OSGOOD — Hauser baseball coach Nate Long ended his Monday night with a Gatorade bucket full of water being poured on him in celebration of winning the Jac-Cen-Del Sectional.
The Class A No. 2-ranked Jets threw three different pitchers in the 11-5 win against the host Eagles.
Trey Johnson started the game on the mound and pitched two innings before Alex Pattingill took over for three innings and Aaron Mee closed the final two. Long said Pattingill usually runs out of gas around 70 pitches, so he went with Mee once Pattingill hit that mark.
“We didn’t know really who was going to be our guy today,” Long said. “We started with Trey and was hoping we’d get a little more out of him. We went ahead and went with Alex because he was a little more consistent around the (strike) zone, and he pitched really good for us.”
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Hauser’s five runs in the first inning played a major role in its win. Jac-Cen-Del (6-16) put the pressure on the Jets, having the bases loaded three times in the first four innings. The Eagles scored one run and left bases loaded in the first, second and fourth innings.
“For us, you have to come away without major damage there,” Long said. “Our pitchers grinded it out and got the pitches that we needed, got the outs that we needed and it was very nice.”
Jac-Cen-Del held Hauser (20-8) to just two more runs heading into the top of the sixth inning and the Eagles’ two-run fifth cut the Jets lead to 7-5. Hauser managed to get out of the inning with Jac-Cen-Del having two runners on base. The Eagles left 15 total runners on base in the game.
The Jets created space by scoring four runs in the sixth to help them close out the game.
“I love the way our guys respond,” Long said. “These guys don’t quit. We’ve been down this year. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to hit the ball, we’re going to look for our pitch and we’re not changing out strategy.”
Sean Miller led the six-hit game for the Jets by going 3 for 3 with a home run and two RBIs. Trey Johnson also had two RBIs.
“I just had a good day at the plate,” Miller said. “Some days, I have good days, some days Trey has good days, some days Parker (Eickbush) has good days. We all just come out, and we played as a team today and that’s really what got the job done.”
Sam Meek pitched the entire morning semifinal game against North Decatur. He had eight strikeouts and allowed four hits in the 7-2 victory.
The only Hauser RBIs came from a Jon Hatton single in the second and an Aaron Mee single in the third. Kobe Meahl went 2 for 4.
“I really liked how we put the bat on the ball,” Long said. “I like when we put pressure on guys, good things tend to happen.”
