Eighth grader Brady Hicks showcased the poise of a senior Friday night pitching Saydel past Perry 6-1 in the opening round of 3A district baseball in Des Moines.  The young right hander surrendered only two hits and one walk while striking out eleven batters in six plus innings.  Saydel advances to the District Final Saturday night.

The Eagles scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning.  Jace Embree drove in the first run on a base hit to left field while Mason Hicks scored the second run on a balk call on Perry starter Owen Myers.

The Bluejays only run came in the fourth inning on a bases loaded situation.  Kain Killmer’s RBI groundball scoring Myers cut the deficit to 2-1.  The Eagles responded in the bottom of the fourth inning scoring four runs with two outs.  Once again Embree was in the middle of the offense as his fly ball with the bases loaded was mishandled by the outfield allowing all three runs to score providing the final dagger to Perry.

Myers went four innings, allowing seven hits, four walks and three earned runs.  Fausto Beato pitched two scoreless innings of relief.  Myers, Beato and Killmer had the three Perry hits.

The Bluejays close out the season with a record of 10-15, a stark contrast compared to the struggles of the program from years past.  Prior to this summer, Perry won a grand total of twelve combined games over five full seasons.