Vauxhall Jets see up and down Vegas trip

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Vauxhall Advance

By Cole Parkinson
Vauxhall Advance

After opening the Bishop Gorman Invitational with a loss to Palo Verde, the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Jets still had plenty of games on tap. With the Vegas trip being early in the spring schedule, the coaching staff always expects ups and downs, and the Jets were hoping to see an upswing in their second game.

Facing off against Desert Oasis Varsity Diamondbacks, the Jets scored runs early and never looked back as they secured a 15-5 victory. Calum Anderson was the starter for VAB on the mound and the right-hander gave them 2.1 innings with a pair of strikeouts while allowing five earned runs on three hits and five walks. Kaleb Bozek finished the game off, going 2.2 innings while only allowing a single hit.

The Jets’ offence came to play as the team amassed 11 hits and five walks over five innings. Jacob Austin had three hits, including a double, and an RBI while Easton Kitura had two hits including a home run. Alex Laurence and Aaron Fuzesy each had a pair of doubles to round out the offence.

“After our first game on Monday at the tournament, we went 2-1 after that. We were fighting the flu —  half our team was sick. We had a solid start from Calum Andersen and then Kaleb Bozek came in and was outstanding out of the bullpen,” stated Les McTavish, head coach of the Jets. “We had a great offensive day. You know, it was a good ball club in Desert Oasis that we beat 15-5. So, really happy with how the boys responded after a loss on Monday. (We had our) backs up against the wall, and some sickness ran through the team, and there seemed to be no excuses. Lots of guys stepped up and we had a real good day that day.”

Wednesday saw the Jets take on Bishop Moore in a tight game. Bishop Moore would score three in the top of seven to take and took a 6-5 win against VAB. The Jets only had five hits in the game as Kaz Harris had a pair while Ben Simmons, Austin, and Langdyn Cummins had one each. Aiden Sloan was the starting pitcher for the Jets and gave them three innings with three punch outs, four walks, two hits, and allowed two earned runs. Graham Thiessen went the final four innings with four strikeouts, two walks, three hits, and three unearned runs.

“And then the next day we played a team out of Orlando, Florida — Bishop Moore Catholic. We played exceptionally well and we pitched well to start. Aiden Sloan got off to a slow start and then had a really good third inning, then we went to Graham Thiessen, who was outstanding out of the bullpen and started running out of gas in the seventh. They got a couple of guys on, we made an error to give them a free out, and then credit to them, they hit a three-run shot at the top of the seventh that was kind of a backbreaker,” added McTavish. 

“We’re down two runs, going into the bottom of the seventh. We rallied, scored one, and we had the tying run on second and the winning run on third, and we didn’t quite get it done. But pretty proud of how the boys responded in that game.”

In their final game of the tournament, the Jets took on the Chatfield Chargers. In the end, the Jets were able to double up the Chargers 6-3. Matt Getz had a pair of hits and an RBI while Kitura, Lawrence, Jaxon George, Bozek, and Harris all notched one hit in the game.

Hudson Kozicki got the ball to start and went three innings with three K’s, three walks, and three hits while allowing two earned runs. Carter Bevans was the first man out of the bullpen with 2.2 innings with six strikeouts, one walk, two hits, and an unearned run. Charlie McMillan was next and gave the Jets a single out. Cedric LeBlanc finished off the Chargers with a single inning where he struck out one batter and allowed one hit.

“The last day we played Chatfield High School out of Littleton, Colo., and had a great day. We had a good start from Kozicki on the mound, and then Bevans came in. He was outstanding out of the bullpen, threw two and two-thirds, and then McMillan threw a third of an inning, and then LeBlanc got the save,” continued McTavish. “So it was a really good day all around to end the trip, and, you know, 4-4 overall on the trip is a solid trip. Wins and losses, but when we look at the four losses, we got walked off twice, we lost by one, giving up a homer in the seventh, and we lost 10-6. So they were all really competitive games, got the juices flowing for the boys, and proud of how they handled themselves, for sure.”

With the Jets facing off against teams they’ve never seen before, the coaching staff wasn’t overly worried about the scouting reports. Instead, their focus on each game is being prepared to just go out and play.

“I think the biggest thing is, especially at the high school level, you’ve got to take care of your own house, right? It’s more important about how you prepare — you’re not really prepared for the opponent. We did have some scouting reports on the Florida team, we knew how to shift on a couple of players, a couple of guys could really, really run, and we shifted our defence around. But at the end of the day, at the high school level, it’s about executing on your abilities, offensively or on the mound,” explained McTavish.

Next up for the Jets is a pair of doubleheaders against PBA. With warm weather incoming, the Jets have shifted their schedule around and they’re hoping the flu bug is finished by the weekend.

“We’re still fighting the sickness, it’s still working its way through,” said McTavish.”We’ve got frost still coming out of Jets Stadium, so we’re kind of fighting through that. We’ve actually moved our series, we’re going to play Wednesday in Lethbridge versus PBA as it’s supposed to be 20 degrees. Then we’re going to play either Saturday or Sunday in Vauxhall, assuming the field’s good, if not, we’ll move it into Lethbridge. But we’ll still get our four games in this week and you add the banquet on Friday night — it’s going to be a busy week for sure.”