Jackson closed out its amateur baseball league playoff series with Worthington Friday, winning 10-3 over the Cubs. The Bulls won Game One of the best-of-three series by forfeit.
Jackson advances to the Region 13C Playoffs that open Wednesday. Pairings will be determined Monday night.
“This was a little bit of an odd series because of the forfeit,” said Jackson Manager Scott Bahr. “We decided to stick with our rotation. Ryan (Rasche) would have started Game One at home. We maybe took a bit of a chance but we’re really confident in Gavin and put us in position so if Gavin (Jacobsen) could win this game, Ryan could start Game One of the next round with Gavin coming back and pitching Game Two.”
Jacobsen pitched six innings to record the win, allowing one run on two hits, walking three and hitting two batters.
Pat Boggess, Lucas Gardner and Sean Minder each pitched one inning.
Andy Wolf had four hits and walked once; Evan Olesen had two hits including a triple, walked and also had a sacrifice fly; Shad Wacker had a hit and walked twice; Chris Gumto had a two-run double; and Payton Handevidt had an RBI double.
Alex Bretzman had an RBI single and walked. Also getting hits were Blaise Jacobsen, Trace Michelson and Mason Pohlman.
Jackson got everyone but one player into the game.
“A lot of our substitutions aren’t necessarily about the score,” Bahr commented. “Maybe it’s a chance to give a guy some rest like we did with Gardy (Lucas Gardner) today where we had him rest a little bit so he could throw in the bullpen and be able to pitch later in the game. Sometimes it’s for defensive purposes only. Sometimes you only get one swing of the bat. We’ve had that happen a couple of times this year where they know that’s the way it’s going to be.
“I get a lot of managers who ask how I get so many guys to the park. It takes a lot of guys for us to win games. We maybe aren’t the absolute best at pitching or the best team on defense or the best team hitting, but as a group of guys we can compete with a lot of people because everybody has a role and they accept it and do it really well.
League crossover series
Jackson (2 First Nite) vs. Worthington (7 Gopher)
Jackson wins series 2-0
Game 1 – Jackson 9, Worthington 0 (forfeit)
Game 2 – Jackson 10, Worthington 3
Fairmont (3 First Nite) vs. Pipestone (6 Gopher)
Fairmont wins series 2-0
Game 1 – Fairmont 12, Pipestone 1
Game 2 – Fairmont 17, Pipestone 2
Fox Lake (4 First Nite) vs. Ruthton (5 Gopher)
Ruthton win series 2-1
Game 1 – Fox Lake 6, Ruthton 0
Game 2 – Ruthton 9, Fox Lake 8
Game 3 – Ruthton 15, Fox Lake 14
Lakefield (5 First Nite) vs. Adrian (4 Gopher)
Adrian wins series 2-0
Game 1 – Adrian 2, Lakefield 0
Game 2 – Adrian 8, Lakefield 7
Mountain Lake (6 First Nite) vs. Hadley (3 Gopher)
Hadley wins series 2-0
Game 1 – Hadley 8, Mountain Lake 2
Game 2 – Hadley 26, Mountain Lake 1
Heron Lake (7 First Nite) vs. Luverne (2 Gopher)
Luverne wins series 2-0
Game 1 – Luverne 13, Heron Lake 1
Game 2 – Luverne 5, Heron Lake 0
The field of teams for the Region 13C amateur baseball playoffs listed alphabetically. Pairings will be determined Monday night.
Adrian
Fairmont
Hadley
Jackson
Luverne
Milroy Irish
Ruthton
Windom
Game One in each series is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday with Game Two at 7:30 p.m. Friday or 2 p.m. Saturday depending on the availability of lights. And Game Threes would be scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday.