Halfway there
One win down, one to go for Bulls to reach state
Evan Olesen pitched a complete game, and Jackson’s hitters produced 13 hits as the second-seeded Bulls defeated fifth-seeded Windom 7-1 in the first of their best-of-three Region 13C amateur baseball playoff series Wednesday at Wacker Field.
Game Two is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln Field at the Windom Recreation Area. If the Pirates force Game Three, it would be played at 1 p.m. Sunday in Jackson.
The Bulls’ hitters were able to get to Windom ace Collin Lovell, something they haven’t always been able to do against the Pirates’ right hander through the years.
“It’s a lot better to be up one game to nothing than down one game to nothing,” said Jackson manager Scott Bahr. “We knew what we were getting. Collin’s as good as there is. He’s the best we’ve faced all year long and it’s been that way for a decade. We’ve had to face him a bunch of times and I think this is the most we’ve ever scored.
“Before the game we talked about shortening up with our approach and putting the ball in play. Maybe that would help us drive the ball and make them pick it up and throw it across. If you put it in play maybe something good will happen and it did happen. We were playing for maybe three runs hoping that we could win a game 3-1 or 3-2 and it turned out really well.”
Blake Evans had three hits for Jackson including a double, was hit by a pitch, scored two runs and had three runs batted in.
Andy Wolf had two hits and walked twice, Easton Baht had two hits and walked once, and Shad Wacker also had two hits.
Recording one hit each were Olesen, Carter Snyder, Chris Gumto and Seth Busch.
Olesen allowed one unearned run on three hits, striking out four.
“Besides the fact that I thought Collin would hold us down I had a really good feeling that Evan was going to shut them down to one or two,” Scott Bahr said. “You never know what can happen, but I thought if we could score three, that would give us a good chance to win.
“We got some pretty clutch hits when we needed to. We got some two out hits with runners in scoring position, and we ran the bases really well.
The Bulls’ defense supported Olesen well throughout the game.
“We picked it up. Our third baseman (Blake Evans) made some plays on the run or diving plays. He had a heck of a day. Easton picked the ball up well and threw it across. Our catcher (Carter Snyder) is one of the best in the business, our outfielders ran down balls. We made all the plays.”
The winner of the series advances to the state Class C tournament that starts next Friday as the region’s third seed.
Luverne has a 1-0 lead over Fairmont with Game Two in that series at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Herb Wolf Field in Fairmont.
