MORRISTOWN — The Class A No. 2 Hauser baseball team was one win away from a trip to semistate after beating Shakamak 2-1 in the semifinals of the Morristown Regional on Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday night, University used a three-run seventh inning to come away with a 3-0 win in the regional final.
In the top of the seventh inning of a scoreless game, the Trailblazers’ Ben Westerkamm walked, and Ryan Williams had a bunt single. The Jets replaced pitcher Aaron Mee with Sam Meek, who had pitched in the semifinal.
With one out, Garrett Hill collected a two-run triple to break a scoreless tie and put University up 2-0. Hill then scored on a balk by Meek to give the Trailblazers (27-6) a 3-0 lead.
Meek got the final two outs, but the Jets trailed heading into the bottom of the seventh and went down in order.
“Aaron Mee pitched a heck of a ballgame for us,” Hauser coach Nate Long said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better job, and we knew it was going to be a struggle with their bats in their lineup. He kept the ball low and kept them off balance. In my opinion, he outpitched their pitcher for six innings. The difference in the ballgame was that they came up with a hit with guys on, and we didn’t.”
In the bottom of the second, the Jets’ Kameron Lawson picked up a one-out walk and then stole second. Jacob Luken was hit by a pitch with two out to put runners on first and second. However, both players were stranded.
Hauser (21-9) had one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Luken walked and stole second. Carlson then settled down and struck out the next two batters, and it remained scoreless.
The Jets finally recorded their first hit in the bottom of the sixth inning when Sean Miller doubled off of the left-center field fence. Alex Pattingill came in as a courtesy runner for Miller and Trey Johnson received an intentional walk with one out. Carlson then struck out the next two battes, and it remained scoreless.
Carlson claimed the win, going seven innings, giving up one hit and two walks, and had 17 strikeouts. Mee took the loss after giving up two runs, six hits, and five walks while striking out five.
“I have never been more proud of my seniors, juniors, sophomore and freshmen,” Long said. “I told my seniors as they set the next paving stone for our program, it has been 11 years since we last won a sectional and regional, and we were really one hit and three outs away from doing that today. I can’t be more proud of this team.”
In the afternoon semifinal, the Jets took advantage of two Shakamak throwing errors in the sixth inning to take a 2-1 victory.
The game started out as a pitcher’s duel, with Meek and Shakamak’s Lane Gilbert combining for seven strikeouts over the first two innings and neither allowing a run until the fifth.
The Lakers’ Trevor Miller lead off the fifth with a double, and Mason Wood was brought in as a courtesy runner. Meek struck out the following batter on four pitches, then gave up his lone earned run with a RBI-double by Peyton Yeryar.
The Jets battled in the bottom half of the fifth with a Meahl double. Meahl advanced to third on a single from Luken. A baserunning mistake on a bunt ended the inning. However, Hauser was not out of it.
Jon Hatton was up to bat with two outs in the sixth when he was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. Trey Johnson advanced Hatton to second on a single and that’s when the game went off the rails for Shakamak.
Parker Eickbush was behind 0-2 in the count when Gilbert overthrew second base, which lead to Hatton scoring. Gilbert committed another throwing error trying to get Johnson out at third, which led to Johnson scoring the game-winning run.
Meek threw a complete game to earn the win, giving up one run on six hits and seven strikeouts.
“Without Sam Meek we don’t win this game,” Long said. “He’s our ace.”
