The Mortimer Jordan baseball team is marching on to the Class 5A quarterfinals for the first time in more than a decade. The Blue Devils (29-13) dropped Game 1 of a best 2-of-3 series at West Point 8-1, but bounced back for two wins—12-0 and 13-5—to advance to the third round. 

After surviving a pair of must-win Game 3 scenarios in the first two rounds of the playoffs (Round 1 over Clay-Central and Round 2 over West Point), Mortimer Jordan will return home for a series with Brooks (22-14) starting next Friday.

Game 1: West Point 8, Mortimer Jordan 1

Mortimer Jordan gave up 11 total hits and five sixth-inning runs in the series-opening loss.

Mortimer Jordan’s one run crossed in the seventh off a Garek Hall RBI, improving him to 2 for 3 on the night. Boo Prisoc, who went 1 for 3 at the dish, scored the lone Blue Devil run.

As a team, Mortimer Jordan managed only five hits in the loss. Senior Chas Austin took the loss in 5 1/3 innings pitched.

Game 2: Mortimer Jordan 12, West Point 0 (5 innings)

A different team showed up in the nightcap.

Dalton Hall tossed a no-hitter and drove in three runs as Mortimer Jordan ran away with a 12-0 win in five innings, forcing a third game on Saturday.

The Blue Devils scored five runs in the bottom of the first, five more in the third and two in the fourth to enact the mercy rule. Left fielder Garek Hall scored three of those runs and doubled. First baseman Ian Ellerbrock went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Boo Prisoc went 2 for 3 with a double and a pair of RBIs to go with Dalton Hall’s 2-for-4, three-RBI effort.

Dalton struck out nine batters in five no-hit innings, allowing no runs and two walks. 

Game 3: Mortimer Jordan 13, West Point 5

Mortimer Jordan was on the wrong side of a 4-0 score in the third frame, and then Dalton Hall took a big swing. The first baseman blasted a three-run bomb, his first of the season, to cut the deficit to one run. The comeback was on.

Mortimer Jordan would go on to plate four more runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and four in the seventh while junior Ian Ellerbrock worked four-plus innings of strong relief, as the Blue Devils pulled away for a 13-5 series-clinching win. 

While the offense was mounting a comeback, Ellerbrock stepped in to record three strikeouts and a walk to go with one run scored on three hits. Griffin Busby (no earned runs) and Joseph Swann (four earned runs) also went to the mound for Mortimer Jordan early on. 

Dalton Hall led the offensive efforts with his momentum-swinging blast in the third. He finished with four RBIs and three runs scored. Garrett Hall went 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Blue Devils. Colby Harris (3 for 4) and Chase Batchelor (2 for 4) both logged multi-hit games. 

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.