner, who entered the third with four strikeouts, kept the Tigers from registering a hit for a third consecutive inning. Free State logged just one hit in the bottom of the third, a single from sophomore Ryan Weishaar, and was unable to build on its lead.

Harrisburg’s first hit of the game came in the top of the fourth, with designated hitter Jack Riley leading off with a single. Cutting into Harrisburg’s deficit, third baseman Maddux Scherer singled to advance Riley to third before RBIs by Teigan Munce (2B) and Noah Boschee (1B) made it a one-run lead for Free State.

Still ahead 4-3 heading into the fifth, Free State switched pitching duties over to senior reliever Adam Coup. Striking out his first batter, Coup caught Harrisburg’s Eli Kokenge stealing second and struck out Riley to save his first inning on the hill.

Waggoner, who finished with five strikeouts in his first start of the season, said pitching success earlier in the week opened the door for some more names to jump in the pool on Saturday.

“My mental is just throw a first-pitch strike and just work from there,” Waggoner said. “It’s pretty easy to work. These two game, three game stretches we’re going to look to the bullpen a lot more, but luckily some of the Graves boys, this week, went for complete games so we didn’t have to use a lot of our pitching and could save it for today.”

Jeffries, singling his way on base and crossing home on a passed ball, added a run for the Firebirds in the bottom of the fifth. Harrisburg reliever Sam Sutton, with the bases loaded, walked in another run for Free State, now leading 6-3, before retiring the side.

Looking for the save, Jeffries stepped onto the hill and kept the Tigers from making any noise during the top of the sixth. Free State loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth, picking up two more runs on another passed ball and a walk by Sutton.

Two strikeouts by Jeffries and a flyout by Harrisburg’s Tate Larson capped off the winning weekend over the Tigers.

Hampered by injuries, the Firebirds turned to younger faces for the series, according to Hill.

“We actually started the two youngest lineups we’ve ever started in 26 years here,” Hill said. “I thought those young kids did a good job and got us a couple victories here.”

BOX SCORE:

Harrisburg 000 300 0 – 3 4 0

Free State 220 022 X – 8 7 1

W – Jackson Waggoner; L – Jack Riley; Save – Tyler Jeffries.

Highlights for Free State: Weishaar 3-for-4, 2 R, Jeffries 2.0 IP, 3 K, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs, Graves 1-for-2, RBI, Waggoner 4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 K.