The Junction City Blue Jays went back and forth with the Shawnee Mission East Lancers in the opening game of the Class 6A State Baseball Tournament in Lawrence, but ended up falling 5-4.

Shawnee Mission East is the top seed in the tournament and many pick them to win the title this year, but Junction City gave them a run for their money by tying the ball game up on three different occasions before the Lancers took the lead back in the bottom of the 6th inning to hold on to a 5-4 victory.

Drew Biery, JCHS Head Coach explained he is proud of his team no matter what.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to our boys, I’m so proud of them. They didn’t care what happened. They tried to play our brand of baseball and we were toe to toe with them the whole game, they were just able to get a couple hits and a key couple of plays to finish off the game,” said Biery.

Senior Tate Zimmerman pitched five innings for the Blue Jays giving up four runs, three of those were earned.

“He went toe to toe with a really good pitching staff that they had on the other side. He got ahead of guys and made good decisions when we really needed him, he limited the damage. He did a great job, and he’s done that all year for us.”

The Blue Jays finish the season 12-11.