Staff photo / Dan Hiner Jackson-Milton’s Caden Ruby hits the ball toward the right side of the infield during Monday’s game against Windham.

NORTH JACKSON — There were just too many unforced errors for the Jackson-Milton baseball team to overcome on Monday.

A big second inning by Windham and the inability to put together a big inning of their own led to a 10-4 loss for the Blue Jays 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.

“You can’t give up seven unearned runs,” Jackson-Milton head coach Matt Ruby said. ‘At the end of the day, if we’re not gonna play good defense, we have to be able to put the ball in play on a consistent basis.”

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.

A single by Nate Craver and a walk from Gray gave the Jays another shot at runs with one down in the fourth. 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,” 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.”