GRANVILLE — What began as a pitcher’s dual ended in a blowout as University baseball won its ninth game in a row Friday night, 9-0, over Shaler Area (Pa.) at Mon County Ballpark.
For three scoreless innings, University’s Gabe Jansen battled Shaler’s Derek Leas on the mound. Once the Hawks started seeing Leas a second time through the lineup, however, the hits came.
“Obviously a really good team and a really good pitcher,” UHS coach Brad Comport said. “The first time (through the order), we were having to make adjustments. We talked and changed our approach a little bit and all it took was a spark and our guys kind of rolled with it. The at-bats were contagious and were we able to put up a big inning.”
UHS (16-8) plated six runs against Shaler (11-4) in the bottom of the fourth, chasing Leas from the game in the process. The rally started when Noah Braham hit a single and Wenkai Campbell drove him home with a triple to right field. From there, Jake Croston and Jett Walters had RBI singles and Cody Thomas drove in two with a bases-loaded single back up the middle for the 6-0 advantage.
“There’s just a lot of belief,” Comport said. “Our guys are having a lot of fun, they believe in each other and they’re all excelling in the role they play.”
Even with a 6-0 lead, Jansen stayed locked in and only allowed two hits across the final three innings.
“It just makes me want to go out there and keep doing what I can do,” Jansen said of pitching with a big lead. “I want to help the team out like they’re helping me out. It was great to be part of that big inning and put a big number up against such a good team.”
UHS scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Jansen led off the inning with a walk and came around to score on Braham’s bases-loaded triple five batters later.
Jansen finished the game with seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out four.
“He was confident and he was trusting himself the entire game,” Comport said. “He had great energy on the mound and pitched a really, really good game, I’m really proud of him.”
“I was able to use the fastball to get ahead early,” Jansen explained. “I was able to mix in some off-speed pitches to keep them off-balance. I thought I did a good job of getting balls on the ground and the guys made great plays behind me.”
Braham finished with two hits, a triple, three RBI and a run scored. Thomas had a hit, two RBI and scored a run and Campbell and Walters both had a hit, RBI and scored. Jansen scored twice, as did Brodee Latocha, who walked three times.
University’s next challenge will be the school’s first-ever OVAC finals match today against Wheeling Park. First-pitch for the 5A championship is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Edison High School in Cadiz, Ohio.
It will be the Hawks’ fifth game this week.
“I told those guys, you’re going to have to find the energy for a championship game,” Comport said. “That’s going to be the key, you’ve got to show up and I’m confident that we will.”
University 9, Shaler (Pa.) 0
SHA 000 000 0 — 0 5 1
UHS 000 603 x — 9 6 0
SHALER — B. McGuire 4 0 1 0; Bauer 3 0 1 0; Hujas 1 0 0 0; Leas 3 0 0 0; Alexander 3 0 0 0; Yeckel 3 0 1 0; Saben 2 0 2 0; Rispoli 3 0 0 0; C. McQuire 2 0 0 0; Holland 1 0 0 0. Totals 25 0 5 0.
UHS — Latocha 1 2 0 0; Thomas 3 1 1 2; Braham 3 1 2 3; Campbell 4 1 1 1; Templeton 3 0 0 0; Croston 3 1 0 1; Jansen 2 2 1 0; Walters 2 1 1 1; Furbee 1 0 0 0; Smolkin 2 0 0 0; Croyle 1 0 0 0. Totals 26 9 6 8.
2B — S: Bauer, Saben.
3B — UHS: Campbell, Braham.
WP: Jansen 7ip, 5h, 0r, 3bb, 4k.
LP: Leas 3.2ip, 5h, 6r, 2bb, 9k.
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