Staff photo / Dan Hiner Windham pitcher Keegan Kiser delivers during the second inning against Jackson-Milton at Jackson-Milton High School on Monday.

NORTH JACKSON – The Windham baseball team played one of their better games so far the season. The Bombers got some early offense with five runs in the second inning, and the pitching took care of the rest on Monday.

And after the final out was recorded, the Bombers came away with a 10-4 win over Jackson-Milton at Jackson-Milton High School.

The Bombers jumped on Jackson-Milton earth, scoring five runs in the second inning. And it was enough of a cushion for Windham starter Keegan Kiser, who allowed three runs, struck out three and walked seven in 4 1/3 innings of work.

“The end of the first inning, beginning of the second inning, that’s usually when I calm my nerves, settle down, start to throw strikes and get into a rhythm,” Kiser said. “I trust my defense. I trust everyone out there – I’ve been playing with them for a long time – so usually, once I calm my nerves, we’re in a good spot.”

It wasn’t a perfect outing for Kiser, but he found his flow during the second inning. He kept the Blue Jays off the board in the second and third, and it provided enough time for his teammates to break the game open at the plate.

Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the second inning, the Blue Jays (0-3) had runners on when Ryan Gray drew a two-out walk and Jack McDevitt reached on an infield single. But Kiser took care of a groundball himself to get out of the inning.

In Jackson-Milton’s next trip to the plate, Blake Hochendoner drew a one-out walk and reached second on a balk and third on a wild pitch. But back-to-back groundouts stranded him in scoring position.

Two-out singles by Kiser and Louden Collins put runners on the corners for the Bombers in the fourth. Kiser was forced home on a balk by McDevitt, and Collins came in on a throwing error.

Windham added another run when Jordan Ridenbaugh drove in Cam Batterby on an RBI double to left field to extend the Bombers’ lead to 8-1.

“We start a bunch of freshman, sophomores. But starting the game off with the lead and the way Keegan pitched, it says a lot about the confidence they have in each other,” Windham coach Jake Eye said. “And when you pitch with the lead, you have more confidence to continue throughout the game.”

Jackson-Milton finally converted a scoring chance in the fourth.

A single by Nate Craver and a walk from Gray gave the Jays another shot at runs with one down in the frame. And McDevitt helped himself with an RBI single up the middle.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning, and Walker Wolf drew a base on balls to force home a run. But that was all the Blue Jays could muster.

With the score 8-3, Bryan Smithberger came on to pitch for the Bombers (2-3), and he got a strikeout and a flyout to get out of the jam.

“(Cannot) strand a guy on second base or third. We gotta do a better job of stringing together better hits in that situation,” Jackson-Milton head coach Matt Ruby said.

CJ Malutek drove a ball down the left-field line for a Jackson-Milton RBI double in the sixth. But the Bombers closed their scoring with an RBI groundout from Malachi Petrich and a Michael Boylard stealing home in the seventh.

Due to the weather, the Blue Jays have been unable to get much work done on the field. But that could change this week.

They have four games in the next four days, including three straight on the road. Jackson-Milton will go to Leetonia today, Crestview on Wednesday and Mathews on Thursday. Then it returns home for a meeting with Heartland Christian on Friday.

“We are a victim of beating ourselves. That’s what it comes down to,” Ruby said. “I have all the confidence in these guys, these kids, that they’ll turn it around. This is only the third game of the season for us. We got a lot of baseball to play.”

Meanwhile, the Bombers are winners of two of their last three. They will try to reach the .500 mark on Thursday when they make a trip to Waterloo before returning home to host Badger on Friday.

“Anytime you can get a game in, in early April, it’s big for us,” Eye said. “Obviously Jackson-Milton being in the conference that they’re in, being the squad that they have, they’re well-coached. They’re a solid team. That’s a big win for us.”