The Junction City Blue Jays led top seeded Blue Valley 1-0 going into the bottom of the 5th inning in their first round matchup in the Class 6A State tournament Thursday in Lawrence.

But then the Blue Valley bats woke up and the Tigers put one run on the board in the fifth and four in the sixth enroute to a 5-1 win over Junction City.

Blue Jay coach Drew Biery said he thought his players were ready to play. “As a coach you worry about a couple things when you get to state. You worry about the shock and awe factor , you’re playing in a really nice stadium, you’re playing a team that has a lot of talent, but I thought our guys said here we go and lets’ play.”

Blue Valley got three hits and drew two walks in the bottom of the sixth to open up the four run lead.

Biery stated unfortunately the game go the Blue Jays way, “But when you look at the little things that I talk about all year our kids did a phenomenal job of that, and we’re going to hang our hat on that because that’s who we are, that’s who we’re going to be, and that’s what we’re going to be in the future.”

Junction City finished the season with a 13-10 record, while Blue Valley improved their record to 21-2.