HOPE — The bats of the Hauser baseball team were on full display in Friday’s Mid-Hoosier Conference matchup with South Decatur.
The Class A No. 10 Jets tallied 15 hits, with nine coming in the first inning. They put up 11 runs after the first inning and coasted to an 18-1 win in five innings.
In the bottom of the first, Levi Gollmer led off with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Landon Asher. Aaron Rork then hit an RBI-single to put Hauser (14-8, 9-1) on the board.
After Kobe Meahl walked, Sam Miller, Frankie Poole and Bryce Trotter hit consecutive RBI-singles to make it 4-0. Koby Johnson then cleared the bases by smacking a three-run home run to right field to make it 7-0.
Eli Miller walked, and Gollmer doubled to put runners on second and third. A passed ball scores Eli Miller and moved Gollmer to third. After Asher walked to put runners on first and third, Rork hit an RBI-single to score Gollmer and put Asher on third. Meahl walked to load the bases, and then Sam Miller plated two more runs with a two-RBI single to make it 11-0.
“We swung the bat really well. That was probably our best collective group effort at the plate that we’ve had in a long time,” Hauser coach Nate Long said. “(South Decatur) didn’t make any errors hardly. I think they only made one or two all game. So we had a lot of hits back-to-back-to-back, and our guys were seeing the ball really well tonight.”
The Jets plated two more runs in third and one in the fourth to make it 14-0. Eli Miller, who hit a grand slam in Thursday’s 9-0 win at South Decatur, capped off the game with another grand slam over the left field fence to make it 18-0.
The Cougars plated a run in the top of the fifth to avoid the shutout.
Alex Pattingill threw a complete game two-hitter for the Jets, allowing one run and striking out five to earn the win. Zaydun Sharp took the loss for South Decatur (8-9, 5-5), allowing four runs in 1/3 of an inning.
“Alex did a great job,” Long said. “He kept the ball down, got a lot of ground balls, which we love as a coaching staff. He was able to mix his pitches up, so he did a really nice job.”
Gollmer went 3 for 4 with two doubles, Sam Miller went 2 for 3 with three RBIs, Rork went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and Bryce Trotter went 2 for 4 with two RBIs for Hauser, which pounded out 15 hits. Eli Miller finished with five RBIs, and Johnson added three RBIs.
Avery Seegers had both hits for the Cougars, going 2 for 3.
The Jets two more conference games to go at home against Morristown on Monday and at Morristown on Tuesday. Hauser will look to earn a share of the conference title with Southwestern (Shelby), which finished MHC play 11-1.
“We’re going to approach those two games as we always do,” Long said. “We’ll put our best lineup out there to give us a chance to win, and let the chips fall where they may.”
