MADISON — Hauser baseball coach Nate Long’s plan all along was to pull Sam Meek before he reached 60 pitches so that he could bring his ace back on Monday.
As their good fortune would have it, the Jets scored four runs in the fourth to stretch a 1-0 lead to 5-0. So Meek, who had thrown four hitless innings to that point, stepped aside for Aaron Mee.
Mee threw three hitless innings to complete the combined no-hitter and give Class A No. 3 Hauser a 5-0 win against Oldenburg Academy in the first round of the rain-delayed Madison Shawe Sectional.
“I didn’t really notice (the no-hitter) until the last inning whenever Sam ran up to me and told me,” Mee said. “But I just felt comfortable with the lead that our team gave us whenever I came in.”
Meek faced the minimum 12 batters in his four innings. He walked Michael Hoff with one out in the second, but Hoff was thrown out trying to steal.
Meek finished with five strikeouts.
“I felt like all the pitches were there,” Meek said. “We were able to hit our spots, and the defense made plays behind us.”
Cameron Hartog made a pair of sliding catches in center field to preserve the no-hitter. He retired Matthew Sedler to end the fourth and Zach Wegman leading off the fifth.
The Jets (17-7) scored their first run in the third. Brandon Holt drew a one-out walk, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, and after Jacob Luken walked and stole second, Holt scored on a groundout by Hartog.
Hauser broke it open in the fourth. Evan Shaw led off with a walk and stole second, and Parker Eickbush was hit by a pitch. Meek then delivered an RBI-double. With one out, Trey Johnson lined a two-run single, and Holt followed with an RBI-single to make it 5-0.
“It was real important to put the bat on the ball like we did and get some runs in,” Long said. “Our hard hits finally fell through there.”
The Jets now turn their attention to Class A No. 5 Rising Sun, which beat Shawe in Saturday’s opener. The teams will play at 11 a.m. Monday.
South Decatur and Jac-Cen-Del will play in Monday’s second semifinal at around 1:30 p.m. The championship game will be at 7 p.m.
Hauser will be looking for its first sectional title since winning the Class A state title in 2006. But the focus is squarely on Rising Sun, a team the Jets did not meet during the regular season.
“They have a good starting pitcher, they have good senior leadership at first and center field, and they have a good quality catcher,” Long said. “Their key positions are good. They’re not ranked in the state for no reason. We’re going to have to come out and play hard and play our baseball, and hopefully, the better team wins.”
