MADISON — After scoring almost at will in its afternoon semifinal, the run production ran dry for the Hauser baseball team in Monday night’s Madison Shawe Sectional final.
The Jets had hits in five of the seven innings, but no more than one in any of those frames. Meanwhile, Jac-Cen-Del scored one run in the second and five in the fifth to claim a 6-0 victory.
Hauser’s best opportunity came in the bottom of the first. Brandon Holt led off with a single, Nathan Branum sacrificed him to second and Will Rose walked. But after both runners moved up on a wild pitch, the Eagles’ Tyler Huff came up with a strikeout and induced a groundout to end the inning.
Jac-Cen-Del (16-5) then got on the board in the second. Cody Campbell doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Reis Troy.
While the Jets (13-12) couldn’t get anything going offensively, pitcher Sam Meek kept them in the game until the fifth, when the Eagles pounded out five hits off Meek and reliever Will Rose took advantage of a Hauser error to score five times in the inning and take a 6-0 lead.
The Jets had a chance to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the sixth, but left the bases loaded. Huff then retired Hauser in order in the seventh to complete the shutout.
“We had opportunities early in the game and couldn’t get those big hits, and that fifth inning killed us,” Hauser coach Jerry Schoen said. “They hit the ball, and we didn’t.”
The Jets jumped all over Oldenburg Academy in the semifinal, pounding out 11 hits and scoring in every inning but the second on their way to a 12-2 six-inning win. Jared Schoen allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits in five innings, and Rose threw a perfect sixth.
“We ran the bases fairly well and were aggressive,” Jerry Schoen said. “Jared didn’t have his best outing, but our defense did a nice job behind him. Then that last inning, William came in and did a great job.”
Branum went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, and Meek went 3 for 4. Rose went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, and Evan Shaw added a pair of RBIs for the Jets, who had beaten the Twisters 10-5 during the regular season.
Oldenburg (9-13) loaded the bases with nobody out in both the first and fourth innings, but came away with only one run in those two frames.
“Coach emphasized not to overlook this team because we knew they were going to come out and hit like they did against us earlier in the season,” Branum said. “We had to come out here and set the tone. Our defense was fantastic and pitching was good.”
