SEYMOUR — Cold, windy weather didn’t stop Hauser and Trinity Lutheran from playing a pair of baseball games on Saturday.
The Jets continued their hot start to the season by sweeping the Cougars 6-3 and 8-1. Hauser had to dig deep, with the wins marking its third and fourth in three days.
In the first game, the Jets (5-1) used a late surge to edge Trinity (1-3) by three runs.
The Cougars scored a single run in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk. Neither team would cross home plate again until the fifth, when back-to-back RBI-doubles from Reid Kruse and Brayden Wilson extended Trinity’s lead to 3-0.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
In the top of the sixth, Hauser answered. After putting runners on base off a Cougar error and a bunt, the Jets’ Trey Johnson hit an RBI-single. On the same play, a throwing error by Trinity pushed another Hauser run across home plate.
With two out, a pair of Cougar errors in the outfield resulted in two more runs.
“I try to stress to my kids that if we put the bat on the ball and make them make plays, good things can happen if we hustle,” Hauser coach Nate Long said. “We took advantage of that.”
In the seventh, up 4-3, the Jets scored on a wild pitch and an RBI-single from Johnson to go up by three runs.
Hauser’s Alex Pattingill did not give up a run on the mound in the sixth or seventh innings after taking over for Aaron Mee. Jacob VonDielingen took the loss for the Cougars, putting in 6 1/3 innings of work with 10 strikeouts.
“Jake was rolling. He was pitching well,” Trinity coach Matt VonDielingen said. “We had an error up the middle, which resulted in a big play and an error at center that really hurt us. It kind of got away from us after that. We didn’t do a good of keeping damage control. When the bats went silent, that was the end of us.”
The Cougars outhit the Jets 7-5, but had three errors to the Jets’ one mishap.
“We got off a little bit to a slow start against their No. 1 pitcher,” Long said. “We adjusted well and finally got to him late in the game. They made a couple errors that led to some runs for us.”
In the second game, Hauser took command early and didn’t let up. The Jets broke open the scoring in the second inning, with Sean Miller and Johnson each hitting RBI singles and Parker Eickbush slamming a two-run single to center to put the Jets up 4-0.
Hauser added two runs in the fourth on RBI-singles from Eickbush and Sam Meek to lead 6-0. The Jets tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning, with Eickbush hitting an RBI-double and Meek adding an RBI-single.
“I thought the middle of the lineup hit the ball really well today,” Long said. “They saw the ball really well.”
Trinity loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but would score just one run on a fielding error by Hauser.
The Jets outhit the Cougars 12-3 and won the error margin 3-1.
Kameron Lawson earned the win on the mound Hauser, giving up just one hit in five innings of work. Kobe Meahl allowed two hits over the final two innings.
“Anytime our starting pitchers can throw strikes consistently over the plate, we’re going to play well,” Long said.
The Cougars used a trio of freshmen and a sophomore for pitching in the second game. Marksberry, Wilson and Lawson Woods each pitched two innings, and Noah Voelker threw in the seventh. Marksberry took the loss.
“Second game, we went with youth,” Matt VonDielingen said. “We were trying to get them some experience. Defensively, I thought we played decent. We just had trouble getting the bats going. I don’t think our focus was there second game. We didn’t quite produce like we wanted to, but hopefully, we will have better weather and baseball next week.”
