Jackson and Hadley are even at one game apiece in their best-of-three Region 13C amateur baseball playoff series after the Buttermakers defeated the Bulls 9-3 Saturday at Laurie Mahon Field in Hadley. Game Three will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, also in Hadley.
"Sometimes it just doesn't go your way and this was definitely a day it didn't go our way," said Jackson manager Scott Bahr. "Gavin started and did a good job. He walked a couple of guys that hurt, but he kept us in the game. He went five innings and only gave up three runs. If you would have told me before the game that would happen, I would have been pretty happy. Gavin did his job, we just didn't score any runs behind him."
Hadley scored a run in the first, with Jackson tying it in the top of the second as Blaise Jacobsen walked and eventually scored on a single by Easton Bahr.
The Buttermakers scored single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings for a 4-1 lead.
Jackson made it 4-2 in the top of the seventh as Shad Wacker's RBI groundout scored Nate Monson. Hadley answered back with five in the home half of the seventh to make it a 9-2 game.
The Bulls scored a run in the ninth as Evan Olesen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Easton Bahr had two hits and two stolen bases as he became Jackson's single-season record holder in that category, breaking the mark Matt Foster set in 1996.
Jackson Bulls single-season stolen base leaders
34 Easton Bahr 2021
33 Matt Foster 1996
26 Matt Foster 1999
25 Easton Bahr 2018
23 Lincoln Wacker 1993
23 Matt Foster 1998
23 Ryan Dunlavey 1998
Monson had two hits including a double and Wacker also had two hits.
Scott Bahr said Sunday will be another day.
"The scoreboard will be blank to start," he said. "We'll have Ben Scheevel going to start, Sean Minder is rested and most of our bullpen is rested.
"We threw enough guys that we didn't really tax anybody so just about everybody is available. We have to score runs. In the last couple of weeks, we have scored a whole bunch of runs so it's in there. Tip your cap to Luke Drooger. He's had a sore arm and hasn't pitched a lot and he went out there and battled and was really good. He changed speeds and he blew it by us a couple times. We haven't seen anybody throw it that hard in a couple weeks. Nobody has thrown it by us like that. He was good and he was better than us today."
Sunday's winner will advance to the region semifinals and open a best-of-three series at Luverne Wednesday. The Redbirds shut out Adrian 7-0 Saturday to win that series in two games.
On the other side of the bracket, the Milroy Irish are in the semifinals after a two-game sweep of Lakefield.
They're waiting for the winner of the series between Windom and Pipestone that is even at a game apiece after the A's won 6-5 Saturday night game at Pipestone. They'll play their deciding game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Island Park in Windom.
Following are the first-round series schedules:
4 Hadley vs. 5 Jackson
Series tied 1-1
Wednesday - Jackson 3, Hadley 2
Saturday - Hadley 9, Jackson 3
Sunday - at Hadley, 2 p.m.
1 Luverne vs. 8 Adrian
Luverne wins series 2-0
Wednesday - Luverne 15, Adrian 0 (7 innings)
Saturday - Luverne 7, Adrian 0
3 Milroy Irish vs. 6 Lakefield
Milroy wins series 2-0
Wednesday - Milroy Irish 13, Lakefield 1 (7 innings)
Friday - Milroy Irish 13, Lakefield 5
2 Windom vs. 7 Pipestone
Windom leads series 1-0
Wednesday - Windom 4, Pipestone 0
Saturday - Pipestone 6, Windom 5
Sunday - at Windom, 2 p.m.